[1] “Why doesn’t the Almighty bring the wicked to judgment? Why must the godly wait for him in vain?
[2] Evil people steal land by moving the boundary markers. They steal livestock and put them in their own pastures.
[3] They take the orphan’s donkey and demand the widow’s ox as security for a loan.
[4] The poor are pushed off the path; the needy must hide together for safety.
[5] Like wild donkeys in the wilderness, the poor must spend all their time looking for food, searching even in the desert for food for their children.
[6] They harvest a field they do not own, and they glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
[7] All night they lie naked in the cold, without clothing or covering.
[8] They are soaked by mountain showers, and they huddle against the rocks for want of a home.
[9] “The wicked snatch a widow’s child from her breast, taking the baby as security for a loan.
[10] The poor must go about naked, without any clothing. They harvest food for others while they themselves are starving.
[11] They press out olive oil without being allowed to taste it, and they tread in the winepress as they suffer from thirst.
[12] The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the wounded cry for help, yet God ignores their moaning.
[13] “Wicked people rebel against the light. They refuse to acknowledge its ways or stay in its paths.
[14] The murderer rises in the early dawn to kill the poor and needy; at night he is a thief.
[15] The adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No one will see me then.’ He hides his face so no one will know him.
[16] Thieves break into houses at night and sleep in the daytime. They are not acquainted with the light.
[17] The black night is their morning. They ally themselves with the terrors of the darkness.
[18] “But they disappear like foam down a river. Everything they own is cursed, and they are afraid to enter their own vineyards.
[19] The grave consumes sinners just as drought and heat consume snow.
[20] Their own mothers will forget them. Maggots will find them sweet to eat. No one will remember them. Wicked people are broken like a tree in the storm.
[21] They cheat the woman who has no son to help her. They refuse to help the needy widow.
[22] “God, in his power, drags away the rich. They may rise high, but they have no assurance of life.
[23] They may be allowed to live in security, but God is always watching them.
[24] And though they are great now, in a moment they will be gone like all others, cut off like heads of grain.
[25] Can anyone claim otherwise? Who can prove me wrong?”