2O LORD, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear! Even cry out to You of violence, and You will not save! 3Why do You show me injustice, and cause me to behold grievance? For destruction and violence are ever before me; and there are those who raise up strife and conflict. 4Therefore, the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails; for the wicked far outnumber the righteous; so that justice is perverted.

5“Look at the nations, and be utterly amazed; for I will do something in your days, that you will not believe, though it be told to you. 6For, lo, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that ruthless and impetuous nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to seize the dwelling places that are not theirs. 7They are feared and dreadful; they are a law unto themselves; and do whatever they choose. 8Their horses are swifter than the leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk; and their cavalry gallops headlong; they shall come from afar; they shall fly like an eagle swooping to its prey. 9They shall come intent on violence; their hordes advance like a desert wind storm, and they shall gather the captives like sand. 10And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall scorn and deride every stronghold; for they shall heap dirt mounds and take them. 11Then they shall sweep past like the wind – evil people whose strength is their god.

12Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? You shall never die. O LORD, You have ordained them to execute Your judgment; and, O Mighty God, You have established them to punish. 13You are of purer eyes than to look upon evil, and cannot tolerate iniquity; why then do You allow those that deal treacherously to prosper, and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a man that is more righteous than he? 14You have made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler over them. 15The wicked catch them as with a hook, they take them in their net, and gather them in their dragnet; and then they rejoice and are glad. 16Therefore, they offer sacrifices to their nets, and burn incense to their dragnets, because by them they prosper, and enjoy the best food. 17Will You let them slay nations unsparingly forever?