Why are not times of judgment treasured up by the Almighty? and why do those who know him never see his days?

Why are the times [i.e., the time of a man's death] not hidden from the Almighty [(so that he could die before punishment overtook him)]? And [why] do His knowers not see [i.e., not know] His ways [i.e., Why can they not account for His ways (as in the following:)]?

Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed them.

They [the evildoers] annex the boundaries [of their neighbors]. They steal the flock and graze it.

They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.

They lead away the ass of the orphans. They take the widow's ox as a pledge.

They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together;

They repel the paupers from the road; the poor of the earth [(in fear of them)] hide together [from them].

behold, like wild asses in the desert, they go forth to their work; rising betimes to work for food: the wilderness yields food for them for their children;

They are [like the] wild asses of the desert. They go out on their foray; they stalk their prey. The wasteland is food for their youths [(who accompany them)].

they reap his corn in the field; and they glean the vineyard of the wicked;

They harvest [for themselves] the produce in the field [of another], and the(se) wicked (ones) crop [for themselves] the vineyard [of another].

they lie all night naked without clothing, and they have no covering in the cold;

They make [(their victims)] lie naked [at night], without clothing, and for want of cover embrace the rock.

they are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.

These pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor,

They rob from the orphan's breast [i.e., from his source of sustenance] and take pledges from the poor.

who go naked without clothing; and they that carry the sheaf are hungry;

They cause [him] to go naked, without a garment, and from the hungry they take the sheaves [of leket (viz. Leviticus 23:22)].

they also make the oil within the olive rows of the wicked; they tread the winepresses, and suffer thirst.

Between their rows [of olives] they [(the owners)] make oil; they tread the winepresses — yet they go thirsty [(for the wicked steal their oil and wine)].

Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded cries out: yet God lays no blame on them.

The people [(whom they ravish)] scream from the city, and the slain cry out, and G d [(apparently)] does not deem it wrong [(for He does not punish the wicked)].

They are of those who rebel against the light; they know not its ways, nor abide in its paths.

They [(these wicked ones)] are the rain-rebels [(the generation of the flood, who rebelled against G d, saying that they did not need Him even for rain [(which ascended from the ground [viz. Genesis 2:6])]. They did not know His ways and did not sit in His paths.

The murderer rising with the light kills the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief.

If the murderer wakes at daylight, he slays the poor and the needy, and [if] at night, he is like a thief [(breaking into houses)].

The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and he disguises his face.

And the eye of the adulterer [among them] awaits the night, saying: "No eye will see me," and in the dark he sets his face [to transgress].

In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up: they know not the light.

He [(the wicked one who is not bold enough to operate by day)] tunnels under houses in the darkness. They are sealed [in their houses] in the daytime; they do not know the light.

For the morning is to them even as deep darkness: for he was acquainted with the terrors of deep darkness.

For night was one with [(i.e., the same as)] morning to them, for he [i.e., each one of them] recognized the terrors [i.e., the demons] of night [(and was not afraid of them)].

He was swift upon the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: no treader turns towards their vineyards.

[(When Noah and Methuselah reproved them, warning them against the flood, they would say:)] "It is easy [to escape (by boat)] over the face of the waters. Let their portion [(that of the righteous)] in the land be cursed!" [And] he [(each one of the wicked)] would not turn [i.e., follow in] the way of the "vineyards" [(the righteous))].

Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so does She᾽ol those who have sinned.

Dryness and heat they steal [(Because of the wickedness of the generation of the flood, certain natural ordinances were suspended)], [and they steal even] snow-water [because] they have sinned [unto] Sheol.

The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken like a tree.

[His] womb [i.e., his mother] will forget him. He is sweet to the worm. He will no longer be remembered, and [(the man of wrong)] is broken as [the breaking of] a stick.

He preys on the barren childless woman: and does not good to the widow.

[(He marries two wives: one, for children; the other, for lust-gratification, whom he gives a potion to drink so that she cannot conceive and retains her beauty)]. He pampers the barren one who cannot bear, and the "widow" he does not provide for.

And he draws the mighty away with his power: he rises up, and no man is sure of life.

And He pulls the tyrants with His strength [(from the grace period He granted them, to destruction.)] [One day (the day of the flood)] he rises, and does not [thereafter] believe in life!

Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he rests; yet his eyes are upon their ways.

He [(G d)] grants him security, and he relies [(on his wealth, until the day of his destruction)], and His eyes are [fixed] on their ways.

Go up a little, and he is no more: go down at all and they are shut up: they wither like the top of an ear of corn.

They are removed [from the world] in a moment and are no more [(without having suffered)], and they are snuffed out like all [things] that are whisked away [at harvest time], and like the head of a stalk they are cut off.

And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?

And if [it is] not [as I say], where is the man, and who is he, that would refute me and put to nought my words [(i.e., my questioning as to why He grants grace periods to the wicked, whereas His lovers, such as I, He does not do away with, but makes them linger on in suffering)]?