Why Do You Hide Yourself?

¹Why, O Lord, do you stand kfar away?

Why ldo you hide yourself in mtimes of trouble?

²In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;

let them nbe caught in the schemes that they have devised.

³For the wicked oboasts of the desires of his soul,

and the one greedy for gain pcurses1 and qrenounces the Lord.

⁴In the pride of his face2 the wicked does not qseek him;3

all his thoughts are, r“There is no God.”

⁵His ways prosper at all times;

your judgments are on high, sout of his sight;

as for all his foes, he tpuffs at them.

⁶He usays in his heart, “I shall not be moved;

throughout all generations I vshall not meet adversity.”

⁷wHis mouth is filled with cursing and xdeceit and yoppression;

zunder his tongue are amischief and biniquity.

⁸He sits in ambush in the villages;

in chiding places he murders the innocent.

His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;

⁹he lurks in ambush like da lion in his ethicket;

he flurks that he may seize the poor;

he seizes the poor when he draws him into his gnet.

¹⁰The helpless are crushed, sink down,

and fall by his might.

¹¹He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,

he has hhidden his face, he iwill never see it.”

¹²jArise, O Lord; O God, klift up your hand;

lforget not the afflicted.

¹³Why does the wicked mrenounce God

and say in his heart, “You will not ncall to account”?

¹⁴But you do see, for you onote mischief and vexation,

that you may take it into your hands;

to you the helpless pcommits himself;

you have been qthe helper of the fatherless.

¹⁵rBreak the arm of the wicked and evildoer;

scall his wickedness to account till you find none.

¹⁶tThe Lord is king forever and ever;

the unations perish from his land.

¹⁷O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;

you will vstrengthen their heart; you will incline your ear

¹⁸to wdo justice to the fatherless and xthe oppressed,

so that yman who is of the earth may strike terror no more.