| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1“Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days? | 1“Why doesn’t the Almighty bring the wicked to judgment? Why must the godly wait for him in vain? |
| 2Some move landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them. | 2Evil people steal land by moving the boundary markers. They steal livestock and put them in their own pastures. |
| 3They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow’s ox for a pledge. | 3They take the orphan’s donkey and demand the widow’s ox as security for a loan. |
| 4They thrust the poor off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves. | 4The poor are pushed off the path; the needy must hide together for safety. |
| 5Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert the poor go out to their toil, seeking game; the wasteland yields food for their children. | 5Like 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. |
| 6They gather their fodder in the field, and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man. | 6They harvest a field they do not own, and they glean in the vineyards of the wicked. |
| 7They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. | 7All night they lie naked in the cold, without clothing or covering. |
| 8They are wet with the rain of the mountains and cling to the rock for lack of shelter. | 8They are soaked by mountain showers, and they huddle against the rocks for want of a home. |
| 9(There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and they take a pledge against the poor.) | 9“The wicked snatch a widow’s child from her breast, taking the baby as security for a loan. |
| 10They go about naked, without clothing; hungry, they carry the sheaves; | 10The poor must go about naked, without any clothing. They harvest food for others while they themselves are starving. |
| 11among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil; they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst. | 11They press out olive oil without being allowed to taste it, and they tread in the winepress as they suffer from thirst. |
| 12From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God charges no one with wrong. | 12The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the wounded cry for help, yet God ignores their moaning. |
| 13“There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths. | 13“Wicked people rebel against the light. They refuse to acknowledge its ways or stay in its paths. |
| 14The murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief. | 14The murderer rises in the early dawn to kill the poor and needy; at night he is a thief. |
| 15The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me’; and he veils his face. | 15The adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No one will see me then.’ He hides his face so no one will know him. |
| 16In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light. | 16Thieves break into houses at night and sleep in the daytime. They are not acquainted with the light. |
| 17For deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness. | 17The black night is their morning. They ally themselves with the terrors of the darkness. |
| 18“You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land; no treader turns toward their vineyards. | 18“But they disappear like foam down a river. Everything they own is cursed, and they are afraid to enter their own vineyards. |
| 19Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does Sheol those who have sinned. | 19The grave consumes sinners just as drought and heat consume snow. |
| 20The womb forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are no longer remembered, so wickedness is broken like a tree.’ | 20Their 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. |
| 21“They wrong the barren, childless woman, and do no good to the widow. | 21They cheat the woman who has no son to help her. They refuse to help the needy widow. |
| 22Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when they despair of life. | 22“God, in his power, drags away the rich. They may rise high, but they have no assurance of life. |
| 23He gives them security, and they are supported, and his eyes are upon their ways. | 23They may be allowed to live in security, but God is always watching them. |
| 24They 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. | 24And though they are great now, in a moment they will be gone like all others, cut off like heads of grain. |
| 25If it is not so, who will prove me a liar and show that there is nothing in what I say?” | 25Can anyone claim otherwise? Who can prove me wrong?” |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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