[1] Why are times not laid up by the Almighty? and why do not they which know him see his days?
[2] There are that remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed them.
[3] They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
[4] They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
[5] Behold, as wild asses in the desert they go forth to their work, seeking diligently for meat; the wilderness yieldeth them food for their children.
[6] They cut their provender in the field; and they glean the vintage of the wicked.
[7] They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.
[8] They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
[9] There are that pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor:
[10] So that they go about naked without clothing, and being an-hungred they carry the sheaves;
[11] They make oil within the walls of these men; they tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
[12] From out of the populous city men groan, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God imputeth it not for folly.
[13] These are of them that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
[14] The murderer riseth with the light, he killeth the poor and needy; and in the night he is as a thief.
[15] The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and he disguiseth his face.
[16] In the dark they dig through houses: they shut themselves up in the daytime; they know not the light.
[17] For the morning is to all of them as the shadow of death; for they know the terrors of the shadow of death.
[18] He is swift upon the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he turneth not by the way of the vineyards.
[19] Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth Sheol those which have sinned.
[20] The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered: and unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree.
[21] He devoureth the barren that beareth not; and doeth not good to the widow.
[22] He draweth away the mighty also by his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.
[23] God giveth them to be in security, and they rest thereon; and his eyes are upon their ways.
[24] They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone; yea, they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as all other, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
[25] And if it be not so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?