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24:1  Why doesn’t the Almighty establish times for punishment? Why can’t those who know him see his days?
24:2  People move boundary stones, herd flocks they’ve stolen,
24:3  drive off an orphan’s donkey, take a widow’s ox as collateral,
24:4  thrust the poor out of the way, make the land’s needy hide together.
24:5  They are like the wild donkeys in the desert; they go forth at dawn searching for prey; the wasteland is food for their young.
24:6  They gather their food in the field, glean in unproductive vineyards,
24:7  spend the night naked, unclothed, in the cold without a cover,
24:8  wet from mountain rains, with no refuge, huddled against a rock.
24:9  The orphan is stolen from the breast; the infant of the poor is taken as collateral.
24:10  The poor go around naked, without clothes, carry bundles of grain while hungry,
24:11  crush olives between millstones, tread winepresses, but remain thirsty.
24:12  From the city, the dying cry out; the throat of the mortally wounded screams, but God assigns no blame.
24:13  They rebel against light, don’t acknowledge its direction, don’t dwell in its paths.
24:14  The murderer rises at twilight, kills the poor and needy; at night, they are like a thief.
24:15  The adulterer’s eye watches for twilight, thinking, No eye can see me, and puts a mask over his face.
24:16  In the dark they break into houses; they shut themselves in by day; they don’t know the light.
24:17  Deep darkness is morning to them because they recognize the horror of darkness.
24:18  They are scum on the water’s surface; their portion of the land is cursed; no one walks down a path in the vineyards.
24:19  Drought and heat steal melted snow, just as the underworld steals sinners.
24:20  The womb forgets them; the worm consumes them; they aren’t remembered, and so wickedness is shattered like a tree.
24:21  They prey on the barren, the childless, do nothing good for the widow.
24:22  They drag away the strong by force; they may get up but without guarantee of survival.
24:23  They make themselves secure; they are at ease. His eyes are on their ways.
24:24  They are exalted for a short time, but no longer. They are humbled then gathered in like everyone else; cut off like heads of grain.
24:25  If this isn’t so, who can prove me a liar and make my words disappear?