American Standard Version ASV
New International Version NIV
1 Why are times not laid up by the Almighty? And why do not they that know him see his days?
1
“Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?
2 There are that remove the landmarks; They violently take away flocks, and feed them.
2
There are those who move boundary stones; they pasture flocks they have stolen.
3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless; They take the widow's ox for a pledge.
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They drive away the orphan’s donkey and take the widow’s ox in pledge.
4 They turn the needy out of the way: The poor of the earth all hide themselves.
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They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding.
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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Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children.
6 They cut their provender in the field; And they glean the vintage of the wicked.
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They gather fodder in the fields and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
7 They lie all night naked without clothing, And have no covering in the cold.
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Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked; they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, And embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
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They are drenched by mountain rains and hug the rocks for lack of shelter.
9 There are that pluck the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge of the poor;
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The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.
10 [So that] they go about naked without clothing, And being hungry they carry the sheaves.
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Lacking clothes, they go about naked; they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.
11 They make oil within the walls of these men; They tread [their] winepresses, and suffer thirst.
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They crush olives among the terraces ; they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
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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The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out for help. But God charges no one with wrongdoing.
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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“There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths.
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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When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up, kills the poor and needy, and in the night steals forth like a thief.
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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The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’ and he keeps his face concealed.
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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In the dark, thieves break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light.
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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For all of them, midnight is their morning; they make friends with the terrors of darkness.
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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“Yet they are foam on the surface of the water; their portion of the land is cursed, so that no one goes to the vineyards.
19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: [So doth] Sheol [those that] have sinned.
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As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow, so the grave snatches away those who have sinned.
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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The womb forgets them, the worm feasts on them; the wicked are no longer remembered but are broken like a tree.
21 He devoureth the barren that beareth not, And doeth not good to the widow.
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They prey on the barren and childless woman, and to the widow they show no kindness.
22 Yet [God] preserveth the mighty by his power: He riseth up that hath no assurance of life.
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But God drags away the mighty by his power; though they become established, they have no assurance of life.
23 [God] giveth them to be in security, and they rest thereon; And his eyes are upon their ways.
23
He may let them rest in a feeling of security, but his eyes are on their ways.
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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For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain.
25 And if it be not so now, who will prove me a liar, And make my speech nothing worth?
25
“If this is not so, who can prove me false and reduce my words to nothing?”
The American Standard Version is in the public domain.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.