[1] Lord, why are you standing aloof and far away? Why do you hide when I need you the most? [2] Come and deal with all these proud and wicked men who viciously persecute the poor. Pour upon these men the evil they planned for others! [3] For these men brag of all their evil lusts; they revile God and congratulate those the Lord abhors, whose only goal in life is money. [4] These wicked men, so proud and haughty, seem to think that God is dead. They wouldn't think of looking for him! [5] Yet there is success in everything they do, and their enemies fall before them. They do not see your punishment awaiting them. [6] They boast that neither God nor man can ever keep them down-somehow they'll find a way! [7] Their mouths are full of profanity and lies and fraud. They are always boasting of their evil plans. [8] They lurk in dark alleys of the city and murder passersby. [9] Like lions they crouch silently, waiting to pounce upon the poor. Like hunters they catch their victims in their traps. [10] The unfortunate are overwhelmed by their superior strength and fall beneath their blows. [11] "God isn't watching," they say to themselves; "he'll never know!" [12] O Lord, arise! O God, crush them! Don't forget the poor or anyone else in need. [13] Why do you let the wicked get away with this contempt for God? For they think that God will never call them to account. [14] Lord, you see what they are doing. You have noted each evil act. You know what trouble and grief they have caused. Now punish them. O Lord, the poor man trusts himself to you; you are known as the helper of the helpless. [15] Break the arms of these wicked men. Go after them until the last of them is destroyed. [16] The Lord is King forever and forever. Those who follow other gods shall be swept from his land. [17] Lord, you know the hopes of humble people. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort their hearts by helping them. [18] You will be with the orphans and all who are oppressed, so that mere earthly man will terrify them no longer.
