| Chapter 24 |
1 | Why are times not laid up by the Almighty? And why do not they that know him see his days?
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2 | There are that remove the landmarks; They violently take away flocks, and feed them.
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3 | They drive away the ass of the fatherless; They take the widow's ox for a pledge.
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4 | They turn the needy out of the way: The poor of the earth all hide themselves.
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5 | Behold, as wild asses in the desert They go forth to their work, seeking diligently for food; The wilderness [yieldeth] them bread for their children.
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6 | They cut their provender in the field; And they glean the vintage of the wicked.
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7 | They lie all night naked without clothing, And have no covering in the cold.
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8 | They are wet with the showers of the mountains, And embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
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9 | There are that pluck the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge of the poor;
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10 | [So that] they go about naked without clothing, And being hungry they carry the sheaves.
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11 | They make oil within the walls of these men; They tread [their] winepresses, and suffer thirst.
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12 | From out of the populous city men groan, And the soul of the wounded crieth out: Yet God regardeth not the folly.
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13 | These are of them that rebel against the light; They know not the ways thereof, Nor abide in the paths thereof.
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14 | The murderer riseth with the light; He killeth the poor and needy; And in the night he is as a thief.
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15 | The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, Saying, No eye shall see me: And he disguiseth his face.
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16 | In the dark they dig through houses: They shut themselves up in the day-time; They know not the light.
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17 | For the morning is to all of them as thick darkness; For they know the terrors of the thick darkness.
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18 | Swiftly they [pass away] upon the face of the waters; Their portion is cursed in the earth: They turn not into the way of the vineyards.
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19 | Drought and heat consume the snow waters: [So doth] Sheol [those that] have sinned.
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20 | The womb shall forget him; The worm shall feed sweetly on him; He shall be no more remembered; And unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree.
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21 | He devoureth the barren that beareth not, And doeth not good to the widow.
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22 | Yet [God] preserveth the mighty by his power: He riseth up that hath no assurance of life.
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23 | [God] giveth them to be in security, and they rest thereon; And his eyes are upon their ways.
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24 | They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone; Yea, they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as all others, And are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.
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25 | And if it be not so now, who will prove me a liar, And make my speech nothing worth?
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