So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.

因此律法放松，公理也不显明；恶人围困义人，所以公理显然颠倒。”

因此律法无效，公理从未彰显。恶人围困义人，所以公理遭受扭曲。

因此律法无效，公理从未彰显。恶人围困义人，所以公理遭受扭曲。

因此律法失效，正义不彰，恶人包围义人，正义被扭曲。

因此律法不能生效（“律法不能生效”原文作“律法松懈”），公理无法彰显。因为恶人把义人包围，所以公理颠倒。

因此律法放鬆，公理也不顯明；惡人圍困義人，所以公理顯然顛倒。

因此律法無效，公理從未彰顯。惡人圍困義人，所以公理遭受扭曲。

因此律法無效，公理從未彰顯。惡人圍困義人，所以公理遭受扭曲。

因此律法失效，正義不彰，惡人包圍義人，正義被扭曲。

因此律法不能生效（“律法不能生效”原文作“律法鬆懈”），公理無法彰顯。因為惡人把義人包圍，所以公理顛倒。

因此律法僵化，公理總不出現。因為惡人圍困着義人，故此公理就使出現、也彎曲了。

緣此法律廢弛、公義不彰、惡者環繞義人、公義顯然違反、

惡者枉法、環攻義人、律例俱廢、伸其冤者、卒無一人。

緣此律法已廢、是非不循理而決、惡者圍攻善人、以致曲直顛倒、○

Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

The law can’t do what it’s supposed to do. Fairness never comes out on top. Sinful people surround those who do what is right. So people are never treated fairly.

The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted.

This is why the law is ineffective and justice never emerges. For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.

Therefore the Law is ignored, And justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore justice comes out confused.

Therefore the law is powerless, And justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore perverse judgment proceeds.

Therefore the law is slacked, and justice doth never go forth; for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore justice goeth forth perverted.

This is why the law is ineffective and justice never emerges. For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.

Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

For this reason the law lacks power, and justice is never carried out. Indeed, the wicked intimidate the innocent. For this reason justice is perverted.

Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.

How the faithful city has become a whore, she who was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water.Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow’s cause does not come to them.

Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?

It is time for the Lord to act, for your law has been broken.

Righteous are you, O Lord, when I complain to you; yet I would plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?

Then he said to me,“ The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice. For they say,‘ The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see.’

Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by statute?They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.

“ You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit.

transgressing, and denying the Lord, and turning back from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the children of man uprightly?No, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth.

They utter mere words; with empty oaths they make covenants; so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.

The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst.Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain.And her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying,‘ Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken.The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice.And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.

You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice,

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.

For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins— you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate.

Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.

Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and rich;they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of evil; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?”

The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net.Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together.The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand.

Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult?

Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,

Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand.They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.

But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

And he said to them,“ You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!

Now the chief priests and the whole Council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death,but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forwardand said,“ This man said,‘ I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’”And the high priest stood up and said,“ Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?”But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him,“ I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.”Jesus said to him,“ You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”Then the high priest tore his robes and said,“ He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy.What is your judgment?” They answered,“ He deserves death.”

When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.There were more than forty who made this conspiracy.They went to the chief priests and elders and said,“ We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul.

And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice?—you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin from off my people and their flesh from off their bones,who eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones in pieces and chop them up like meat in a pot, like flesh in a cauldron.

And Jeremiah said,“ It is a lie; I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” But Irijah would not listen to him, and seized Jeremiah and brought him to the officials.And the officials were enraged at Jeremiah, and they beat him and imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan the secretary, for it had been made a prison.When Jeremiah had come to the dungeon cells and remained there many days,

deliver me from those who work evil, and save me from bloodthirsty men.

And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out,“ Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

And all the people answered,“ His blood be on us and on our children!”Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.

And when King Jehoiakim, with all his warriors and all the officials, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid and fled and escaped to Egypt.Then King Jehoiakim sent to Egypt certain men, Elnathan the son of Achbor and others with him,and they took Uriah from Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, who struck him down with the sword and dumped his dead body into the burial place of the common people.

for no fault of mine, they run and make ready. Awake, come to meet me, and see!

if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying,“ You shall die!

God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:“ How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? SelahGive justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

And the two worthless men came in and sat opposite him. And the worthless men brought a charge against Naboth in the presence of the people, saying,“ Naboth cursed God and the king.” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death with stones.

For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—

Then the officials said to the king,“ Let this man be put to death, for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.”King Zedekiah said,“ Behold, he is in your hands, for the king can do nothing against you.”So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.

For even your brothers and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; they are in full cry after you; do not believe them, though they speak friendly words to you.”

but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness.No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.They hatch adders’ eggs; they weave the spider’s web; he who eats their eggs dies, and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched.Their webs will not serve as clothing; men will not cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands.Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways.The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace.

O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth!