New Living Translation NLT
English Standard Version ESV
1 “Why doesn’t the Almighty bring the wicked to judgment? Why must the godly wait for him in vain?
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“Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days?
2 Evil people steal land by moving the boundary markers. They steal livestock and put them in their own pastures.
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Some move landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them.
3 They take the orphan’s donkey and demand the widow’s ox as security for a loan.
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They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 The poor are pushed off the path; the needy must hide together for safety.
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They thrust the poor off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves.
5 Like wild donkeys in the wilderness, the poor must spend all their time looking for food, searching even in the desert for food for their children.
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Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert the poor go out to their toil, seeking game; the wasteland yields food for their children.
6 They harvest a field they do not own, and they glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
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They gather their fodder in the field, and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.
7 All night they lie naked in the cold, without clothing or covering.
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They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.
8 They are soaked by mountain showers, and they huddle against the rocks for want of a home.
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They are wet with the rain of the mountains and cling to the rock for lack of shelter.
9 “The wicked snatch a widow’s child from her breast, taking the baby as security for a loan.
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(There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and they take a pledge against the poor. )
10 The poor must go about naked, without any clothing. They harvest food for others while they themselves are starving.
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They go about naked, without clothing; hungry, they carry the sheaves;
11 They press out olive oil without being allowed to taste it, and they tread in the winepress as they suffer from thirst.
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among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil; they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.
12 The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the wounded cry for help, yet God ignores their moaning.
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From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God charges no one with wrong.
13 “Wicked people rebel against the light. They refuse to acknowledge its ways or stay in its paths.
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“There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths.
14 The murderer rises in the early dawn to kill the poor and needy; at night he is a thief.
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The murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief.
15 The adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No one will see me then.’ He hides his face so no one will know him.
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The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me’; and he veils his face.
16 Thieves break into houses at night and sleep in the daytime. They are not acquainted with the light.
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In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light.
17 The black night is their morning. They ally themselves with the terrors of the darkness.
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For deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.
18 “But they disappear like foam down a river. Everything they own is cursed, and they are afraid to enter their own vineyards.
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“You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land; no treader turns toward their vineyards.
19 The grave consumes sinners just as drought and heat consume snow.
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Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does Sheol those who have sinned.
20 Their own mothers will forget them. Maggots will find them sweet to eat. No one will remember them. Wicked people are broken like a tree in the storm.
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The womb forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are no longer remembered, so wickedness is broken like a tree. ’
21 They cheat the woman who has no son to help her. They refuse to help the needy widow.
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“They wrong the barren, childless woman, and do no good to the widow.
22 “God, in his power, drags away the rich. They may rise high, but they have no assurance of life.
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Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when they despair of life.
23 They may be allowed to live in security, but God is always watching them.
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He gives them security, and they are supported, and his eyes are upon their ways.
24 And though they are great now, in a moment they will be gone like all others, cut off like heads of grain.
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They are exalted a little while, and then are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like the heads of grain.
25 Can anyone claim otherwise? Who can prove me wrong?”
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If it is not so, who will prove me a liar and show that there is nothing in what I say? ”
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025