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24:1  “I wish the Almighty would set a time for judging. Those who know God do not see such a day.
24:2  Wicked people take other people’s land; they steal flocks and take them to new pastures.
24:3  They chase away the orphan’s donkey and take the widow’s ox when she has no money.
24:4  They push needy people off the path; all the poor of the land hide from them.
24:5  The poor become like wild donkeys in the desert who go about their job of finding food. The desert gives them food for their children.
24:6  They gather hay and straw in the fields and pick up leftover grapes from the vineyard of the wicked.
24:7  They spend the night naked, because they have no clothes, nothing to cover themselves in the cold.
24:8  They are soaked from mountain rains and stay near the large rocks because they have no shelter.
24:9  The fatherless child is grabbed from its mother’s breast; they take a poor mother’s baby to pay for what she owes.
24:10  So the poor go around naked without any clothes; they carry bundles of grain but still go hungry;
24:11  they crush olives to get oil and grapes to get wine, but they still go thirsty.
24:12  Dying people groan in the city, and the injured cry out for help, but God accuses no one of doing wrong.
24:13  “Those who fight against the light do not know God’s ways or stay in his paths.
24:14  When the day is over, the murderers get up to kill the poor and needy. At night they go about like thieves.
24:15  Those who are guilty of adultery watch for the night, thinking, ‘No one will see us,’ and they keep their faces covered.
24:16  In the dark, evil people break into houses. In the daytime they shut themselves up in their own houses, because they want nothing to do with the light.
24:17  Darkness is like morning to all these evil people who make friends with the terrors of darkness.
24:18  “They are like foam floating on the water. Their part of the land is cursed; no one uses the road that goes by their vineyards.
24:19  As heat and dryness quickly melt the snow, so the grave quickly takes away the sinners.
24:20  Their mothers forget them, and worms will eat their bodies. They will not be remembered, so wickedness is broken in pieces like a stick.
24:21  These evil people abuse women who cannot have children and show no kindness to widows.
24:22  But God drags away the strong by his power. Even though they seem strong, they do not know how long they will live.
24:23  God may let these evil people feel safe, but he is watching their ways.
24:24  For a little while they are important, and then they die; they are laid low and buried like everyone else; they are cut off like the heads of grain.
24:25  If this is not true, who can prove I am wrong? Who can show that my words are worth nothing?”