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)

¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not blossom
    and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails
    and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold
    and there is no herd in the stalls,^(A)
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will exult in the God of my salvation.^(B)
19 God, the Lord, is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer
    and makes me tread upon the heights.^[a]