Why are not times treasured up with the Almighty? why do not they that know him see his days?

They remove the landmarks; they violently take away the flocks and pasture them;

They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge;

They turn the needy out of the way: the afflicted of the land all hide themselves.

Lo, as wild asses in the desert, they go forth to their work, seeking early for the prey: the wilderness yieldeth them food for their children.

They reap in the field the fodder thereof, and they gather the vintage of the wicked;

They pass the night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold;

They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and for want of a shelter embrace the rock ...

They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor:

These go naked without clothing, and, hungry, they bear the sheaf;

They press out oil within their walls, they tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.

There are those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.

In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves in; they know not the light:

For the morning is to them all as the shadow of death; for they are familiar with the terrors of the shadow of death.

They are exalted for a little, and are no more; they are laid low; like all other are they gathered, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.

This is the portion of the wicked man with God, and the heritage of the violent, which they receive from the Almighty: --

Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold which they refine;

He openeth a shaft far from the inhabitants of the earth: forgotten of the foot, they hang suspended; away below men they hover.

He bindeth the streams that they drip not, and what is hidden he bringeth forth to light.

Unto me they listened, and waited, and kept silence for my counsel:

After my words they spoke not again, and my speech dropped upon them;

And they waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.

If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and they troubled not the serenity of my countenance.

But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.

Withered up through want and hunger, they flee into waste places long since desolate and desert:

They gather the salt-wort among the bushes, and the roots of the broom for their food.

They are driven forth from among men they cry after them as after a thief --

They bray among the bushes; under the brambles they are gathered together:

Sons of fools, and sons of nameless sires, they are driven out of the land.

They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, yea, they spare not to spit in my face.

For he hath loosed my cord and afflicted me; so they cast off the bridle before me.

At my right hand rise the young brood; they push away my feet, and raise up against me their pernicious ways;

They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, without any to help them;

They come in as through a wide breach: amid the confusion they roll themselves onward.

Terrors are turned against me; they pursue mine honour as the wind; and my welfare is passed away like a cloud.

By their great force they have become my raiment; they bind me about as the collar of my coat.

Indeed, no prayer availeth when he stretcheth out his hand: though they cry when he destroyeth.

If I have despised the cause of my bondman or of my bondmaid, when they contended with me,

and against his three friends was his anger kindled, because they found no answer, and yet condemned Job.

But Elihu had waited till Job had finished speaking, because they were older than he.

They were amazed, they answered no more; words failed them.

And I waited, for they spoke not, but stood still, and answered no more; --

How then to him that accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich man more than the poor? for they are all the work of his hands.

In a moment they die, even at midnight the people are convulsed and pass away; and the strong are taken away without hand.

Since he knoweth their actions; and he overthroweth them in the night, and they are crushed.

Because they have turned back from him, and would consider none of his ways;

So that they cause the cry of the poor to come unto him, and he heareth the cry of the afflicted.

Look unto the heavens and see; and survey the skies: they are higher than thou.

By reason of the multitude of oppressions they cry; they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty:

There they cry, and he answereth not, because of the pride of evil men.

He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne doth he even set them for ever; and they are exalted.

And if, bound in fetters, they be held in cords of affliction,

Then he sheweth them their work, and their transgressions, because they have increased.

And he openeth their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity.

If they hearken and serve him, they shall accomplish their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.

But if they hearken not, they shall pass away by the sword, and expire without knowledge.

But the godless in heart heap up anger; they cry not when he bindeth them:

For he draweth up the drops of water: they distil in rain from the vapour which he formeth,

And the wild beast goeth into its lair, and they remain in their dens.

And they are turned every way by his guidance, that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the circuit of the earth,

Dost thou send forth lightnings that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?

When they crouch in their dens, and abide in the thicket to lie in wait?

Who provideth for the raven his food, when his young ones cry unto God, and they wander for lack of meat?

Dost thou number the months that they fulfil? and knowest thou the time when they bring forth?

They bow themselves, they give birth to their young ones, they cast out their pains;

Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open field, they go forth, and return not unto them.

She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers; her labour is in vain, without her concern.

Shall he be taken in front? will they pierce through his nose in the trap?

Shall partners make traffic of him, will they divide him among merchants?

They are joined each to its fellow; they stick together, and cannot be sundered.

The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are fused upon him, they cannot be moved.

When he raiseth himself up, the mighty are afraid: they are beside themselves with consternation.

And all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house, and they condoled with him, and comforted him concerning all the evil that Jehovah had brought upon him; and every one gave him a piece of money, and every one a golden ring.

{A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.} Jehovah, how many are they that trouble me, many they that rise up against me!

For there is no certainty in their mouth; their inward part is perversion, their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.

Bring guilt upon them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels: drive them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against thee.

And all that trust in thee shall rejoice: for ever shall they shout joyously, and thou wilt protect them; and they that love thy name shall exult in thee.

All mine enemies shall be ashamed and tremble exceedingly; they will turn, they will be ashamed suddenly.

When mine enemies turned back, they stumbled and perished at thy presence:

And they that know thy name will confide in thee; for thou, Jehovah, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.

The nations are sunk down in the pit that they made; in the net that they hid is their own foot taken.

The wicked, in his pride, doth hotly pursue the afflicted. They shall be taken in the devices that they have imagined.

For behold, the wicked bend the bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may in darkness shoot at the upright in heart.

They speak falsehood every one with his neighbour: with flattering lip, with a double heart, do they speak.

Because of the oppression of the afflicted, because of the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith Jehovah, I will set him in safety, at whom they puff.

{To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.} The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They have corrupted themselves, they have done abominable works: there is none that doeth good.

They have all gone aside, they are together become corrupt: there is none that doeth good, not even one.

Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, eating up my people as they eat bread? They call not upon Jehovah.

There were they in great fear; for God is in the generation of the righteous.

They are enclosed in their own fat; with their mouth they speak proudly.

They have now encompassed us in our steps; their eyes have they set, bowing down to the earth.

From men who are thy hand, O Jehovah, from men of this age: their portion is in this life, and their belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure; they have their fill of sons, and leave the rest of their substance to their children.

He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me; for they were mightier than I.

They encountered me in the day of my calamity, but Jehovah was my stay.

I pursued mine enemies, and overtook them; and I turned not again till they were consumed.

I crushed them, and they were not able to rise: they fell under my feet.

They cried, and there was none to save; unto Jehovah, and he answered them not.

At the hearing of the ear, they obey me: strangers come cringing unto me.

Strangers have faded away, and they come trembling forth from their close places.

The fear of Jehovah is clean, enduring for ever; the judgments of Jehovah are truth, they are righteous altogether: