1 "Why does the Almighty not keep set times, and why do those who know him never see his days?
2 Some move boundary markers; they steal flocks and graze them.
3 They lead off the orphan's donkey; they take the widow's ox in pledge.
4 They thrust the needy from the road; the poor of the land must all hide themselves together.
5 See, like wild donkeys in the desert they go out to their work, seeking prey; the wasteland gives him food for his children.
6 They harvest his fodder in the field and glean the vineyard of the wicked.
7 Naked, they pass the night without a garment, with no covering against the cold.
8 They are drenched by mountain downpours and hug the rock for want of shelter.
9 The orphan is torn from the breast, and they take pledges from the poor.
10 Naked, they go about without clothes, and hungry, they carry sheaves.
11 Within the terraces they press oil; they tread the winepresses and are thirsty.
12 From out of the city men groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God does not charge it as wrong.
13 These are among those who rebel against light; they do not recognize its ways or remain in its paths.
14 At daybreak the murderer gets up and kills the poor and needy, and at night he acts the thief.
15 The adulterer's eye watches for dusk, thinking, 'No eye will see me,' and he puts a mask on his face.
16 In the darkness they break into houses; in the daytime they lock themselves in; they have nothing to do with the light.
17 For to them all, morning is deep darkness; they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.
18 He is swept along on the surface of the water; their share of the land is cursed; he does not turn toward the road of the vineyards.
19 As drought and heat carry off snow water, so Sheol carries off those who have sinned.
20 The womb forgets him; the maggot feasts on him; he is no longer remembered, and wrongdoing is snapped like a tree.
21 He feeds on the barren who bear no children, and does the widow no good.
22 Yet by his power he drags off the mighty; he rises up, and none has assurance of life.
23 He grants them safety, and they lean on it, yet his eyes are on their ways.
24 They are lifted high, and in a little while they are no more; they are laid low and gathered up like all the rest, and cut off like the tops of ears of grain.
25 If it is not so, who can show me to be a liar and turn my words to nothing?"