1. “Why are times not appointed by the Almighty?Why do those who know him not see his days?
2. Men move boundary stones;they seize the flock and pasture them.
3. They drive away the orphan’s donkey;they take the widow’s ox as a pledge.
4. They turn the needy from the pathway,and the poor of the land hide themselves together.
5. Like wild donkeys in the desertthey go out to their labor, seeking diligently for food;the wasteland provides food for them and for their children.
6. They reap fodder in the field,and glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
7. They spend the night naked because they lack clothing;they have no covering against the cold.
8. They are soaked by mountain rainsand huddle in the rocks because they lack shelter.
9. The fatherless child is snatched from the breast,the infant of the poor is taken as a pledge.
10. They go about naked, without clothing,and go hungry while they carry the sheaves.
11. They press out the olive oil between the rows of olive trees;they tread the winepresses while they are thirsty.
12. From the city the dying groan,and the wounded cry out for help,but God charges no one with wrongdoing.
13. There are those who rebel against the light;they do not know its ways and they do not stay on its paths.
14. Before daybreak the murderer rises up;he kills the poor and the needy;in the night he is like a thief.
15. And the eye of the adulterer watches for the twilight,thinking, ‘No eye can see me,’and covers his face with a mask.