Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up.

Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice goes forth perverted.

"Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you.

For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.

All of them come for violence. Their hordes face the desert. He gathers prisoners like sand.

Yes, he scoffs at kings, and princes are a derision to him. He laughs at every stronghold, for he builds up an earthen ramp, and takes it.

Aren't you from everlasting, Yahweh my God, my Holy One? We will not die. Yahweh, you have appointed him for judgment. You, Rock, have established him to punish.

For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won't prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won't delay.

Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it.

Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!

For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it.

Behold, isn't it of Yahweh of Armies that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.

For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of the animals, which made them afraid; because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to every city and to those who dwell in them.

You uncovered your bow. You called for your sworn arrows. Selah. You split the earth with rivers.

You went forth for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the land of wickedness. You stripped them head to foot. Selah.

I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the coming up of the people who invade us.

For though the fig tree doesn't flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls:

Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer's feet, and enables me to go in high places. For the music director, on my stringed instruments.