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² How long, O Lord, must I call for help?
    But you do not listen!
"Violence is everywhere!" I cry,
    but you do not come to save.
³ Must I forever see these evil deeds?
    Why must I watch all this misery?
Wherever I look,
    I see destruction and violence.
I am surrounded by people
    who love to argue and fight.
⁴ The law has become paralyzed,
    and there is no justice in the courts.
The wicked far outnumber the righteous,
    so that justice has become perverted.

"Look around at the nations;
    look and be amazed!^[a]
For I am doing something in your own day,
    something you wouldn't believe
    even if someone told you about it.
⁶ I am raising up the Babylonians,^[b]
    a cruel and violent people.
They will march across the world
    and conquer other lands.
⁷ They are notorious for their cruelty
    and do whatever they like.
⁸ Their horses are swifter than cheetahs^[c]
    and fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their charioteers charge from far away.
    Like eagles, they swoop down to devour their prey.

⁹ "On they come, all bent on violence.
    Their hordes advance like a desert wind,
    sweeping captives ahead of them like sand.
¹⁰ They scoff at kings and princes
    and scorn all their fortresses.
They simply pile ramps of earth
    against their walls and capture them!
¹¹ They sweep past like the wind
    and are gone.
But they are deeply guilty,
    for their own strength is their god."

¹² O Lord my God, my Holy One, you who are eternal—
    surely you do not plan to wipe us out?
O Lord, our Rock, you have sent these Babylonians to correct us,
    to punish us for our many sins.
¹³ But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil.
    Will you wink at their treachery?
Should you be silent while the wicked
    swallow up people more righteous than they?

¹⁴ Are we only fish to be caught and killed?
    Are we only sea creatures that have no leader?
¹⁵ Must we be strung up on their hooks
    and caught in their nets while they rejoice and celebrate?
¹⁶ Then they will worship their nets
    and burn incense in front of them.
"These nets are the gods who have made us rich!"
    they will claim.
¹⁷ Will you let them get away with this forever?
    Will they succeed forever in their heartless conquests?