Lord, don’t Your eyes look for faithfulness?(A)
You have struck them, but they felt no pain.(B)
You finished them off,
but they refused to accept discipline.(C)
They made their faces harder than rock,(D)
and they refused to return.(E)

Then I thought:

They are just the poor;
they have played the fool.
For they don’t understand the way of the Lord,(F)
the justice of their God.(G)
I will go to the powerful
and speak to them.
Surely they know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.(H)
However, these also had broken the yoke
and torn off the chains.(I)
Therefore, a lion from the forest will strike them down.(J)
A wolf from an arid plain will ravage them.
A leopard(K) keeps watch over their cities.
Anyone who leaves them will be torn to pieces
because their rebellious acts are many,(L)
their unfaithful deeds numerous.(M)

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Lord, you are searching for honesty.
You struck your people,
    but they paid no attention.
You crushed them,
    but they refused to be corrected.
They are determined, with faces set like stone;
    they have refused to repent.

Then I said, “But what can we expect from the poor?
    They are ignorant.
They don’t know the ways of the Lord.
    They don’t understand God’s laws.
So I will go and speak to their leaders.
    Surely they know the ways of the Lord
    and understand God’s laws.”
But the leaders, too, as one man,
    had thrown off God’s yoke
    and broken his chains.
So now a lion from the forest will attack them;
    a wolf from the desert will pounce on them.
A leopard will lurk near their towns,
    tearing apart any who dare to venture out.
For their rebellion is great,
    and their sins are many.

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