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