WHY standest thou afar off, O Lord? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?

2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor:

let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.

3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth.

4 The wicked, through the pride of his counte­nance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

The difference between the “ungodly” and the “godly” is that with the former “God is not in all his thoughts,” and with the latter God is in every thought.

5 His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.

God’s method of procedure is too high for the wicked to grasp.

6 He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved:

for I shall never be in adversity.

7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.

8 He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: