24 “Why doesn’t God All-Powerful set times for judgment?
    And why can’t his followers know when those times will be?

² “People move property markers to get more of their neighbor’s land.
    People steal flocks and lead them to other grasslands.
³ They steal a donkey that belongs to an orphan.
    They take a widow’s cow until she pays what she owes them.
^9 [a] They take a nursing baby from its mother.
    They take a poor person’s child to guarantee a loan.
⁴ They force the poor to move out of their way
    and to get off the road.

⁵ “The poor are like wild donkeys that go out to the desert to find food.
    From morning to night they work to gather food for their children.
⁶ They have to work in the fields, harvesting grain.
    They work for the rich,^[b] gathering grapes in their vineyards.
⁷ They must sleep all night without clothes.
    They have no covers to protect them from the cold.
⁸ They are soaked with rain in the mountains.
    They stay close to the large rocks for shelter.
¹⁰ They have no clothes, so they work naked.
    They carry piles of grain for others, but they go hungry.
¹¹ They press out olive oil
    and walk on grapes in the winepress, but they have nothing to drink.
¹² In the city you can hear the sad sounds of dying people.
    Those who are hurt cry out for help, but God does not listen.

¹³ “Some people rebel against the light.
    They don’t know what God wants.
    They don’t live the way he wants.
¹⁴ A murderer gets up at dawn and kills poor, helpless people.
    And at night he becomes a thief.
¹⁵ A man who commits adultery waits for the night to come.
    He thinks, ‘No one will see me,’ but still, he covers his face.
¹⁶ When it is dark, evil people go out and break into houses.
    But during the day they lock themselves in their homes to avoid the light.
¹⁷ The darkest night is their morning.
    They are friends with the terrors of darkness.

¹⁸ “You say, ‘Evil people are taken away like things carried away in a flood.
    The land they own is cursed, so no one goes to work in their vineyards.
¹⁹ As hot, dry weather melts away the winter snows,
    so the grave takes away those who have sinned.
²⁰ Their own mothers will forget them.
    Only the worms will want them.
No one will remember them.
    They will be broken like a rotten stick!
²¹ These evil people hurt women who have no children to protect them,
    and they refuse to help widows.
²² By his power God removes the powerful.
    Even if they have a high position, they cannot be sure of their lives.
²³ They might feel safe and secure,
    but God is watching how they live.
²⁴ They might be successful for a while, but then they will be gone.
    Like everyone else, they will be cut down like grain.’

²⁵ “I swear these things are true!
    Who can prove that I lied?
    Who can show that I am wrong?”