(NLT)
Job
24
:
1
"Why doesn't the Almighty bring the wicked to judgment? Why must the godly wait for him in vain?
(NLT)
Job
24
:
2
Evil people steal land by moving the boundary markers. They steal livestock and put them in their own pastures.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
3
They take the orphan's donkey and demand the widow's ox as security for a loan.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
4
The poor are pushed off the path; the needy must hide together for safety.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
5
Like wild donkeys in the wilderness, the poor must spend all their time looking for food, searching even in the desert for food for their children.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
6
They harvest a field they do not own, and they glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
7
All night they lie naked in the cold, without clothing or covering.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
8
They are soaked by mountain showers, and they huddle against the rocks for want of a home.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
9
"The wicked snatch a widow's child from her breast, taking the baby as security for a loan.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
10
The poor must go about naked, without any clothing. They harvest food for others while they themselves are starving.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
11
They press out olive oil without being allowed to taste it, and they tread in the winepress as they suffer from thirst.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
12
The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the wounded cry for help, yet God ignores their moaning.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
13
"Wicked people rebel against the light. They refuse to acknowledge its ways or stay in its paths.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
14
The murderer rises in the early dawn to kill the poor and needy; at night he is a thief.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
15
The adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, 'No one will see me then.' He hides his face so no one will know him.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
16
Thieves break into houses at night and sleep in the daytime. They are not acquainted with the light.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
17
The black night is their morning. They ally themselves with the terrors of the darkness.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
18
"But they disappear like foam down a river. Everything they own is cursed, and they are afraid to enter their own vineyards.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
19
The grave consumes sinners just as drought and heat consume snow.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
20
Their own mothers will forget them. Maggots will find them sweet to eat. No one will remember them. Wicked people are broken like a tree in the storm.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
21
They cheat the woman who has no son to help her. They refuse to help the needy widow.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
22
"God, in his power, drags away the rich. They may rise high, but they have no assurance of life.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
23
They may be allowed to live in security, but God is always watching them.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
24
And though they are great now, in a moment they will be gone like all others, cut off like heads of grain.
(NLT)
Job
24
:
25
Can anyone claim otherwise? Who can prove me wrong?"