CHAPTER 1
How long,
O LORD,
must I call for help
but You do not
hear,
or cry out
to You,
“Violence!”
but You do not
save?
Why
do You make me see
iniquity?
Why do You tolerate
wrongdoing?
Destruction
and violence
are before me.
Strife
is ongoing,
and conflict
abounds.
Therefore
the law
is paralyzed,
and justice
never
goes forth.
For
the wicked
hem in
the righteous;
therefore,
justice
is
perverted.
Look
at the nations
and observe—
be utterly astounded!
For
I am doing
a work
in your days
that you would never
believe
even if
you were told.
For
behold,
I am raising up
the Chaldeans—
that ruthless
and impetuous
nation
that marches
through the breadth
of the earth
to seize
dwelling places
not
their own.
Their horses
are swifter
than leopards,
fiercer
than wolves
of the night.
Their horsemen
charge ahead,
and their cavalry
comes
from afar.
They fly
like a vulture,
swooping down
to devour.
All
of them come
bent
on violence;
their hordes
advance like the east wind;
they gather
prisoners
like sand.
They
scoff at
kings
and make rulers
an object of scorn.
They
laugh
at every
fortress
and build up
siege ramps
to seize it.
Then
they sweep by
like the wind
and pass on through.
They
are guilty;
their own strength
is their god.
Are You
not
from everlasting,
O LORD,
my God,
my Holy One?
We will not die.
O LORD,
You have appointed them
to execute judgment;
O Rock,
You have established them
for correction.
Your eyes
are too pure
to
look on
evil,
and You cannot
tolerate
wrongdoing.
So why
do You tolerate
the faithless?
Why are You silent
while the wicked
swallow up
those more righteous than themselves?
The Chaldeans bring all of them
up
with a hook;
they catch them
in their net,
and gather them
in their dragnet;
so
they are glad
and rejoice.
Therefore
they sacrifice
to their dragnet
and burn incense
to their fishing net,
for
by these
things their portion
is sumptuous
and their food
is rich.