“Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response. I cry for help, but there is no justice.
Is it good for You to oppress, to despise the work of Your hands, while You smile on the plans of the wicked?
he contends with God on behalf of man as one pleads for a friend.
“Behold, I know your thoughts, the schemes by which you wrong me.
“I cry out to You, but You do not answer me; I stand up, but You only look at me.
Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out His hand, and in his distress cry for help?
I walk about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand in the assembly and cry for help.
“For Job says, ‘I am righteous, but God has deprived me of justice.
“Would you really annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?
If the land falls into the hand of the wicked He blindfolds the faces of its judges. If it is not He, then who is it?
For He is not a human being, like I am, that I could answer Him, that we could go to court together.
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Distant from my salvation are the words of my groaning.
O my God, I cried out by day, but You did not answer, by night, but there was no rest for me.
For whenever I speak, I cry out, I proclaim, “Violence and ruin!” For the word of Adonai is scorn and ridicule to me all day long.
Even when I cry out and call for help, He shuts out my prayer.