1Why are times [for judgment]
from Shaddai not kept,
and why do those who have da'as of him not see his yamim (days [of assize])?

2Some move the boundary stones;
they steal edar, and pasture them.

3They drive away the chamor of the yetomim,
they take the ox of the almanah for a pledge.

4They thrust the needy out of the derech;
the poor of the eretz needs hide themselves together.

5Look, as wild donkeys in the midbar go they forth to their work;
foraging for teref (nourishment);
the wilderness yieldeth lechem for them and for their na'arim.

6They reap every one his fodder in the sadeh,
and they glean the kerem of the resha'im.

7They spend the night arom (naked) without levush (clothing),
they have no covering in the cold.

8They are wet with the rain of the harim,
and embrace the tzur for want of a shelter.

9They pluck the yatom from the breast,
and seize the oni for debt.

10They cause him to go arom without levush,
and they take away the omer (sheaf) from the hungry;

11Which crush olives within their walls,
and tread their winepresses, yet suffer thirst.

12Men groan from out of the Ir,
and the nefesh of the chalalim (wounded ones) crieth out,
yet Eloah chargeth not tiflah (folly) to them.

13They are of those that are moredei ohr (rebelling ones against the light);
they know not the ways thereof,
nor abide in the paths thereof.

14The rotzeach rising with the daylight
killeth the oni and needy,
and in the lailah is like a ganav.

15The eye also of the no'ef is shomer, watching for the duskʼs twilight,
saying, No eye shall see me,
and puts something to hide his face.

16In the choshech they dig through batim (houses);
in the daytime they shut themselves in;
they have no da'as of the ohr.

17For the boker is to them even as the tzalmavet;
they are friends with the terrors of tzalmavet.

18Swiftly vanishing is he on the surface of the mayim;
their chelek is cursed in ha'aretz;
he turneth no more in the derech of the kramim (vineyards).

19Drought and heat consume the snow waters;
so doth Sheol those which have sinned.

20The rechem (womb) shall forget him;
the worm shall feast on him;
he shall be no more remembered;
and wickedness shall be broken like an etz.

21He plundereth the barren that beareth not;
and doeth not good to the almanah.

22He drags away also the mighty with his ko'ach;
he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.

23Though it be given him to be in safety, and he be sustained,
yet His eynayim are upon their ways.

24They are exalted me'at (for a little while),
then they are no more and are withered and snatched away like all others,
and cut off like the tops of the ears of grain.

25And if it be not so, who will charge me with lying,
and make my milah (word) worth nothing? ⁸