10. We grope like the blind along a wall,feeling our way like people without eyes.Even at brightest noontime,we stumble as though it were dark.Among the living,we are like the dead.
11. We growl like hungry bears;we moan like mournful doves.We look for justice, but it never comes.We look for rescue, but it is far away from us.
12. For our sins are piled up before Godand testify against us.Yes, we know what sinners we are.
13. We know we have rebelled and have denied the lord.We have turned our backs on our God.We know how unfair and oppressive we have been,carefully planning our deceitful lies.
14. Our courts oppose the righteous,and justice is nowhere to be found.Truth stumbles in the streets,and honesty has been outlawed.
15. Yes, truth is gone,and anyone who renounces evil is attacked.The lord looked and was displeasedto find there was no justice.
16. He was amazed to see that no one intervenedto help the oppressed.So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm,and his justice sustained him.
17. He put on righteousness as his body armorand placed the helmet of salvation on his head.He clothed himself with a robe of vengeanceand wrapped himself in a cloak of divine passion.
18. He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds.His fury will fall on his foes.He will pay them back even to the ends of the earth.
19. In the west, people will respect the name of the lord;in the east, they will glorify him.For he will come like a raging flood tidedriven by the breath of the lord.
20. “The Redeemer will come to Jerusalemto buy back those in Israelwho have turned from their sins,”says the lord.