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Therefore justice is far from us,
    and righteousness doesn’t overtake us.
We look for light, but see darkness;
    for brightness, but we walk in obscurity.
10 We grope for the wall like the blind.
    Yes, we grope as those who have no eyes.
We stumble at noon as if it were twilight.
    Among those who are strong, we are like dead men.
11 We all roar like bears
    and moan bitterly like doves.
We look for justice, but there is none,
    for salvation, but it is far off from us.

12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
    and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
    and as for our iniquities, we know them:
13 transgressing and denying Yahweh,
    and turning away from following our God,
    speaking oppression and revolt,
    conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 Justice is turned away backward,
    and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has fallen in the street,
    and uprightness can’t enter.
15 Yes, truth is lacking;
    and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

Yahweh saw it,
    and it displeased him that there was no justice.

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So there is no justice among us,
    and we know nothing about right living.
We look for light but find only darkness.
    We look for bright skies but walk in gloom.
10 We grope like the blind along a wall,
    feeling our way like people without eyes.
Even at brightest noontime,
    we stumble as though it were dark.
Among the living,
    we are like the dead.
11 We growl like hungry bears;
    we moan like mournful doves.
We look for justice, but it never comes.
    We look for rescue, but it is far away from us.
12 For our sins are piled up before God
    and testify against us.
    Yes, we know what sinners we are.
13 We know we have rebelled and have denied the Lord.
    We have turned our backs on our God.
We know how unfair and oppressive we have been,
    carefully planning our deceitful lies.
14 Our courts oppose the righteous,
    and justice is nowhere to be found.
Truth stumbles in the streets,
    and honesty has been outlawed.
15 Yes, truth is gone,
    and anyone who renounces evil is attacked.

The Lord looked and was displeased
    to find there was no justice.

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