Absence of justice

¹Why doesn’t the Almighty establish times for punishment?[#24.1 Heb lacks]

Why can’t those who know him see his days?

²People move boundary stones,

³drive off an orphan’s donkey,

⁴thrust the poor out of the way,

⁵They are like the wild donkeys in the desert;

they go forth at dawn searching for prey;

⁶They gather their food in the field,

glean in unproductive vineyards,

⁷spend the night naked, unclothed,

⁸wet from mountain rains,

⁹The orphan is stolen from the breast;

the infant of the poor is taken as collateral.

¹⁰The poor go around naked, without clothes,

carry bundles of grain while hungry,

¹¹crush olives between millstones,[#24.11 Heb uncertain]

tread winepresses, but remain thirsty.

¹²From the city, the dying cry out;

the throat of the mortally wounded screams, but God assigns no blame.

Sinners’ conduct

¹³They rebel against light,

don’t acknowledge its direction,

don’t dwell in its paths.

¹⁴The murderer rises at twilight,

kills the poor and needy;

at night, they are like a thief.

¹⁵The adulterer’s eye watches for twilight,

thinking, No eye can see me,

and puts a mask over his face.

¹⁶In the dark they break into houses;

they shut themselves in by day;

they don’t know the light.

¹⁷Deep darkness is morning to them

because they recognize the horror of darkness.

¹⁸They are scum on the water’s surface;

their portion of the land is cursed;

no one walks down a path in the vineyards.

¹⁹Drought and heat steal melted snow,

just as the underworld steals sinners.

²⁰The womb forgets them;

the worm consumes them;

²¹They prey on the barren, the childless,

do nothing good for the widow.

²²They drag away the strong by force;

they may get up but without guarantee of survival.

²³They make themselves secure;

His eyes are on their ways.

²⁴They are exalted for a short time, but no longer.

They are humbled then gathered in like everyone else;

²⁵If this isn’t so, who can prove me a liar

and make my words disappear?