2O LORD, how long shall I cry, and Thou wilt not hear! Even cry out unto Thee of violence, and Thou wilt not save! 3Why dost Thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me; and there are who raise up strife and contention. 4Therefore, the law is slacked, and justice {judgment} doth never go forth; for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore, wrong justice {judgment} goeth forth perverted {proceedeth}.

5Behold {ye} among the nations {heathen}, and regard, and wonder marvelously; for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. 6For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. 7They are terrible and dreadful; their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. 8Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves; and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly like {as} the eagle that hasteth to eat. 9They shall come all for violence; the set of their faces is forward {shall sup up as the east wind}, and they shall gather the captives {captivity} as the sand. 10And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them; they shall deride every stronghold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. 11Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.

12Art Thou not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, mine Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, Thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O Mighty God, Thou hast established them for correction. 13Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity; why {Wherefore} lookest Thou upon them that deal {part} treacherously, and holdest Thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? 14And makest men as the fish {fishes} of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? 15They take up all of them with the hook {angle}, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag; therefore, they rejoice and are glad. 16Therefore, they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag, because by them their portion is fat, and their food plenteous. 17Shall they, therefore, empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?