The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
King James Version KJV
1 "Why are times not kept by Shaddai? Why do those who know him not see his days?
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Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
2 There are those who move boundary markers; they carry off flocks and pasture them;
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Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
3 they drive away the orphan's donkey; as collateral, they seize the widow's ox.
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They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
4 They push the needy out of the way -the poor of the land are forced into hiding;
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They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
5 like wild donkeys in the wilderness, they have to go out and scavenge food, [hoping that] the desert will provide food for their children.
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Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.
6 They must reap in fields that are not their own and gather late grapes in the vineyards of the wicked.
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They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
7 They pass the night without clothing, naked, uncovered in the cold,
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They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.
8 wet with mountain rain, and hugging the rock for lack of shelter.
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They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
9 "There are those who pluck orphans from the breast and [those who] take [the clothes of] the poor in pledge,
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They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
10 so that they go about stripped, unclothed; they go hungry, as they carry sheaves [of grain];
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They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
11 between these men's rows [of olives], they make oil; treading their winepresses, they suffer thirst.
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Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
12 Men are groaning in the city, the mortally wounded are crying for help, yet God finds nothing amiss!
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Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
13 "There are those who rebel against the light -they don't know its ways or stay in its paths.
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They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
14 The murderer rises with the light to kill the poor and needy; while at night he is like a thief.
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The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
15 The eye of the adulterer too waits for twilight; he thinks, 'No eye will see me'; but [to be sure], he covers his face.
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The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.
16 When it's dark, they break into houses; in the daytime, they stay out of sight. [None of them] know the light.
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In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.
17 For to all of them deep darkness is like morning, for the terrors of deep darkness are familiar to them.
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For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
18 "May they be scum on the surface of the water, may their share of land be cursed, may no one turn on the way of their vineyards,
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He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
19 may drought and heat steal away their snow water and Sh'ol those who have sinned.
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Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.
20 May the womb forget them, may worms find them sweet, may they no longer be remembered -thus may iniquity be snapped like a stick.
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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.
21 They devour childless women and give no help to widows.
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He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
22 "Yet God keeps pulling the mighty along -they get up, even when not trusting their own lives.
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He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.
23 However, even if God lets them rest in safety, his eyes are on their ways.
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Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.
24 They are exalted for a little while; and then they are gone, brought low, gathered in like all others, shriveled up like ears of grain.
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They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
25 "And even if it isn't so now, still no one can prove me a liar and show that my words are worthless."
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And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The King James Version is in the public domain.