^2 (B)How long, O ^[b]Yahweh, will I call for help,
And You will not hear?
I cry out to You, “Violence!”
Yet You do ^(C)not save.
³ Why do You make me ^(D)see wickedness
And cause me to look on trouble?
Indeed, ^(E)devastation and violence are before me;
^(F)And there is strife, and contention is lifted up.
⁴ Therefore the ^(G)law is ^[c]ignored,
And justice never comes forth.
For the wicked ^(H)surround the righteous;
Therefore justice comes forth ^(I)perverted.

⁵ “^(J)See among the nations! And look!
Be also astonished! ^(K)Be astounded!
Because I am doing ^(L)something in your days—
You would not believe if it was recounted to you.
⁶ For behold, I am ^(M)raising up the Chaldeans,
That bitter and hasty nation
Who walks on the breadth of the land
To ^(N)possess dwelling places which are not theirs.
⁷ They are dreaded and ^(O)feared;
Their ^(P)justice and exaltation come forth from themselves.
⁸ Their ^(Q)horses are swifter than leopards
And ^[d]sharper than ^(R)wolves in the evening.
Their ^[e]horsemen come galloping;
Their horsemen come from afar;
They fly like an ^(S)eagle swooping down to devour.
⁹ All of them come for violence.
^[f]Their horde of ^(T)faces moves forward.
And they gather captives like sand.
¹⁰ And they ^(U)mock at kings,
And rulers are a laughing matter to them.
They ^(V)laugh at every fortress
And ^(W)heap up dirt and capture it.
¹¹ Then they will sweep through like the ^(X)wind and pass on.
But they will be held ^(Y)guilty,
They whose ^(Z)power is their god.”

¹² Are You not from ^(AA)everlasting,
O Yahweh, my God, my Holy One?
We will not die.
You, O Yahweh, have ^(AB)placed them to judge;
And You, O ^(AC)Rock, have established them to reprove.
¹³ Your eyes are too ^(AD)pure to see evil,
And You cannot look on trouble.
Why do You ^(AE)look
On those who deal ^(AF)treacherously?
Why are You ^(AG)silent when the wicked ^(AH)swallow up
Those more righteous than they?
¹⁴ And You have made men like the fish of the sea,
Like creeping things without a ruler over them.
¹⁵ The Chaldeans ^(AI)bring all of them up with a hook,
^(AJ)Drag them away with their net,
And gather them together in their fishing net.
Therefore they are glad and rejoice.
¹⁶ Therefore they offer a sacrifice to their net
And ^[g]burn incense to their fishing net
Because through ^(AK)these things their portion is rich
And their food is fat.
¹⁷ Will they therefore empty their ^(AL)net
And continually ^(AM)kill nations without sparing?