Why dost Thou shew me iniquity, And perversity dost cause to behold? And spoiling and violence are before me, And there is strife, and contention doth lift itself up,

Therefore doth law cease, And judgment doth not go forth for ever, For the wicked is compassing the righteous, Therefore wrong judgment goeth forth.

Look ye on nations, and behold and marvel greatly. For a work He is working in your days, Ye do not believe though it is declared.

For, lo, I am raising up the Chaldeans, The bitter and hasty nation, That is going to the broad places of earth, To occupy tabernacles not its own.

Terrible and fearful it is, From itself its judgment and its excellency go forth.

Swifter than leopards have been its horses, And sharper than evening wolves, And increased have its horsemen, Even its horsemen from afar come in, They fly as an eagle, hasting to consume.

Wholly for violence it doth come in, Their faces swallowing up the east wind, And it doth gather as the sand a captivity.

And Thou makest man as fishes of the sea, As a creeping thing -- none ruling over him.

Therefore he doth sacrifice to his net, And doth make perfume to his drag, For by them is his portion fertile, and his food fat.

And Jehovah answereth me and saith: 'Write a vision, and explain on the tables, That he may run who is reading it.

For yet the vision is for a season, And it breatheth for the end, and doth not lie, If it tarry, wait for it, For surely it cometh, it is not late.

Lo, a presumptuous one! Not upright is his soul within him, And the righteous by his stedfastness liveth.

And also, because the wine is treacherous, A man is haughty, and remaineth not at home, Who hath enlarged as sheol his soul, And is as death that is not satisfied, And doth gather unto itself all the nations, And doth assemble unto itself all the peoples,

Do not these -- all of them -- against him a simile taken up, And a moral of acute sayings for him, And say, Woe to him who is multiplying what is not his? Till when also is he multiplying to himself heavy pledges?

Woe to him who is gaining evil gain for his house, To set on high his nest, To be delivered from the hand of evil,

Thou hast counselled a shameful thing to thy house, To cut off many peoples, and sinful is thy soul.

Woe to him who is building a city by blood, And establishing a city by iniquity.

Lo, is it not from Jehovah of Hosts And peoples are fatigued for fire, And nations for vanity are weary?

For full is the earth of the knowledge of the honour of Jehovah, As waters cover the bottom of a sea.

Woe to him who is giving drink to his neighbour, Pouring out thy bottle, and also making drunk, In order to look on their nakedness.

Thou hast been filled -- shame without honour, Drink thou also, and be uncircumcised, Turn round unto thee doth the cup of the right hand of Jehovah, And shameful spewing is on thine honour.

Woe to him who is saying to wood, 'Awake,' 'Stir up,' to a dumb stone, It a teacher! lo, it is overlaid -- gold and silver, And there is no spirit in its midst.

And Jehovah is in His holy temple, Be silent before Him, all the earth!

And the brightness is as the light, He hath rays out of His hand, And there -- the hiding of His strength.

Against rivers hath Jehovah been wroth? Against rivers is Thine anger? Against the sea is Thy wrath? For Thou dost ride on Thy horses -- Thy chariots of salvation?

Thou hast pierced with his staves the head of his leaders, They are tempestuous to scatter me, Their exultation is as to consume the poor in secret.

Though the fig-tree doth not flourish, And there is no produce among vines, Failed hath the work of the olive, And fields have not yielded food, Cut off from the fold hath been the flock, And there is no herd in the stalls.

Jehovah the Lord is my strength, And He doth make my feet like hinds, And on my high-places causeth me to tread. To the overseer with my stringed instruments!