1 Disaster for those who plot evil, who lie in bed planning mischief! No sooner is it dawn than they do it, since they have the power to do so.

2 Seizing the fields that they covet, they take over houses as well, owner and house they seize alike, the man himself as well as his inheritance.

3 So Yahweh says this: Look, I am now plotting a disaster for this breed from which you will not extricate your necks; you will not hold your heads up then, for the times will be disastrous indeed.

4 That day they will make a satire on you, they will strike up a dirge and say, 'We have been stripped of everything; my people's land has been divided up, no one else can restore it to them, our fields have been awarded to our despoiler.'

5 Because of this, you will have no one to measure out a share in Yahweh's community.

1 Why, Yahweh, do you keep so distant, stay hidden in times of trouble?

2 In his pride the wicked hunts down the weak, who is caught in the schemes he devises.

3 The wicked is proud of his inmost desires, by his blasphemies the grasping spurns Yahweh,

4 the wicked in his arrogance does not look very far; 'There is no God,' is his only thought.

7 he wishes it on others. His speech is full of lies and browbeating, under his tongue lurk spite and wickedness.

8 In the undergrowth he lies in ambush, in his hiding-place he murders the innocent. He watches intently for the downtrodden,

14 You have seen for yourself the trouble and vexation, you watch so as to take it in hand. The oppressed relies on you; you are the only recourse of the orphan.