² “How long, Lord, must I cry out for help,
but you won’t listen?
I’m crying out to you, ‘Violence!’
    but you aren’t providing deliverance.
³ Why are you forcing me to look at iniquity
    and to stare at wickedness?
Social havoc and oppression are all around me;
    there are legal conflicts, and disputes abound.
⁴ Therefore, the Law has become paralyzed,
    and justice never comes about.
Because criminals outnumber^[a] the righteous,
    whenever judgments are issued, they come out crooked.”