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24:1  “The actual day of judgment is known by the Almighty; why does he not reveal it to his faithful?
24:2  Those who are wicked move boundary stones; they seize flocks and pasture them.
24:3  They drive off the donkey belonging to the orphan; they take away the widow’s ox as security.
24:4  They push aside the needy off the road; those who are destitute are forced into hiding.
24:5  “Like wild donkeys of the wilderness the poor go forth at dawn searching the wasteland for food with which to feed their children.
24:6  In the fields they reap what is not theirs and steal from the vineyards of the wicked.
24:7  Without clothing, they spend the night naked, lacking anything to shelter them from the cold.
24:8  They are soaked by the mountain rain and cling to the rocks as a source of shelter.
24:9  “The fatherless child is snatched from the breast and carried off as a pledge of security.
24:10  They go about their work naked, without clothing; despite their hunger they carry the sheaves.
24:11  Along the pathways they press out the oil; they tread the winepresses but themselves suffer thirst.
24:12  From the town the groans of the dying are heard, and those who are wounded cry out for help, yet God remains deaf to their prayer.
24:13  “There also are those who rebel against the light; they are ignorant of its ways and refuse to frequent its paths.
24:14  When nightfall descends, the murderer arises to slay the poor and the needy; during the night he steals forth like a thief.
24:15  “The eye of the adulterer also waits eagerly for twilight, thinking, ‘No eye will see me.’
24:16  In the darkness men break into houses, but during the day they shut themselves in, for they are strangers to daylight.
24:17  Deep darkness is morning to them; they only feel comfortable amid the terrors of the night.
24:18  “Such men are debris on the surface of the water; their portion in the land is accursed, and no laborer will toil in their vineyards.
24:19  As drought and heat melt the snow, so does the netherworld cause sinners to disappear.
24:20  The womb that shaped them remembers them no more, and the worm sucks them dry.
24:21  “They maltreat the barren and childless woman and show no kindness to the widow.
24:22  God may sustain the mighty through his strength, but he carefully monitors their conduct.
24:23  He grants them a sense of security, but his eyes are fixed on their ways.
24:24  They are exalted for a while, and then they are gone; they wither and fade like a flower, shriveling up like ears of grain.
24:25  “If all this is not true, who will prove me wrong and show that my words are sheer nonsense?”