Chapter 24

  Why are times not laid up by the Almighty? And why do not they that know him see his days?  

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  There are that remove the landmarks; They violently take away flocks, and feed them.  

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  They drive away the ass of the fatherless; They take the widow's ox for a pledge.  

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  They turn the needy out of the way: The poor of the earth all hide themselves.  

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  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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  They cut their provender in the field; And they glean the vintage of the wicked.  

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  They lie all night naked without clothing, And have no covering in the cold.  

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  They are wet with the showers of the mountains, And embrace the rock for want of a shelter.  

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  There are that pluck the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge of the poor;  

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  [So that] they go about naked without clothing, And being hungry they carry the sheaves.  

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  They make oil within the walls of these men; They tread [their] winepresses, and suffer thirst.  

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  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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  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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  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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  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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  In the dark they dig through houses: They shut themselves up in the day-time; They know not the light.  

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  For the morning is to all of them as thick darkness; For they know the terrors of the thick darkness.  

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  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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  Drought and heat consume the snow waters: [So doth] Sheol [those that] have sinned.  

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  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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  He devoureth the barren that beareth not, And doeth not good to the widow.  

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  Yet [God] preserveth the mighty by his power: He riseth up that hath no assurance of life.  

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  [God] giveth them to be in security, and they rest thereon; And his eyes are upon their ways.  

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  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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  And if it be not so now, who will prove me a liar, And make my speech nothing worth?  

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