“Behold, I cry out concerning wrong, but I am not heard; I cry aloud, but there is no justice.
Is it good for You that You should oppress, that You should despise the work of Your hands and smile on the counsel of the wicked?
Oh, that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleads for his neighbor!
“Behold, I know your thoughts, and the schemes with which you would wrong me.
“I cry unto You, but You do not hear me; I stand up, and You do not regard me.
“Surely He will not stretch out His hand to the grave, though they cry when He destroys it.
I went mourning without the sun; I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
“For Job has said, ‘I am righteous, but God has taken away my judgment.
“Will you indeed annul My judgment? Will you condemn Me, that you may be righteous?
The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not He, then who is it?
“For He is not a man as I am, that I should answer Him, and we should come together in judgment.
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not answer; and at night, and have no rest.
But You are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
For each time I speak, I cry out; I cry out, “Violence and devastation,” because to me the word of the Lord has resulted in reproach and derision daily.
Even when I cry for help, He shuts out my prayer.