King James Version KJV
Good News Translation GNT
1 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
1
Why doesn't God set a time for judging, a day of justice for those who serve him?
2 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
2
People move property lines to get more land; they steal sheep and put them with their own flocks.
3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
3
They take donkeys that belong to orphans, and keep a widow's ox till she pays her debts.
4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
4
They prevent the poor from getting their rights and force the needy to run and hide.
5 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.
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So the poor, like wild donkeys, search for food in the dry wilderness; nowhere else can they find food for their children.
6 They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
6
They have to harvest fields they don't own, and gather grapes in vineyards of the wicked.
7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.
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At night they sleep with nothing to cover them, nothing to keep them from 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 the rain that falls on the mountains, and they huddle beside the rocks for shelter.
9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
9
Evil people make slaves of fatherless infants and take the children of the poor in payment for debts.
10 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
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But the poor must go out with no clothes to protect them; they must go hungry while harvesting wheat.
11 Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
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They press olives for oil, and grapes for wine, but they themselves are thirsty.
12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
12
In the cities the wounded and dying cry out, but God ignores their prayers.
13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
13
There are those who reject the light; they don't understand it or go where it leads.
14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
14
At dawn the murderer gets up and goes out to kill the poor, and at night he steals.
15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.
15
The adulterer waits for twilight to come; he covers his face so that no one can see him.
16 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.
16
At night thieves break into houses, but by day they hide and avoid the light.
17 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.
17
They fear the light of day, but darkness holds no terror for them.
18 He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
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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.
19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.
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As snow vanishes in heat and drought, so sinners vanish from the land of the living.
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.
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Not even their mothers remember them now; they are eaten by worms and destroyed like fallen trees.
21 He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
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That happens because they mistreated widows and showed no kindness to childless women.
22 He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.
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God, in his strength, destroys the mighty; God acts - and the wicked die.
23 Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.
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God may let them live secure, but keeps an eye on them all the time.
24 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.
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For a while the wicked prosper, but then they wither like weeds, like stalks of grain that have been cut down.
25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
25
Can anyone deny that this is so? Can anyone prove that my words are not true?
The King James Version is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.