Chapter 24. Since times are not hidden from the Almighty Why do those who know him see not his Days Some remove landmarks they seize flocks Violently and feed on them They drive away the donkey of the Fatherless They take the Widow's Ox as a pledge They pushed the needy off the road All the poor of the land are forced to Hide Indeed like wild donkeys in the desert They go out to their work searching for Food The Wilderness yields food for them and For their children They gather their fodder in the field And glean in the vineyard of the wicked They spend the night naked without Clothing and have no covering in the Cold They are wet with the showers of the Mountains and huddle around the rock for Want of shelter Some snatched the fatherless from the Breast and take a pledge from the poor They caused the poor to go naked without Clothing And they take away the sheaves from the Hungry They press out oil within their walls And tread wine presses yet suffer thirst
The dying grown in the city and The Souls of the Wounded cry out Yet God does not charge them with wrong There are those who rebel against the Light They do not know its ways nor abide in Its paths The murderer Rises with the light he Kills the poor and needy And in the night he is like a thief The eye of the adulterer awaits for the Twilight saying no eye will see me and He disguises his face In the dark they break into houses which They marked for themselves in the Daytime They do not know the light For the morning is the same to them as The shadow of death If someone recognizes them they are in The Terrors of the shadow of death They should be Swift on the face of the Waters their portions should be cursed In the Earth So that no one would turn into the way Of their Vineyards As drought and heat consume the snow Waters so the grave consumes those who Have sinned The womb should forget him the worm Should feed sweetly on him he should be Remembered no more And wickedness should be broken like a Tree
For he prays on the baron who do not Bear and does no good for the Widow But God draws the mighty away with his Power He rises up but no man is sure of life He gives them security and they rely on It Yet his eyes are on their ways They are exalted for a little while Then they are gone They are brought low They are taken out of the way like all Others They dry out like the heads of grain Now if it is not so Who will prove me a liar and make my Speech worth nothing