Why standest thou afar off, O Jehovah? Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
2
In the pride of the wicked the poor is hotly pursued; Let them be taken in the devices that they have conceived.
3
For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, And the covetous renounceth, [yea], contemneth Jehovah.
4
The wicked, in the pride of his countenance, [saith], He will not require [it]. All his thoughts are, There is no God.
5
His ways are firm at all times; Thy judgments are far above out of his sight: As for all his adversaries, he puffeth at them.
6
He saith in his heart, I shall not be moved; To all generations I shall not be in adversity.
7
His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression: Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.
8
He sitteth in the lurking-places of the villages; In the secret places doth he murder the innocent; His eyes are privily set against the helpless.
9
He lurketh in secret as a lion in his covert; He lieth in wait to catch the poor: He doth catch the poor, when he draweth him in his net.
10
He croucheth, he boweth down, And the helpless fall by his strong ones.
11
He saith in his heart, God hath forgotten; He hideth his face; he will never see it.
12
Arise, O Jehovah; O God, lift up thy hand: Forget not the poor.
13
Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God, And say in his heart, Thou wilt not require [it]?
14
Thou hast seen [it]; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: The helpless committeth [himself] unto thee; Thou hast been the helper of the fatherless.
15
Break thou the arm of the wicked; And as for the evil man, seek out his wickedness till thou find none.
16
Jehovah is King for ever and ever: The nations are perished out of his land.
17
Jehovah, thou hast heard the desire of the meek: Thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear;
18
To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, That man who is of the earth may be terrible no more.
1 [Maschil of Asaph.] O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
6 But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
7 They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
8 They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
9 We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.
12 For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
16 The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
20 Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
