Job 24

GOD’S WORD Translation

² “⌞People⌟ move boundary markers.
They steal flocks and tend them as shepherds.
³ They drive away the orphan’s donkey.
They take the widow’s ox as security for a loan.
⁴ They force needy people off the road.
All the poor people of the country go into hiding.
⁵ Like wild donkeys in the desert,
poor people go out to do their work, looking for food.
The plains provide food for their children.
⁶ They harvest animal food in the field ⌞to feed themselves⌟.
They pick the leftover grapes in the wicked person’s vineyard.
⁷ All night they lie naked
without a covering from the cold.
⁸ They are drenched by the rainstorms in the mountains.
They hug the rocks because they can’t find shelter.

⁹ “⌞People⌟ snatch the ⌞nursing⌟ orphan from a breast
and take a poor woman’s baby as security for a loan.
¹⁰ ⌞That is why⌟ the poor go around naked.
They are hungry, yet they carry bundles of grain.
¹¹ They press out olive oil between rows ⌞of olive trees⌟.
They stomp on grapes in wine vats, yet they are thirsty.
¹² Those dying in the city groan.
Wounded people cry for help, but God pays no attention to their prayers.

¹³ “Such people are among those who rebel against the light.
They are not acquainted with its ways.
They do not stay on its paths.
¹⁴ At dawn murderers rise; they kill the poor and needy.
At night they become thieves.
¹⁵ Adulterers watch for twilight.
They say, ‘No one is watching us,’ as they cover their faces.
¹⁶ In the dark, they break into houses,
⌞but⌟ by day they lock themselves in.
They do not ⌞even⌟ know the light,
¹⁷ because morning and deep darkness are the same to them,
because they are familiar with the terrors of deep darkness.
¹⁸ Such people are like scum on the surface of the water.
Their property is cursed in the land.
People do not travel the road that goes to their vineyards.
¹⁹ ⌞Just as⌟ drought and heat steal water from snow,
so the grave steals people who sin.
²⁰ The womb forgets them.
Worms feast on them.
No one remembers them anymore,
and wickedness is snapped like a twig.
²¹ These men take advantage of childless women.
These men show no kindness to widows.
²² ⌞God⌟ will drag away ⌞these⌟ mighty men by his power.
These people may prosper,
but they will never feel secure about life.
²³ ⌞God⌟ may let them feel confident and self-reliant,
but his eyes are on their ways.
²⁴ ⌞Such people⌟ may be prosperous for a little while,
but then they’re gone.
They are brought down low and disappear like everything else.
They wither like heads of grain.

²⁵ “If it isn’t so, who can prove I’m a liar
and show that my words are worthless?”