Job 24  New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

⁹ “There are those who snatch the orphan child from the breast
    and take as a pledge the infant of the poor.^(H)
10 They go about naked, without clothing;
    though hungry, they carry the sheaves;
¹¹ between their terraces^[c] they press out oil;
    they tread the winepresses but suffer thirst.
¹² From the city the dying groan,
    and the throat of the wounded cries for help;
    yet God pays no attention to their prayer.^(I)

¹³ “There are those who rebel against the light,
    who are not acquainted with its ways
    and do not stay in its paths.^(J)
14 The murderer rises at dusk
    to kill the poor and needy
    and in the night is like a thief.^(K)
15 The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,
    saying, ‘No eye will see me,’
    and he disguises his face.^(L)
16 In the dark they dig through houses;
    by day they shut themselves up;
    they do not know the light.^(M)
17 For deep darkness is morning to all of them;
    for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.^(N)

¹⁸ “Swift are they on the face of the waters;
    their portion in the land is cursed;
    no treader turns toward their vineyards.^(O)
19 Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;
    so does Sheol those who have sinned.^(P)
20 The womb forgets them;
    the worm finds them sweet;
they are no longer remembered,
    so wickedness is broken like a tree.^(Q)

²¹ “They harm^[d] the childless woman
    and do no good to the widow.^(R)
22 Yet God^[e] prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;
    they rise up when they despair of life.^(S)
23 He gives them security, and they are supported;
    his eyes are upon their ways.^(T)
24 They are exalted a little while and then are gone;
    they wither and fade like the mallow;^[f]
    they are cut off like the heads of grain.^(U)
25 If it is not so, who will prove me a liar
    and show that there is nothing in what I say?”