⁹ So justice is far from us,
    and righteousness does not reach us.
We look for light, but all is darkness;^(A)
    for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.
¹⁰ Like the blind^(B) we grope along the wall,
    feeling our way like people without eyes.
At midday we stumble^(C) as if it were twilight;
    among the strong, we are like the dead.^(D)

¹² “Therefore their path will become slippery;^(A)
    they will be banished to darkness
    and there they will fall.
I will bring disaster on them
    in the year they are punished,^(B)”
declares the Lord.