For the needy shall not alway be forgotten, Nor the expectation of the poor perish for ever.

Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail :

Let the nations be judged in thy sight.
Put them in fear, O LORD:

Let the nations know themselves to be but men.

Why standest thou afar off, O Lord?

Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
In the pride of the wicked the poor is hotly pursued;
They are taken in the devices that they have imagined.
For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire,

And the covetous renounceth, yea, contemneth the
LORD.

The wicked, in the pride of his countenance, saith, He will not require it.

All his thoughts are, There is no God.

His ways are firm at all times; thy judgements are far above out of his sight:

As for all his adversaries, he puffeth at them.
He saith in his heart, I shall not be moved :
To all generations I shall not be in adversity.

His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression:
Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.

He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages:

In the covert places doth he murder the innocent: His eyes are privily set against the helpless.

He lurketh in the covert as a lion in his den:

He lieth in wait to catch the poor:

He doth catch the poor, when he draweth him in his

net.

He croucheth, he boweth down,

And the helpless fall by his strong ones. He saith in his heart, God hath forgotten: He hideth his face; he will never see it.

Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: Forget not the poor.

Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God,

And say in his heart, Thou wilt not require it?

Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite,

To take it into thy hand:

The helpless committeth himself unto thee;

Thou hast been the helper of the fatherless.

Break thou the arm of the wicked;

And as for the evil man, seek out his wickedness till thou

find none.

The LORD is King for ever and ever:

The nations are perished out of his land.

Z LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the meek:

Thou wilt establish their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to

hear:

To judge the fatherless and the oppressed,

That man which is of the earth may be terrible no more.

21

xi

A Song of Trust

In the LORD put I my trust

How say ye to my soul,

'Flee as a bird to your mountain?

'For, lo, the wicked bend the bow,

'They make ready their arrow upon the string,
'That they may shoot in darkness at the upright in

heart.

'If the foundations be destroyed,

'What can the righteous do?'

The LORD is in his holy temple,
The LORD, his throne is in heaven;

His eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men.

The LORD trieth the righteous:

But the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul

hateth.

Upon the wicked he shall rain snares;

Fire and brimstone and burning wind shall be the portion of their cup.

For the LORD is righteous;

He loveth righteousness:

The upright shall behold his face.

xii

The Words of the LORD and the Lip of Vanity

Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth;

For the faithful fail from among the children of men,
They speak vanity every one with his neighbour:

With flattering lip, and with a double heart, do they speak.

The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips,

The tongue that speaketh great things:

Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail;

Our lips are our own: who is lord over us?

"For the spoiling of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, "Now will I arise," (saith the LORD) "I will set him in safety at whom they puff."

The words of the LORD are pure words;

As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, purified seven times.

Thou shalt keep them, O LORD,

Thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever: The wicked walk on every side,

When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.