
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.
