⁹ Therefore justice is far from us,
    and righteousness does not reach us.
We wait for light, but^[a] look! there is darkness;
    for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
¹⁰ We grope like the blind along a wall,
    and we grope as without^[b] eyes.
We stumble at noon as in the twilight;
    among the strong we are like the dead.
¹¹ We all groan like bears,
    and we coo mutteringly like doves.
We wait for justice, but^[c] there is none;
    for salvation, but it is far from us.
¹² For our transgressions are numerous before you,
    and our sins testify^[d] against us.
Indeed, our transgressions are with us,
    and we know our iniquities:
¹³ transgressing and denying Yahweh,
    and turning away from following^[e] our God;
speaking oppression and falsehood,
    conceiving and uttering words of deception from the heart.
¹⁴ And justice is pushed back,
    and righteousness stands afar;
for truth stumbles in the public square,
    and straightforwardness is unable to enter,
¹⁵ and truth is missing,
    and he who turns aside from evil is plundered.
And Yahweh saw,
    and it was displeasing in his eyes that there was no justice