² O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
    and you will not listen?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
    and you will not save?^(A)
3 Why do you make me see wrongdoing
    and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me;
    strife and contention arise.^(B)
4 So the law becomes slack,
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked surround the righteous;
    therefore judgment comes forth perverted.^(C)

2 I will stand at my watchpost
    and station myself on the rampart;
I will keep watch to see what he will say to me
    and what he^[a] will answer concerning my complaint.^(A)
2 Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write the vision;
    make it plain on tablets,
    so that a runner may read it.^(B)
3 For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
    it speaks of the end and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
    it will surely come; it will not delay.^(C)
4 Look at the proud!
    Their spirit is not right in them,
    but the righteous live by their faithfulness.^(D)

¹ By the rivers of Babylon—
    there we sat down, and there we wept
    when we remembered Zion.^(A)
2 On the willows^[a] there
    we hung up our harps.
³ For there our captors
    asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”^(B)