1A prayer for the overthrow of the wicked.
Why standest thou afar off, O Jehovah?Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?2In the pride of the wicked 1the poor 2is hotly pursued;3Let them be taken in the devices that they have conceived.3For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire,And 4the covetous renounceth, yea, 5contemneth Jehovah.4The wicked, in the pride of his countenance, saith, He will not require it.All his thoughts are, There is no God.5His ways are 6firm at all times;Thy judgments are far above out of his sight:As for all his adversaries, he puffeth at them.6He saith in his heart, I shall not be moved;To all generations I shall not be in adversity.7His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and 7oppression:Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.8He sitteth in the lurking-places of the villages;In the secret places doth he murder the innocent;His eyes are privily set against the 8helpless.9He 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.109He croucheth, he boweth down,And the 10helpless fall by his strong ones.11He saith in his heart: God hath forgotten;He hideth his face, he will never see it.12Arise, O Jehovah; O God, lift up thy hand:Forget not the 11poor.13Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God,And say in his heart, Thou wilt not require it?14Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest 12mischief and spite, 13to requite it with thy hand:The 14helpless committeth himself unto thee;Thou hast been the helper of the fatherless.15Break thou the arm of the wicked;And as for the evil man, seek out his wickedness till thou find none.16Jehovah is King for ever and ever:The 15nations are perished out of his land.17Jehovah, thou hast heard the desire of the meek:Thou wilt 16prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear;18To judge the fatherless and the oppressed,That man who is of the earth may be terrible no more.