² O Lord, ^(B)how long shall I cry for help,
    and you will not hear?
Or cry to you ^(C)“Violence!”
    and you will not save?
^3 (D)Why do you make me see iniquity,
    and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction ^(E)and violence are before me;
    strife and contention arise.
^4 (F)So the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never goes forth.
^(G)For the wicked surround the righteous;
    so justice goes forth perverted.

^5 (H)“Look among the nations, and see;
    wonder and be astounded.
^(I)For I am doing a work in your days
    that you would not believe if told.
⁶ For behold, ^(J)I am raising up the Chaldeans,
    that bitter and hasty nation,
^(K)who march through the breadth of the earth,
    ^(L)to seize dwellings not their own.
⁷ They are dreaded and fearsome;
    ^(M)their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
^8 (N)Their horses are swifter than leopards,
    more fierce than ^(O)the evening wolves;
    their horsemen press proudly on.
Their horsemen come from afar;
    ^(P)they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
⁹ They all come ^(Q)for violence,
    all their faces forward.
    They gather captives ^(R)like sand.
¹⁰ At kings they scoff,
    and at rulers they laugh.
^(S)They laugh at every fortress,
    for ^(T)they pile up earth and take it.
¹¹ Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
    ^(U)guilty men, ^(V)whose own might is their god!”

¹² Are you not ^(W)from everlasting,
    O Lord my God, my Holy One?
    ^(X)We shall not die.
O Lord, ^(Y)you have ordained them as a judgment,
    and you, O ^(Z)Rock, have established them for reproof.
¹³ You who are ^(AA)of purer eyes than to see evil
    and cannot look at wrong,
^(AB)why do you idly look at traitors
    and ^(AC)remain silent when the wicked swallows up
    the man more righteous than he?
¹⁴ You make mankind like the fish of the sea,
    like crawling things that have no ruler.
^15 (AD)He^[a] brings all of them up ^(AE)with a hook;
    he drags them out with his net;
he gathers them in his dragnet;
    so he rejoices and is glad.
^16 (AF)Therefore he sacrifices to his net
    and makes offerings to his dragnet;
for by them he lives in luxury,^[b]
    and his food is rich.
¹⁷ Is he then to keep on emptying his net
    ^(AG)and mercilessly killing nations forever?

5 ^[a] Now muster your troops, O daughter^[b] of troops;
    siege is laid against us;
with a rod ^(A)they strike the judge of Israel
    on the cheek.
^{2 [c] (B)}But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    who are too little to be among the clans of ^(C)Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
    one who is to be ^(D)ruler in Israel,
^(E)whose coming forth is ^(F)from of old,
    from ancient days.
³ Therefore he shall give them up ^(G)until the time
    when she who is in labor has given birth;
then ^(H)the rest of his brothers shall return
    to the people of Israel.
⁴ And he shall stand ^(I)and shepherd his flock ^(J)in the strength of the Lord,
    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now ^(K)he shall be great
    to the ends of the earth.
⁵ And he shall be ^(L)their peace.

⁷ Then ^(Q)the remnant of Jacob shall be
    in the midst of many peoples
like dew from the Lord,
    like showers on the grass,
which delay not for a man
    nor wait for the children of man.
⁸ And ^(R)the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations,
    in the midst of many peoples,
like a lion among the beasts of the forest,
    like a young lion among the flocks of sheep,
^(S)which, when it goes through, treads down
    and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver.
⁹ Your hand shall ^(T)be lifted up over your adversaries,
    and all your enemies shall be cut off.