10 - Ut quid, Domine?

1  Why do you stand so far off, O Lord, *
and hide your face in the time of need and trouble?
2  The ungodly in his pride persecutes the poor; *
let him be taken in the crafty schemes that he has imagined.
3  For the ungodly has boasted of his own heart’s desire; *
the covetous holds the Lord in contempt and blasphemes
his Name.
4  The ungodly is so proud that he cares not for God; *
neither is God in any of his thoughts.
5  His ways are always grievous; *
your judgments are far above, out of his sight, and therefore 
he defies all his enemies.
6  For he has said in his heart, “I shall never be cast down; *
no harm shall happen to me.”

7  His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and fraud; *
under his tongue are ungodliness and vanity.
8  He sits lurking in the thievish corners of the streets, and in his
  hiding places he murders the innocent; *
his eyes are set against the poor.
9  For he lies waiting secretly, even as a lion lurks in his den, *
that he may ravish the poor.
10  He ravishes the poor *
when he gets him into his net.
11  The innocent is crushed and humbled before him, *
and the weak cannot stand against his might.
12  He has said in his heart, “God has forgotten; *
he hides away his face, and he will never see it.”
13  Arise, O Lord God, and lift up your hand; *
forget not the poor.
14  Why should the wicked blaspheme God, *
while he says in his heart, “You, O God, do not care”?
15  Surely you have seen it, for you behold ungodliness and wrong, *
that you may take the matter into your hand.
16  The poor commits himself unto you, *
for you are the helper of the fatherless.
17  Break the power of the ungodly and malicious; *
search out his ungodliness until you have brought it all 
to light.
18  The Lord is King for ever and ever, *
and the nations have perished out of the land.
19  O Lord, you have heard the desire of the poor; *
you prepare their heart, and your ear hearkens to it,
20  To help the fatherless and poor with justice, *
that the one who is of the earth may terrify no more.