Bilingual reading

“Why aren’t times laid up by the Almighty? Why don’t those who know him see his days?

There are people who remove the landmarks. They violently take away flocks, and feed them.

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

They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the earth all hide themselves.

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.

They cut their food in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked.

They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.

They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.

There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor,

so that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves.

They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst.

From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God doesn’t regard the folly.

“These are of those who rebel against the light. They don’t know its ways, nor stay in its paths.

The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief.

The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me.’ He disguises his face.

In the dark they dig through houses. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They don’t know the light.

For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness, for they know the terrors of the thick darkness.

“They are foam on the surface of the waters. Their portion is cursed on 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.

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.

He devours the barren who don’t bear. He shows no kindness to the widow.

Yet God preserves the mighty by his power. He rises up who has no assurance of life.

God gives them security, and they rest in it. His eyes are on their ways.

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.

If it isn’t so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?”

لِماذا لا يَدَّخِرُ القَديرُ أَزمِنَةً وعارِفوه لا يَشهَدونَ أَيَّامَه؟

فإِنَّ مِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَنقُلونَ الحُدود ويَسلُبونَ القُطْعانَ ويَرعَونَها

يَسوقونَ حِمارَ الأَيتام ويَرتَهِنونَ ثَورَ الأَرمَلة

يُبعِدونَ المُعوِزينَ عن الطَّريق فيَختَبِئُ مَساكينُ الأَرضِ جَميعًا

ها هُم كالحَميرِ الوَحشِيَّةِ في البَرِّيَّة يَخرُجونَ إِلى عَمَلِهم مُبَكِّرينَ إِلى الفَريسة ولَهمُ البَرِّيَّةُ طَعامٌ لِبَنيهِم

يَحصُدونَ حَقلًا لَيسَ لَهم ويَقطِفونَ كَرْمَ الشِّرِّير

يبيتونَ عُراةً بِلا لِباس لا غِطاءَ لَهم في البَرْد

فَيُبَلَّلونَ مِن مَطَرِ الجِبال لا مأوًى لَهم فيَلتَصِقونَ بِالصُّخور

يَخطَفونَ اليَتيمَ عنِ الثُّدِيّ ويَرتَهِنونَ على المِسْكين

فيَذهَبونَ عُراةً لا لِباسَ لَهم ويَحمِلونَ الحُزَمَ وهُم جائِعون

يَعصُرونَ الزَّيتونَ في الرَّحى ويَدوسونَ في المَعصَرَةِ وهم عِطاش

في المَدينَةِ أُناسٌ يَنتَحِبون وأَنْفاسُ المَجْروحينَ تَستَغيث واللهُ لا يَلتَفِتُ إِلى الصَّلاة

وآخَرونَ تَمَرَّدوا على النُّور ولم يَعرِفوا طُرُقَه ولا ٱستَقَرُّوا في سُبُلِه

عِندَ طُلوعِ النُّورِ يَقومُ القاتِل ويَقتُلُ المُعوِزَ والمِسْكين وفي اللَّيلِ يَكونُ لِصًّا

وعَينُ الزَّاني تَتَرَقَّبُ العَتَمَة يَقولُ في نَفْسِه: لا تُبصِرُني عَين فيَجعَلُ بُرقُعًا على وَجهِه

يَنقُبونَ البُيوتَ في الظَّلام ويُغلِقونَ على أَنفُسِهم في النَّهار فلا يَعرِفونَ النُّور

لِأَنَّ الصُّبحَ وظِلَّ المَوتِ شَيءٌ واحِدٌ لَهم إِذ إِنَّهُمُ ٱعتادوا أَهْوالَ ظِلِّ المَوت

يَنْسابونَ أَخِفَّاءَ على وَجهِ المِياه. أَمْلاكُهم مَلْعونةٌ على الأَرْض لا يَتَوَجَّهُ أَحَدٌ إِلى كُرومِهم

القَحْطُ والقَيْظُ يَبتَلِعانِ مِياهَ الثَّلْج وهٰكذا مَثْوى الأَمْواتِ يَبتَلِعُ الخاطِئين

تَنْساه الرَّحِمُ ويَتَذَوَّقُه الدُّود ولا يَعودُ يُذكَر والإِثْمُ يُحَطَّمُ كالشَّجَرَة

يُسيءُ إِلى العاقِرِ الَّتي لا تَلِد ولا يُحسِنُ إِلى الأَرمَلَة

لٰكِنَّ الَّذي بِقُوَّتِه يَجُرُّ المُقتَدرِين يَقومُ فَلا يأمَنونَ على حَياتِهم

يُؤتيهمِ الطُّمَأنينَةَ فَيَرْتاحونَ إِلَيها إِلَّا أَنَّ عَينَيه على طُرُقِهم

تَرَفَّعوا قَليلًا ثُمَّ لم يَكونوا. إِنْهاروا وحُصِدوا كسائِرِ النَّاس وقُطِعوا كرُؤُوسِ السَّنابِل

وإِلَّا فمَن إِذًا يُكَذِّبُني ويَجعَلُ كَلامي لا شَيء»