The Webster Bible WBT
New International Version NIV
1 Why, seeing times [are] not hid from the Almighty, do they that know him not 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 [Some] remove the landmarks: they violently take away flocks, and [their] feed.
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.
3
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 hide themselves together.
4
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; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness [yieldeth] food for them [and] for [their] children.
5
Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children.
6 They reap [every one] his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
6
They gather fodder in the fields and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that [they have] no covering in the cold.
7
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.
8
They are drenched by mountain rains and hug the rocks for lack of shelter.
9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
9
The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.
10 They cause [him] to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf [from] the hungry;
10
Lacking clothes, they go about naked; they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.
11 [Who] make oil within their walls, [and] tread [their] wine-presses, and suffer thirst.
11
They crush olives among the terraces ; they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly [to them].
12
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 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not its ways, nor abide in its paths.
13
“There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths.
14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
14
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 disguiseth [his] face.
15
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, [which] they had marked for themselves in the day-time: they know not the light.
16
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 them even as the shades of death: if [one] knoweth [them], [they are in] the terrors of the shades of death.
17
For all of them, midnight is their morning; they make friends with the terrors of darkness.
18 He [is] swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
18
“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 Drouth and heat consume the snow-waters: [so doth] the grave [those who] have sinned.
19
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 wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
20
The womb forgets them, the worm feasts on them; the wicked are no longer remembered but are broken like a tree.
21 He oppresseth the barren [that] beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
21
They prey on the barren and childless woman, and to the widow they show no kindness.
22 He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no [man] is sure of life.
22
But God drags away the mighty by his power; though they become established, they have no assurance of life.
23 [Though] it is given him [to be] in safety, on which he resteth; yet 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 for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all [others], and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
24
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 is] not [so] now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech of no worth?
25
“If this is not so, who can prove me false and reduce my words to nothing?”
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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.