約伯記 24
1 全能者為何不劃定一個期限呢﹖忠於他的人為何看不到他的日子﹖
“Why aren’t times laid up by the Almighty? Why don’t those who know him see his days?
2 惡人挪移地界，搶去羊群自去牧放；
There are people who remove the landmarks. They violently take away flocks, and feed them.
3 趕走孤兒的驢，拿去寡婦的牛作抵押；
They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 迫使窮人離開正路，使境內的貧民隱藏不露。
They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the earth all hide themselves.
5 看啊! 他們像曠野的野驢，出來尋覓食物；他們縱使到晚操作，卻找不到養子女的食物。
Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go out to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their children.
6 夜間遂到田間去收割，到惡人的葡萄園中去摘取。
They cut their food in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked.
7 赤身過宿，無衣蔽體；嚴寒之時，沒有舖蓋。
They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.
8 在山中為暴雨淋透，因無處避身，而臥於磐石下。
They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.
9 另有些人將孤兒從母懷中搶去，剝去窮人的衣服作抵押，
There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor,
10 致使他們無衣赤身行走，枵腹擔荷麥捆；
so that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves.
11 在石槽中搾油、踐踏，反受口渴之苦。
They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst.
12 臨死者的呻吟，聲聞城外；負傷者呼求救援，天主卻不理會他們的哀求。
From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God doesn’t regard the folly.
13 另有些人反抗光明，不認識光明的道路，更不走光明的途徑。
“These are of those who rebel against the light. They don’t know its ways, nor stay in its paths.
14 兇手黎明即起，去殺害困苦和貧窮的人，夜間去作盜賊。
The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief.
15 姦夫的眼盼望黃昏，他心裏說：「沒有眼可看見我! 」就將自己的臉遮蔽起來。
The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me.’ He disguises his face.
16 竊賊夜間挖穿屋牆，白日將自己關起，不願看見光明，
In the dark they dig through houses. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They don’t know the light.
17 因為早晨對這班人有如死影，他們已熟悉了黑暗的恐怖。
For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness, for they know the terrors of the thick darkness.
18 他們輕如水萍，隨波逐流，地上的家業已被詛咒，榨酒者不再走入他們的葡萄園。
“They are foam on the surface of the waters. Their portion is cursed in the earth. They don’t turn into the way of the vineyards.
Drought and heat consume the snow waters, so does Sheol those who have sinned. (Sheol h7585)
20 懷孕他的要忘掉他，蛆蟲要腐蝕他，人不再記念他，邪惡如樹一般被人砍倒。
The womb will forget him. The worm will feed sweetly on him. He will be no more remembered. Unrighteousness will be broken as a tree.
21 他欺壓了不生育的石女，沒有善待寡婦。
He devours the barren who don’t bear. He shows no kindness to the widow.
22 然而天主將以威力擄獲強者，他必興起，使他們不能保存生命。
Yet God preserves the mighty by his power. He rises up who has no assurance of life.
23 雖暫時讓他們平安休息，但他的眼正監視著他們的行徑。
God gives them security, and they rest in it. His eyes are on their ways.
24 他們居於高位，不久即不見了；他們必喪亡，有如鹹草；必被剪去，猶如麥穗。
They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone. Yes, they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as all others, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.
25 是否如此﹖誰能證明我說謊，誰能以我的話為荒誕﹖
If it isn’t so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?”
