Why, God does not trust even his angels; even they are not pure in his sight.

You are not a God who is pleased with wrongdoing; you allow no evil in your presence.

You cannot stand the sight of the proud; you hate all wicked people.

The LORD is in his holy temple; he has his throne in heaven. He watches people everywhere and knows what they are doing.

He sends down flaming coals and burning sulfur on the wicked; he punishes them with scorching winds.

The LORD watches over the righteous and listens to their cries;

but he opposes those who do evil, so that when they die, they are soon forgotten.

Instead, be holy in all that you do, just as God who called you is holy.

The scripture says, "Be holy because I am holy."

Why are you so far away, O LORD? Why do you hide yourself when we are in trouble?

The wicked are proud and persecute the poor; catch them in the traps they have made.

Break the power of wicked and evil people; punish them for the wrong they have done until they do it no more.

because I was jealous of the proud when I saw that things go well for the wicked.

" LORD, if I argued my case with you, you would prove to be right. Yet I must question you about matters of justice. Why are the wicked so prosperous? Why do dishonest people succeed?

You plant them, and they take root; they grow and bear fruit. They always speak well of you, yet they do not really care about you.

I have seen a vision of cruel events, a vision of betrayal and destruction. Army of Elam, attack! Army of Media, lay siege to the cities! God will put an end to the suffering which Babylon has caused.

Our enemies are doomed! They have robbed and betrayed, although no one has robbed them or betrayed them. But their time to rob and betray will end, and they themselves will become victims of robbery and treachery.

If you keep quiet at a time like this, help will come from heaven to the Jews, and they will be saved, but you will die and your father's family will come to an end. Yet who knows---maybe it was for a time like this that you were made queen!"

But you, O LORD, have seen this. So don't be silent, Lord; don't keep yourself far away!

Our God is coming, but not in silence; a raging fire is in front of him, a furious storm around him.

You have done all this, and I have said nothing, so you thought that I am like you. But now I reprimand you and make the matter plain to you.

O God, do not keep silent; do not be still, do not be quiet!

"Speak up for people who cannot speak for themselves. Protect the rights of all who are helpless.

Speak for them and be a righteous judge. Protect the rights of the poor and needy."

LORD, are you unmoved by all this? Are you going to do nothing and make us suffer more than we can endure?

Why do you make me see such trouble? How can you stand to look on such wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are all around me, and there is fighting and quarreling everywhere.

The law is weak and useless, and justice is never done. Evil people get the better of the righteous, and so justice is perverted.

How much worse it will be for evil men who murder an innocent man asleep in his own house! I will now take revenge on you for murdering him and will wipe you off the face of the earth!"

The LORD will punish Joab for those murders, which he committed without my father David's knowledge. Joab killed two innocent men who were better men than he: Abner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa, commander of the army of Judah.

The wicked plot against good people and glare at them with hate.

The wicked draw their swords and bend their bows to kill the poor and needy, to slaughter those who do what is right;

Be merciful to me, O God, because I am under attack; my enemies persecute me all the time.

All day long my opponents attack me. There are so many who fight against me.

In accordance with his own plan God had already decided that Jesus would be handed over to you; and you killed him by letting sinful men crucify him.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has given divine glory to his Servant Jesus. But you handed him over to the authorities, and you rejected him in Pilate's presence, even after Pilate had decided to set him free.

You killed the one who leads to life, but God raised him from death---and we are witnesses to this.