24 Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment?^(A)
Why do those who know him never see his days?
² The wicked displace boundary markers.
They steal a flock and provide pasture for it.
³ They drive away the donkeys owned by the fatherless^(B)
and take the widow’s ox as collateral.
⁴ They push the needy off the road;
the poor of the land are forced into hiding.^(C)
5 Like wild donkeys in the wilderness,
the poor go out to their task of foraging for food;
the desert provides nourishment for their children.
⁶ They gather their fodder in the field
and glean the vineyards of the wicked.
⁷ Without clothing, they spend the night naked,
having no covering against the cold.^(D)
8 Drenched by mountain rains,
they huddle against^[a] the rocks, shelterless.
⁹ The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast;
the nursing child of the poor is seized as collateral.^[b]
10 Without clothing, they wander about naked.
They carry sheaves but go hungry.^(E)
11 They crush olives in their presses;^[c]
they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty.
¹² From the city, men^[d] groan;
the mortally wounded cry for help,
yet God pays no attention to this crime.^(F)

¹³ The wicked are those who rebel against the light.
They do not recognize its ways
or stay on its paths.
¹⁴ The murderer rises at dawn
to kill the poor and needy,
and by night he becomes a thief.
¹⁵ The adulterer’s eye watches for twilight,
thinking, “No eye will see me,”
and he covers his face.
¹⁶ In the dark they break^[e] into houses;
by day they lock themselves in,^[f]
never experiencing the light.
¹⁷ For the morning is like darkness to them.
Surely they are familiar with the terrors of darkness!

¹⁸ They float^[g] on the surface of the water.
Their section of the land is cursed,
so that they never go to their vineyards.
¹⁹ As dry ground and heat snatch away the melted snow,
so Sheol^(G) steals those who have sinned.
²⁰ The womb forgets them;
worms feed on them;
they are remembered^(H) no more.
So injustice is broken like a tree.
²¹ They prey on^[h] the childless woman who is unable to conceive,
and do not deal kindly with the widow.
²² Yet God drags away^[i] the mighty by his power;
when he rises up, they have no assurance of life.
²³ He gives them a sense of security, so they can rely on it,^(I)
but his eyes^(J) watch over their ways.
²⁴ They are exalted for a moment, then gone;
they are brought low and shrivel up like everything else.^[j]
They wither like heads of grain.^(K)

²⁵ If this is not true, then who can prove me a liar^(L)
and show that my speech is worthless?

⁵ The departed spirits tremble
beneath the waters and all that inhabit them.^(T)
6 Sheol^(U) is naked before God,
and Abaddon^(V) has no covering.^(W)

⁷ He stretches the northern skies over empty space;
he hangs the earth on nothing.
⁸ He wraps up the water in his clouds,
yet the clouds do not burst beneath its weight.^(X)
9 He obscures the view of his throne,
spreading his cloud over it.
¹⁰ He laid out the horizon on the surface of the waters^(Y)
at the boundary between light and darkness.
¹¹ The pillars that hold up the sky tremble,
astounded at his rebuke.^(Z)
12 By his power he stirred^(AA) the sea,
and by his understanding he crushed Rahab.^(AB)

¹³ By his breath the heavens gained their beauty;
his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.^[l](AC)
14 These are but the fringes of his ways;
how faint is the word we hear of him!
Who can understand his mighty thunder?