[1] LORD, you are a God who punishes; reveal your anger! [2] You are the judge of us all; rise and give the proud what they deserve! [3] How much longer will the wicked be glad? How much longer, LORD? [4] How much longer will criminals be proud and boast about their crimes? [5] They crush your people, LORD; they oppress those who belong to you. [6] They kill widows and orphans, and murder the strangers who live in our land. [7] They say, "The LORD does not see us; the God of Israel does not notice." [8] My people, how can you be such stupid fools? When will you ever learn? [9] God made our ears-can't he hear? He made our eyes-can't he see? [10] He scolds the nations-won't he punish them? He is the teacher of us all-hasn't he any knowledge? [11] The LORD knows what we think; he knows how senseless our reasoning is. [12] LORD, how happy are those you instruct, the ones to whom you teach your law! [13] You give them rest from days of trouble until a pit is dug to trap the wicked. [14] The LORD will not abandon his people; he will not desert those who belong to him. [15] Justice will again be found in the courts, and all righteous people will support it. [16] Who stood up for me against the wicked? Who took my side against the evildoers? [17] If the LORD had not helped me, I would have gone quickly to the land of silence. [18] I said, "I am falling"; but your constant love, O LORD, held me up. [19] Whenever I am anxious and worried, you comfort me and make me glad. [20] You have nothing to do with corrupt judges, who make injustice legal, [21] who plot against good people and sentence the innocent to death. [22] But the LORD defends me; my God protects me. [23] He will punish them for their wickedness and destroy them for their sins; the LORD our God will destroy them.
