O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry
out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!
Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold
grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there
are that raise up strife and contention.
Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go
forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous;
therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.
Behold ye among the 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.
For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty
nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to
possess the dwellingplaces that are not their's.
They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their
dignity shall proceed of themselves.
Their 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 as the eagle that hasteth to eat.
They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as
the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the
sand.
And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a
scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they
shall heap dust, and take it.
Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and
offend, imputing this his power unto his god.
Art 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.
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look
on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal
treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked
devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?
And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping
things, that have no ruler over them?
They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in
their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they
rejoice and are glad.
Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto
their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their
meat plenteous.
Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare
continually to slay the nations?
I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and
will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall
answer when I am reproved.
And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make
it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it
shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it;
because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but
the just shall live by his faith.
Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man,
neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and
is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him
all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:
Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a
taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that
increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that
ladeth himself with thick clay!
Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and
awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto
them?
Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the
people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the
violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell
therein.
Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house,
that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered
from the power of evil!
Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many
people, and hast sinned against thy soul.
For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of
the timber shall answer it.
Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a
city by iniquity!
Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall
labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves
for very vanity?
For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory
of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy
bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest
look on their nakedness!
Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let
thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD's right hand
shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on
thy glory.
For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of
beasts, which made them afraid, because of men's blood, and
for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that
dwell therein.
What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath
graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the
maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?
Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone,
Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and
silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.
But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep
silence before him.
O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD,
revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the
years make known; in wrath remember mercy.
God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah.
His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his
praise.
And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out
of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.
Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth
at his feet.
He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder
the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the
perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.
I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains of
the land of Midian did tremble.
Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was thine anger
against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou
didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation?
Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the
tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with
rivers.
The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of
the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up
his hands on high.
The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light
of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy
glittering spear.
Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst
thresh the heathen in anger.
Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for
salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of
the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto
the neck. Selah.
Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his
villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their
rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the
heap of great waters.
When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the
voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in
myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he
cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his
troops.
Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit
be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the
fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from
the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my
salvation.
The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like
hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high
places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.