Job 24:1-12
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Job Complains of Violence on the Earth
24 “Why are times not kept by the Almighty,[a]
and why do those who know him never see his days?(A)
2 The wicked[b] remove landmarks;
they seize flocks and pasture them.(B)
3 They drive away the donkey of the orphan;
they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.(C)
4 They thrust the needy off the road;
the poor of the earth all hide themselves.(D)
5 Like wild asses in the desert
they go out to their toil,
scavenging in the wasteland
food for their young.(E)
6 They reap in a field not their own,
and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
7 They lie all night naked, without clothing,
and have no covering in the cold.(F)
8 They are wet with the rain of the mountains
and cling to the rock for want of shelter.(G)
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)
Job 24:1-12
Common English Bible
Absence of justice
24 Why doesn’t the Almighty establish times for punishment?[a]
Why can’t those who know him see his days?
2 People move boundary stones,
herd flocks they’ve stolen,
3 drive off an orphan’s donkey,
take a widow’s ox as collateral,
4 thrust the poor out of the way,
make the land’s needy hide together.
5 They are like the wild donkeys in the desert;
they go forth at dawn searching for prey;
the wasteland is food for their young.
6 They gather their food in the field,
glean in unproductive vineyards,
7 spend the night naked, unclothed,
in the cold without a cover,
8 wet from mountain rains,
with no refuge, huddled against a rock.
9 The orphan is stolen from the breast;
the infant[b] of the poor is taken as collateral.
10 The poor go around naked, without clothes,
carry bundles of grain while hungry,
11 crush olives between millstones,[c]
tread winepresses, but remain thirsty.
12 From the city, the dying cry out;
the throat of the mortally wounded screams, but God assigns no blame.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible