*“Why are times not appointed by the Almighty? Why do those who know him not see his days?*Men move boundary stones; they seize the flock and pasture them. *They drive away the orphan’s donkey; they take the widow’s ox as a pledge.*They turn the needy from the pathway, and the poor of the land hide themselves together. *Like wild donkeys in the desert they go out to their labor, seeking diligently for food; the wasteland provides food for them and for their children.*They reap fodder in the field, and glean in the vineyard of the wicked.*They spend the night naked because they lack clothing; they have no covering against the cold.*They are soaked by mountain rains and huddle in the rocks because they lack shelter.*The fatherless child is snatched from the breast, the infant of the poor is taken as a pledge. *They go about naked, without clothing, and go hungry while they carry the sheaves. *They press out the olive oil between the rows of olive trees; they tread the winepresses while they are thirsty. *From the city the dying groan, and the wounded cry out for help, but God charges no one with wrongdoing. *There are those who rebel against the light; they do not know its ways and they do not stay on its paths.*Before daybreak the murderer rises up; he kills the poor and the needy; in the night he is like a thief. *And the eye of the adulterer watches for the twilight, thinking, ‘No eye can see me,’ and covers his face with a mask.*In the dark the robber breaks into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they do not know the light. *For all of them, the morning is to them like deep darkness; they are friends with the terrors of darkness.*“You say, ‘He is foam on the face of the waters; their portion of the land is cursed so that no one goes to their vineyard. *The drought as well as the heat carry away the melted snow; so the grave takes away those who have sinned. *The womb forgets him, the worm feasts on him, no longer will he be remembered. Like a tree, wickedness will be broken down.*He preys on the barren and childless woman, and does not treat the widow well.*But God drags off the mighty by his power; when God rises up against him, he has no faith in his life. *God may let them rest in a feeling of security, but he is constantly watching all their ways. *They are exalted for a little while, and then they are gone, they are brought low like all others, and gathered in, and like a head of grain they are cut off.’ *“If this is not so, who can prove me a liar and reduce my words to nothing?”
