Good News Translation GNT
Revised Standard Version RSV
1 Why doesn't God set a time for judging, a day of justice for those who serve him?
1
"Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days?
2 People move property lines to get more land; they steal sheep and put them with their own flocks.
2
Men remove landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them.
3 They take donkeys that belong to orphans, and keep a widow's ox till she pays her debts.
3
They drive away the ass of the fatherless; they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
4 They prevent the poor from getting their rights and force the needy to run and hide.
4
They thrust the poor off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves.
5 So the poor, like wild donkeys, search for food in the dry wilderness; nowhere else can they find food for their children.
5
Behold, like wild asses in the desert they go forth to their toil, seeking prey in the wilderness as food for their children.
6 They have to harvest fields they don't own, and gather grapes in vineyards of the wicked.
6
They gather their fodder in the field and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.
7 At night they sleep with nothing to cover them, nothing to keep them from the cold.
7
They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.
8 They are drenched by the rain that falls on the mountains, and they huddle beside the rocks for shelter.
8
They are wet with the rain of the mountains, and cling to the rock for want of shelter.
9 Evil people make slaves of fatherless infants and take the children of the poor in payment for debts.
9
(There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and take in pledge the infant of the poor.)
10 But the poor must go out with no clothes to protect them; they must go hungry while harvesting wheat.
10
They go about naked, without clothing; hungry, they carry the sheaves;
11 They press olives for oil, and grapes for wine, but they themselves are thirsty.
11
among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil; they tread the wine presses, but suffer thirst.
12 In the cities the wounded and dying cry out, but God ignores their prayers.
12
From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God pays no attention to their prayer.
13 There are those who reject the light; they don't understand it or go where it leads.
13
"There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths.
14 At dawn the murderer gets up and goes out to kill the poor, and at night he steals.
14
The murderer rises in the dark, that he may kill the poor and needy; and in the night he is as a thief.
15 The adulterer waits for twilight to come; he covers his face so that no one can see him.
15
The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying, 'No eye will see me'; and he disguises his face.
16 At night thieves break into houses, but by day they hide and avoid the light.
16
In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light.
17 They fear the light of day, but darkness holds no terror for them.
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For deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.
18 The wicked are swept away by floods, and the land they own is under God's curse; they no longer go to work in their vineyards.
18
"You say, "They are swiftly carried away upon the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land; no treader turns toward their vineyards.
19 As snow vanishes in heat and drought, so sinners vanish from the land of the living.
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Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does Sheol those who have sinned.
20 Not even their mothers remember them now; they are eaten by worms and destroyed like fallen trees.
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The squares of the town forget them; their name is no longer remembered; so wickedness is broken like a tree.'
21 That happens because they mistreated widows and showed no kindness to childless women.
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"They feed on the barren childless woman, and do no good to the widow.
22 God, in his strength, destroys the mighty; God acts - and the wicked die.
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Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when they despair of life.
23 God may let them live secure, but keeps an eye on them all the time.
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He gives them security, and they are supported; and his eyes are upon their ways.
24 For a while the wicked prosper, but then they wither like weeds, like stalks of grain that have been cut down.
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They are exalted a little while, and then are gone; they wither and fade like the mallow; they are cut off like the heads of grain.
25 Can anyone deny that this is so? Can anyone prove that my words are not true?
25
If it is not so, who will prove me a liar, and show that there is nothing in what I say?"
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.