CHAPTER 24
Why
does the Almighty
not
reserve
times for judgment?
Why may those who know Him
never
see
His days?
Indeed,
like wild donkeys
in the desert,
the poor go
to work
foraging
for food;
the wasteland
is food
for their children.
The fatherless infant
is snatched
from the breast;
the nursing child
of the poor
is seized for a debt.
From the city,
men
groan,
and the souls
of the wounded
cry out,
yet God
charges
no one
with wrongdoing.
When daylight is gone,
the murderer
rises
to kill
the poor
and needy;
in the night
he is
like a thief.
The eye
of the adulterer
watches
for twilight.
Thinking,
‘No
eye
will see me,’
he covers
his face.
In the dark
they dig through
houses;
by day
they shut themselves in,
never
to experience
the light.
For
to them,
deep darkness
is their
morning;
surely
they are friends with
the terrors
of darkness!
They
are but foam
on
the surface
of the water;
their portion
of the land
is cursed,
so that no one
would turn
into
their vineyards.
The womb
forgets them;
the worm
feeds on them;
they are remembered
no
more.
So injustice
is like a broken
tree.
They are exalted
for a moment,
then they are gone;
they are brought low
and gathered up
like all others;
they are cut off
like heads
of grain.