² How long,^(B) Lord, must I call for help,
    but you do not listen?^(C)
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
    but you do not save?^(D)
3 Why do you make me look at injustice?
    Why do you tolerate^(E) wrongdoing?^(F)
Destruction and violence^(G) are before me;
    there is strife,^(H) and conflict abounds.
⁴ Therefore the law^(I) is paralyzed,
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
    so that justice^(J) is perverted.^(K)

⁵ “Look at the nations and watch—
    and be utterly amazed.^(L)
For I am going to do something in your days
    that you would not believe,
    even if you were told.^(M)
6 I am raising up the Babylonians,^[a](N)
    that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth^(O)
    to seize dwellings not their own.^(P)
7 They are a feared and dreaded people;^(Q)
    they are a law to themselves
    and promote their own honor.
⁸ Their horses are swifter^(R) than leopards,
    fiercer than wolves^(S) 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^(T) like sand.
¹⁰ They mock kings
    and scoff at rulers.^(U)
They laugh at all fortified cities;
    by building earthen ramps^(V) they capture them.
¹¹ Then they sweep past like the wind^(W) and go on—
    guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”^(X)

¹² Lord, are you not from everlasting?^(Y)
    My God, my Holy One,^(Z) you^[c] will never die.^(AA)
You, Lord, have appointed^(AB) them to execute judgment;
    you, my Rock,^(AC) have ordained them to punish.
¹³ Your eyes are too pure^(AD) to look on evil;
    you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.^(AE)
Why then do you tolerate^(AF) the treacherous?^(AG)
    Why are you silent while the wicked
    swallow up those more righteous than themselves?^(AH)
14 You have made people like the fish in the sea,
    like the sea creatures that have no ruler.
¹⁵ The wicked^(AI) foe pulls all of them up with hooks,^(AJ)
    he catches them in his net,^(AK)
he gathers them up in his dragnet;
    and so he rejoices and is glad.
¹⁶ Therefore he sacrifices to his net
    and burns incense^(AL) 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?^(AM)