New International Version NIV
The Message Bible MSG
1 “Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?
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"But if Judgment Day isn't hidden from the Almighty, why are we kept in the dark?
2 There are those who move boundary stones; they pasture flocks they have stolen.
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There are people out there getting by with murder - stealing and lying and cheating.
3 They drive away the orphan’s donkey and take the widow’s ox in pledge.
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They rip off the poor and exploit the unfortunate,
4 They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding.
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Push the helpless into the ditch, bully the weak so that they fear for their lives.
5 Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children.
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The poor, like stray dogs and cats, scavenge for food in back alleys.
6 They gather fodder in the fields and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
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They sort through the garbage of the rich, eke out survival on handouts.
7 Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked; they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.
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Homeless, they shiver through cold nights on the street; they've no place to lay their heads.
8 They are drenched by mountain rains and hug the rocks for lack of shelter.
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Exposed to the weather, wet and frozen, they huddle in makeshift shelters.
9 The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.
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Nursing mothers have their babies snatched from them; the infants of the poor are kidnapped and sold.
10 Lacking clothes, they go about naked; they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.
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They go about patched and threadbare; even the hard workers go hungry.
11 They crush olives among the terraces ; they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
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No matter how back-breaking their labor, they can never make ends meet.
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.
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People are dying right and left, groaning in torment. The wretched cry out for help and God does nothing, acts like nothing's wrong!
13 “There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths.
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"Then there are those who avoid light at all costs, who scorn the light-filled path.
14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up, kills the poor and needy, and in the night steals forth like a thief.
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When the sun goes down, the murderer gets up - kills the poor and robs the defenseless.
15 The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’ and he keeps his face concealed.
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Sexual predators can't wait for nightfall, thinking, 'No one can see us now.'
16 In the dark, thieves break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light.
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Burglars do their work at night, but keep well out of sight through the day. They want nothing to do with light.
17 For all of them, midnight is their morning; they make friends with the terrors of darkness.
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Deep darkness is morning for that bunch; they make the terrors of darkness their companions in crime.
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.
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"They are scraps of wood floating on the water - useless, cursed junk, good for nothing.
19 As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow, so the grave snatches away those who have sinned.
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As surely as snow melts under the hot, summer sun, sinners disappear in the grave.
20 The womb forgets them, the worm feasts on them; the wicked are no longer remembered but are broken like a tree.
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The womb has forgotten them, worms have relished them - nothing that is evil lasts.
21 They prey on the barren and childless woman, and to the widow they show no kindness.
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Unscrupulous, they prey on those less fortunate.
22 But God drags away the mighty by his power; though they become established, they have no assurance of life.
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However much they strut and flex their muscles, there's nothing to them. They're hollow.
23 He may let them rest in a feeling of security, but his eyes are on their ways.
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They may have an illusion of security, but God has his eye on them.
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.
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They may get their brief successes, but then it's over, nothing to show for it. Like yesterday's newspaper, they're used to wrap up the garbage.
25 “If this is not so, who can prove me false and reduce my words to nothing?”
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You're free to try to prove me a liar, but you won't be able to do it."
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.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.