² “How long will you say these things,
    and the words of your mouth be a ^(B)great wind?
^3 (C)Does God pervert justice?
    Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
⁴ If your ^(D)children have sinned against him,
    he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.
⁵ If you will seek God
    and ^(E)plead with the Almighty for mercy,
⁶ if you are pure and upright,
    surely then he will ^(F)rouse himself for you
    and ^(G)restore your rightful habitation.
⁷ And though your beginning was small,
    ^(H)your latter days will be very great.

⁸ “For ^(I)inquire, please, of bygone ages,
    and consider what ^(J)the fathers have searched out.
⁹ For we are but of yesterday and know nothing,
    for our days on earth are ^(K)a shadow.
¹⁰ Will they not teach you and tell you
    and utter words out of their understanding?

¹¹ “Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
    Can reeds flourish where there is no water?
¹² While yet in flower and not cut down,
    they ^(L)wither before any other plant.
¹³ Such are the paths of all who ^(M)forget God;
    ^(N)the hope of ^(O)the godless shall perish.
¹⁴ His confidence is severed,
    and his trust is ^(P)a spider's web.^[a]
15 He leans against his ^(Q)house, but it does not stand;
    he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.
¹⁶ He is a lush plant before the sun,
    and his ^(R)shoots spread over his garden.
¹⁷ His roots entwine the stone heap;
    he looks upon a house of stones.
¹⁸ If he is destroyed from his ^(S)place,
    then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never ^(T)seen you.’
¹⁹ Behold, this is the joy of his way,
    and out of ^(U)the soil others will spring.

²⁰ “Behold, God will not reject a blameless man,
    nor take the hand of evildoers.
²¹ He will yet ^(V)fill your mouth with laughter,
    and your lips with shouting.
²² Those who hate you will be ^(W)clothed with shame,
    and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

⁹ Therefore justice is far from us,
    and righteousness does not overtake us;
^(I)we hope for light, and behold, darkness,
    and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
^10 (J)We grope for the wall like the blind;
    we grope like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
    ^(K)among those in full vigor we are like dead men.
¹¹ We all growl like bears;
    ^(L)we moan and moan like doves;
^(M)we hope for justice, but there is none;
    for salvation, but it is far from us.
¹² For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
    and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
    and we know our iniquities:
¹³ transgressing, and denying the Lord,
    and turning back from following our God,
^(N)speaking oppression and revolt,
    conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him^[a]
    that there was no justice.
^16 (P)He saw that there was no man,
    and wondered that there was no one to intercede;
then his own arm brought him salvation,
    and his righteousness upheld him.
^17 (Q)He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
    and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
    and wrapped himself in ^(R)zeal as a cloak.
^18 (S)According to their deeds, so will he repay,
    wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies;
    ^(T)to the coastlands he will render repayment.
^19 (U)So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west,
    and his glory from the rising of the sun;
^(V)for he will come like a rushing stream,^[b]
    which the wind of the Lord drives.

^20 (W)“And ^(X)a Redeemer will come to Zion,
    to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord.