¹ Lord, how many are my foes!
    How many rise up against me!
² Many are saying of me,
    “God will not deliver him.^(B)”^[b]

⁵ “Look at the nations and watch—
    and be utterly amazed.^(A)
For I am going to do something in your days
    that you would not believe,
    even if you were told.^(B)
6 I am raising up the Babylonians,^[a](C)
    that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth^(D)
    to seize dwellings not their own.^(E)
7 They are a feared and dreaded people;^(F)
    they are a law to themselves
    and promote their own honor.
⁸ Their horses are swifter^(G) than leopards,
    fiercer than wolves^(H) at dusk.
Their cavalry gallops headlong;
    their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;
⁹     they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes^[b] advance like a desert wind
    and gather prisoners^(I) like sand.
¹⁰ They mock kings
    and scoff at rulers.^(J)
They laugh at all fortified cities;
    by building earthen ramps^(K) they capture them.
¹¹ Then they sweep past like the wind^(L) and go on—
    guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”^(M)

¹² Lord, are you not from everlasting?^(N)
    My God, my Holy One,^(O) you^[c] will never die.^(P)
You, Lord, have appointed^(Q) them to execute judgment;
    you, my Rock,^(R) have ordained them to punish.
¹³ Your eyes are too pure^(S) to look on evil;
    you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.^(T)
Why then do you tolerate^(U) the treacherous?^(V)
    Why are you silent while the wicked
    swallow up those more righteous than themselves?^(W)
14 You have made people like the fish in the sea,
    like the sea creatures that have no ruler.
¹⁵ The wicked^(X) foe pulls all of them up with hooks,^(Y)
    he catches them in his net,^(Z)
he gathers them up in his dragnet;
    and so he rejoices and is glad.
¹⁶ Therefore he sacrifices to his net
    and burns incense^(AA) to his dragnet,
for by his net he lives in luxury
    and enjoys the choicest food.
¹⁷ Is he to keep on emptying his net,
    destroying nations without mercy?^(AB)