Psalm 13 The Voice (VOICE)

How long, O Eternal One? How long will You forget me? Forever?
    How long will You look the other way?

² How long must I agonize,
    grieving Your absence in my heart every day?
How long will You let my enemies win?

³ Turn back; respond to me, O Eternal, my True God!
    Put the spark of life in my eyes, or I’m dead.
⁴ My enemies will boast they have beaten me;
    my foes will celebrate that I have stumbled.

⁵ But I trust in Your faithful love;
    my heart leaps at the thought of imminent deliverance by You.
⁶ I will sing to the Eternal,
    for He is always generous with me.

Psalm 12 Revised Standard Version (RSV)

Help, Lord; for there is no longer any that is godly;
    for the faithful have vanished from among the sons of men.
² Every one utters lies to his neighbor;
    with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

³ May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
    the tongue that makes great boasts,
⁴ those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,
    our lips are with us; who is our master?”

⁵ “Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan,
    I will now arise,” says the Lord;
    “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
⁶ The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure,
    silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
    purified seven times.

⁷ Do thou, O Lord, protect us,
    guard us ever from this generation.
⁸ On every side the wicked prowl,
    as vileness is exalted among the sons of men.

Psalm 11 King James Version (KJV)

11 In the Lord put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?

² For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.

³ If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

⁴ The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.

⁵ The Lord trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

⁶ Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.

⁷ For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.

King James Version (KJV)

Public Domain

Psalm 10

1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,
who are caught in the schemes he devises.
3 He boasts about the cravings of his heart;
he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord.
4 In his pride the wicked man does not seek him;
in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
5 His ways are always prosperous;
your laws are rejected by[b] him;
he sneers at all his enemies.
6 He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.”
He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.”

7 His mouth is full of lies and threats;
trouble and evil are under his tongue.
8 He lies in wait near the villages;
from ambush he murders the innocent.
His eyes watch in secret for his victims;
9 like a lion in cover he lies in wait.
He lies in wait to catch the helpless;
he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
10 His victims are crushed, they collapse;
they fall under his strength.
11 He says to himself, “God will never notice;
he covers his face and never sees.”

12 Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
Do not forget the helpless.
13 Why does the wicked man revile God?
Why does he say to himself,
“He won’t call me to account”?
14 But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked man;
call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
that would not otherwise be found out.

16 The Lord is King for ever and ever;
the nations will perish from his land.
17 You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that mere earthly mortals
will never again strike terror.