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¹¹My foot hath held fast to His steps,

His way have I kept, and turned not aside.

¹²I have not gone back from the commandment of His lips;

I have treasured up the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.

 

¹³But He is at one with Himself, and who can turn Him?

And what His soul desireth, even that He doeth.

¹⁴For He will perform that which is appointed for me;

And many such things are with Him.

¹⁵Therefore am I affrighted at His presence;

When I consider, I am afraid of Him.

¹⁶Yea, God hath made my heart faint,

And the Almighty hath affrighted me;

¹⁷Because I was not cut off before the darkness,

Neither did He cover the thick darkness from my face.

24 Why are times not laid up by the Almighty?

And why do not they that know Him see His days?

²There are that remove the landmarks;

They violently take away flocks, and feed them.

³They drive away the ass of the fatherless,

They take the widow's ox for a pledge.

⁴They turn the needy out of the way;

The poor of the earth hide themselves together.

⁵Behold, as wild asses in the wilderness

They go forth to their work, seeking diligently for food;

The desert yieldeth them bread for their children.

⁶They cut his provender in the field;

And they despoil the vineyard of the wicked.

⁷They lie all night naked without clothing,

And have no covering in the cold.

⁸They are wet with the showers of the mountains,

And embrace the rock for want of a shelter.

⁹There are that pluck the fatherless from the breast,

And take a pledge of the poor;

¹⁰So that they go about naked without clothing,

And being hungry they carry the sheaves;

¹¹They make oil within the rows of these men;

They tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.

¹²From out of the populous city men groan,

And the soul of the wounded crieth out;

Yet God imputeth it not for unseemliness.

 

¹³These are of them that rebel against the light;

They know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.

¹⁴The murderer riseth with the light, to kill the poor and needy;

And in the night he is as a thief.

¹⁵The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight,

Saying: 'No eye shall see me';

And he putteth a covering on his face. ¹⁶In the dark they dig through houses;

They shut themselves up in the day-time;

They know not the light.

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