¹²Are you not from of old,
   O Lord my God, my Holy One?
   You^* shall not die.
O Lord, you have marked them for judgement;
   and you, O Rock, have established them for punishment.
¹³Your eyes are too pure to behold evil,
   and you cannot look on wrongdoing;
why do you look on the treacherous,
   and are silent when the wicked swallow
   those more righteous than they?
¹⁴You have made people like the fish of the sea,
   like crawling things that have no ruler.

¹⁵The enemy^* brings all of them up with a hook;
   he drags them out with his net,
he gathers them in his seine;
   so he rejoices and exults.
¹⁶Therefore he sacrifices to his net
   and makes offerings to his seine;
for by them his portion is lavish,
   and his food is rich.
¹⁷Is he then to keep on emptying his net,
   and destroying nations without mercy?

God’s Reply to the Prophet’s Complaint

2I will stand at my watch-post,
   and station myself on the rampart;
I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,
   and what he^* will answer concerning my complaint.
²Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write the vision;
   make it plain on tablets,
   so that a runner may read it.
³For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
   it speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
   it will surely come, it will not delay.
⁴Look at the proud!
   Their spirit is not right in them,
   but the righteous live by their faith.^*