12 Art thou not from everlasting,

O Lord my God, my Holy One?

We shall not die.

O Lord, thou hast ordained them as a judgment;

and thou, O Rock, hast established them for chastisement.

13 Thou who art of purer eyes than to behold evil

and canst not look on wrong,

why dost thou look on faithless men,

and art silent when the wicked swallows up

the man more righteous than he?

14 For thou makest men like the fish of the sea,

like crawling things that have no ruler.

15 He brings all of them up with a hook,

he drags them out with his net,

he gathers them in his seine;

so he rejoices and exults.

16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net

and burns incense to his seine;

for by them he lives in luxury,b

and his food is rich.

17 Is he then to keep on emptying his net,

and mercilessly slaying nations for ever?

Chapter 2

1 I will take my stand to watch,

and station myself on the tower,

and look forth to see what he will say to me,

and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

2 And the Lord answered me:

“Write the vision;

make it plain upon tablets,

so he may run who reads it.

3 For still the vision awaits its time;

it hastens to the end—it will not lie.

If it seem slow, wait for it;

it will surely come, it will not delay.

4 Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail,c

but the righteous shall live by his faith.d