1. Lord, if I complain to you,you are always right.But I want to ask you about the justice you give.Why are evil people successful?Why do dishonest people have such easy lives?
2. You have put the evil people here.They are like plants with strong roots.They grow and produce fruit.With their mouths they speak well of you.But their hearts are really far away from you.
3. But you know my heart, Lord.You see me and test my mind.Drag the evil people away like sheep to be butchered.Set them aside for the day of killing.
4. How much longer will the land stay dried up?How long will the grass in every field be dead?The animals and birds in the land have died.And it is because the people are evil.Yet, they are saying,“God does not see what happens to us!”
5. “If you get tired racing against men,how can you race against horses?You stumble in a country that is safe.What will you do in the thick thornbushes along the Jordan River?
6. These men are your own brothers.Members of your own family are making plans against you.People from your own family are crying out against you.Don’t trust them,even when they speak to you like friends!
7. “I have left Israel.I have left my people.I have given the people I loveto their enemies.
8. My people have becomelike a lion in the forest to me.They roar at me.So I hate them.
9. My people have become to melike a speckled bird attacked by hawks.Go, gather the wild animals!Bring them to get something to eat.