1. You will be in the right, O Yahweh, when I complain to you. Even so, let me speak my claims with you. Why does the way of the wicked succeed? All those who deal treacherously with treachery are at ease.
2. Not only do you plant them, they take root. They grow, but also they produce fruit. You are near in their mouths, but far from their inmost beings.
3. But you, O Yahweh, you know me, you see me, and you test that my heart is with you. Tear them apart like sheep for the slaughtering, and set them apart for the day of slaughter.
4. How long will the land mourn, and the vegetation of every field dry up, because of the wickedness of those who live in it? The animals and the birds are swept away, because they have said, “He does not see our future.”
5. “If you run with foot soldiers and they have made you weary, then how will you compete with horses? If you have fallen in a peaceful land, then how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?
6. For even your relatives, and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you, even they call loudly after you. You must not trust in them, though they speak kindly to you.
7. I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my inheritance. I have given the beloved one of my heart into the hand of her enemies.
8. My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest. She has lifted up against me her voice; therefore I hate her.
9. The lair of the hyena is my inheritance to me, the birds of prey are all around her. Go, gather all of the animals of the field, bring them to come and devour.