Wherefore shouldst thou let me see iniquity, and, wrong, shouldst let me behold, and, force and violence, be straight before me, - and there should have ever been someone who, contention and strife, would uphold?

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

They make fun of kings, deriding those who rule. They laugh at all of the fortified places, constructing ramps to seize them.

They sweep by like the wind and pass on. But the one who considers himself a god will be held guilty."

Thou who are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and who cannot look on perverseness, why do thou look upon those who deal treacherously, and hold thy peace when the wicked man swallows up the man who is more righteous than he,

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

Lo! as for the conceited one, crooked is his soul within him,- but, one who is righteous, by his faithfulness, shall live.

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?

Will not thy creditors, suddenly rise up? and they who shall violently shake thee, all at once become active? Then shalt thou serve for booties, unto them!

Because thou have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder thee, because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell therein.

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,

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

Be sure of this! The Lord who commands armies has decreed: The nations' efforts will go up in smoke; their exhausting work will be for nothing.

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.

For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover thee and the plunder of the beasts ([which] made them afraid), because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell therein.

What help then will the Image do, whom the workman hath fashioned? Or the vain cast Image, wherein because the craftsmen putteth his trust, therefore maketh he dumb Idols?

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.

But the LORD in his holy temple is he, whom all the world should fear.

You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of the one on whom your holy oil was put; wounding the head of the family of the evil-doer, uncovering the base even to the neck. Selah.

You pierced the head of his warriors with his own arrows; they came like a whirlwind to scatter me, their exultation like [one who] devours the afflicted in ambush.

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.

as for me, I will rejoice in the LORD. I will find my joy in the God who delivers me.