| King James Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days? | 1“Why doesn’t the Almighty bring the wicked to judgment? Why must the godly wait for him in vain? |
| 2Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof. | 2Evil people steal land by moving the boundary markers. They steal livestock and put them in their own pastures. |
| 3They drive away the ass 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 turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together. | 4The poor are pushed off the path; the needy must hide together for safety. |
| 5Behold, 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. | 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 reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked. | 6They harvest a field they do not own, and they glean in the vineyards of the wicked. |
| 7They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold. | 7All night they lie naked in the cold, without clothing or covering. |
| 8They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter. | 8They are soaked by mountain showers, and they huddle against the rocks for want of a home. |
| 9They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor. | 9“The wicked snatch a widow’s child from her breast, taking the baby as security for a loan. |
| 10They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry; | 10The poor must go about naked, without any clothing. They harvest food for others while they themselves are starving. |
| 11Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst. | 11They press out olive oil without being allowed to taste it, and they tread in the winepress as they suffer from thirst. |
| 12Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them. | 12The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the wounded cry for help, yet God ignores their moaning. |
| 13They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof. | 13“Wicked people rebel against the light. They refuse to acknowledge its ways or stay in its paths. |
| 14The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief. | 14The murderer rises in the early dawn to kill the poor and needy; at night he is a thief. |
| 15The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth 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, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light. | 16Thieves break into houses at night and sleep in the daytime. They are not acquainted with the light. |
| 17For 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. | 17The black night is their morning. They ally themselves with the terrors of the darkness. |
| 18He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the 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 consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned. | 19The grave consumes sinners just as drought and heat consume snow. |
| 20The 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. | 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. |
| 21He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow. | 21They cheat the woman who has no son to help her. They refuse to help the needy widow. |
| 22He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life. | 22“God, in his power, drags away the rich. They may rise high, but they have no assurance of life. |
| 23Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways. | 23They may be allowed to live in security, but God is always watching them. |
| 24They 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. | 24And though they are great now, in a moment they will be gone like all others, cut off like heads of grain. |
| 25And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth? | 25Can anyone claim otherwise? Who can prove me wrong?” |
| King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. | 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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