1Why standest thou far off, O Lord, and hidest thee in due time, even in affliction?
2The wicked with pride doth persecute the poor; let them be taken in the crafts that they have imagined.
3For the wicked hath made boast of his own heart’s desire, and the covetous blesseth himself, he contemneth the Lord.
4The wicked is so proud, that he seeketh not for God: he thinketh always, There is no God.
5His ways always prosper: thy judgments are high above his sight; therefore defieth he all his enemies.
6He saith in his heart, I shall never be moved, nor be in danger.
7His mouth is full of cursing, and deceit, and fraud; under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.
8He lieth in wait in the villages; in the secret places doth he murder the innocent; his eyes are bent against the poor.
9He lieth in wait secretly, even as a lion in his den; he lieth in wait to spoil the poor; he doth spoil the poor, when he draweth him into his net.
10He croucheth and boweth; therefore heaps of the poor do fall by his might.
11He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten, he hideth away his face, and will never see.
12Arise, O Lord God, lift up thine hand; forget not the poor.
13Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he saith in his heart, Thou wilt not regard.
14Yet thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and wrong; that thou mayest take it into thine hands; the poor committeth himself unto thee; for thou art the helper of the fatherless.
15Break thou the arm of the wicked and malicious; search his wickedness, and thou shalt find none.
16The Lord is King forever and ever; the heathen are destroyed forth of his land.
17Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the poor; thou preparest their heart; thou bendest thine ear to them,
18To judge the fatherless and poor, that earthly man cause to fear no more.