1“Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment?
Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?
2There are those who move boundary stones;
they pasture flocks they have stolen.
3They drive away the orphan’s donkey
and take the widow’s ox in pledge.
4They thrust the needy from the path
and force all the poor of the land into hiding.
5Like wild donkeys in the desert,
the poor go about their labor of foraging food;
the wasteland provides food for their children.
6They gather fodder in the fields
and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
7Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked;
they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.
8They are drenched by mountain rains
and hug the rocks for lack of shelter.
9The fatherless child is snatched from the breast;
the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.
10Lacking clothes, they go about naked;
they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.
11They crush olives among the terraces24:11 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.;
they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
12The groans of the dying rise from the city,
and the souls of the wounded cry out for help.
But God charges no one with wrongdoing.
13“There are those who rebel against the light,
who do not know its ways
or stay in its paths.
14When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up,
kills the poor and needy,
and in the night steals forth like a thief.
15The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk;
he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’
and he keeps his face concealed.
16In the dark, thieves break into houses,
but by day they shut themselves in;
they want nothing to do with the light.
17For all of them, midnight is their morning;
they make friends with the terrors of darkness.
18“Yet they are foam on the surface of the water;
their portion of the land is cursed,
so that no one goes to the vineyards.
19As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow,
so the grave snatches away those who have sinned.
20The womb forgets them,
the worm feasts on them;
the wicked are no longer remembered
but are broken like a tree.
21They prey on the barren and childless woman,
and to the widow they show no kindness.
22But God drags away the mighty by his power;
though they become established, they have no assurance of life.
23He may let them rest in a feeling of security,
but his eyes are on their ways.
24For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone;
they are brought low and gathered up like all others;
they are cut off like heads of grain.
25“If this is not so, who can prove me false
and reduce my words to nothing?”
124:1 a Yer 46:10 b Bik 1:7“Lwaki Ayinzabyonna tagera biseera?
Lwaki abo abamumanyi tebalaba nnaku zaageze?
224:2 Ma 19:14; 27:17; Nge 23:10Abantu bajjulula amayinja agalamba ensalo,
ne balunda ebisolo bye babbye.
324:3 Ma 24:6, 10, 12, 17; Yob 22:6Batwala endogoyi ya mulekwa
ne batwala ennume ya nnamwandu ng’omusingo.
424:4 a Yob 29:12; 30:25; Zab 41:1 b Nge 28:28Basindiikiriza omunaku ne bamuggya mu kkubo,
ne bawaliriza abaavu bonna mu ggwanga okwekweka.
524:5 Zab 104:23Endogoyi ez’omu ddungu nga bwe zeeyisa,
n’abaavu bagenda bategana nnyo nga balondalonda obumere;
mu ddungu mwe balonderera emmere y’abaana baabwe.
6Essubi eririibwa ensolo zaabwe baliggya ku ttale lye,
ne banoga n’emizabbibu gy’aboonoonyi.
724:7 Kuv 22:27; Yob 22:6Olw’okubulwa engoye, basula bwereere;
tebalina kye beebikka mu mpewo.
824:8 Kgb 4:5Enkuba y’oku nsozi ebatobya,
ne banywegera enjazi olw’okubulwa we beggama.
924:9 Ma 24:17Omwana atalina kitaawe bamusika ku mabeere;
omwana omuwere ow’omwavu bamuwamba olw’ebbanja.
10Olw’okubulwa engoye bayita bwereere;
betikka ebinywa by’emmere naye basigala tebalidde.
11Basogolera emizabbibu ku mayinja,
ne basambira mu ssogolero, naye ne basigala nga balumwa ennyonta.
1224:12 a Ez 26:15 b Yob 9:23Okusinda kw’abantu kuwulirwa mu kibuga,
n’emmeeme z’abafunye ebisago zikaabira obuyambi.
Naye Katonda talina gw’asinzisa musango.
1324:13 a Yk 3:19-20 b Is 5:20“Waliwo abo abajeemera omusana,
abatamanyi makubo ge,
abatasigala mu kwaka kwagwo.
1424:14 Zab 10:9Omutemu agolokoka nga obudde buzibye
n’atta omwavu n’ali mu kwetaaga;
ekiro abbira ddala.
1524:15 a Nge 7:8-9 b Zab 10:11Eriiso ly’omwenzi lirinda buzibe,
ng’agamba nti, ‘Tewali liiso linandaba,’
n’abikka ne ku maaso ge.
1624:16 a Kuv 22:2; Mat 6:19 b Yk 3:20Mu kizikiza mwe basimira amayumba,
kyokka emisana baba beggalidde.
Tebaagala kitangaala.
17Eri abo bonna ekizikiza ekikutte bwe budde bwabwe obw’oku makya.
Kubanga bakola omukwano n’ebitiisa eby’omu nzikiza.
1824:18 a Yob 9:26 b Yob 22:16Bali ng’ebyovu ebiri kungulu ku mazzi,
era omugabo gwabwe mukolimire mu nsi.
Tewali musogozi n’omu alaga mu nnimiro zaabwe ez’emizabbibu.
1924:19 a Yob 6:17 b Yob 21:13Nga ekyeeya n’ebbugumu bwe bimalawo amazzi agava mu muzira,
aboonoonyi bwe batyo bwe bamalibwawo emagombe.
2024:20 a Yob 18:17; Nge 10:7 b Zab 31:12; Dan 4:14Olubuto lunaamwerabiranga;
envunyu eneemulyanga n’ewoomerwa.
Tajjukirwenga nate,
omukozi w’ebibi amenyeka ng’omuti.
2124:21 Yob 22:9Bayiikiriza ne banyaga omugumba atazaala.
Tebakolera nnamwandu bya kisa.
2224:22 Ma 28:66Naye Katonda awalula ab’amaanyi olw’obuyinza bwe.
Newaakubadde nga bakulaakulana, kyokka tebalina bukakafu ku bulamu bwabwe.
2324:23 a Yob 12:6 b Yob 11:11Ayinza okubaleka ne babeera mu mirembe
n’amaaso ge gabeera ku makubo gaabwe.
2424:24 a Yob 14:21; Zab 37:10 b Is 17:5Bayimusibwa akaseera katono, oluvannyuma nga tebakyaliwo.
Bakkakkanyizibwa ne bakala ne baggyibwawo nga abalala bonna.
Basalibwa ng’emitwe gy’ebirimba by’eŋŋaano.
2524:25 Yob 6:28; 27:4“Bwe kiba nga si bwe kiri, ani anannumiriza obulimba,
n’afuula okwogera kwange okutaliimu?”
