5
Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert the poor1go out to their toil, 2seeking game; the wasteland yields food for their children.
6
They gather their fodder in the field, and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.
7
They 3lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.
8
They are wet with the rain of the mountains and 4cling to the rock for lack of shelter.
9
(There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and they take a pledge against the poor.)
10
They go about naked, without clothing; hungry, they 5carry the sheaves;
11
among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil; they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.
12
From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of 6the wounded cries for help; yet God charges no one with 7wrong.
13
"There are those who rebel 8against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths.
14
The murderer rises before it is light, that he 9may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief.
15
The eye of the adulterer also waits for 10the twilight, saying, 'No 11eye will see me'; and he veils his face.
16
In the dark they 12dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light.
17
For 13deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.
18
"You say, 14'Swift are they on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land; no treader turns toward their vineyards.
19
Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does 15Sheol those who have sinned.
20
The womb forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are 16no longer remembered, so wickedness is broken like 17a tree.'
21
"They wrong the barren, childless woman, and do no good to the widow.
22
Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when they despair of life.
23
He gives them security, and they are supported, and his 18eyes are upon their ways.
24
They are exalted 19a little while, and then 20are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are 21cut off like the heads of grain.
25
If it is 22not so, who will prove me a liar and show that there is nothing in what I say?"