| King James Bible | New International Version |
| 1Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days? | 1"Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who know him look in vain for such days? |
| 2Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof. | 2There are those who move boundary stones; they pasture flocks they have stolen. |
| 3They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge. | 3They drive away the orphan's donkey and take the widow's ox in pledge. |
| 4They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together. | 4They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding. |
| 5Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children. | 5Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children. |
| 6They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked. | 6They gather fodder in the fields and glean in the vineyards of the wicked. |
| 7They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold. | 7Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked; they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold. |
| 8They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter. | 8They are drenched by mountain rains and hug the rocks for lack of shelter. |
| 9They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor. | 9The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt. |
| 10They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry; | 10Lacking clothes, they go about naked; they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry. |
| 11Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst. | 11They crush olives among the terraces; they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst. |
| 12Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them. | 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. |
| 13They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof. | 13"There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths. |
| 14The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief. | 14When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up, kills the poor and needy, and in the night steals forth like a thief. |
| 15The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face. | 15The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, 'No eye will see me,' and he keeps his face concealed. |
| 16In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light. | 16In the dark, thieves break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light. |
| 17For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death. | 17For all of them, midnight is their morning; they make friends with the terrors of darkness. |
| 18He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards. | 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. |
| 19Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned. | 19As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow, so the grave snatches away those who have sinned. |
| 20The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree. | 20The womb forgets them, the worm feasts on them; the wicked are no longer remembered but are broken like a tree. |
| 21He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow. | 21They prey on the barren and childless woman, and to the widow they show no kindness. |
| 22He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life. | 22But God drags away the mighty by his power; though they become established, they have no assurance of life. |
| 23Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways. | 23He may let them rest in a feeling of security, but his eyes are on their ways. |
| 24They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn. | 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. |
| 25And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth? | 25"If this is not so, who can prove me false and reduce my words to nothing?" |
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