O Why So Far Removed?

O why so far re­moved

O Lord

And why so dis­tant be;

Why hid­est Thou Thy face from us

In our anxi­ety?

The wick­ed in un­ho­ly pride

The low­ly poor op­press;

Let them be tak­en in the snare

Of their own craf­ti­ness.

The wick­ed in his ar­ro­gance

Refuses God to fear

Nor is it in his thoughts at all

The sov­er­eign God to hear.

His ways are griev­ous and Thy laws

Too high for him to see;

He there­fore his de­fi­ance bids

And taunts his ene­my.

For he with­in his heart has said

I suf­fer no dis­tress

Adversity comes not to me

I still have had suc­cess.

In curs­ing and de­ceit and fraud

His tongue is ev­er skilled;

With fes­ter­ing ini­qui­ty

His mouth is ev­er filled.

He lurks in vil­lage hid­ing place

And in dark cor­ners bent

He watch­es for the hum­ble poor

To seize the in­no­cent.

In stealth he cow­ers co­vert­ly

As li­on in his lair

That he may pounce up­on the poor

And catch him in his snare.

He crouch­es low so that the poor

To his strong friends may fall

And tells himself that God for­gets

Or sees it not at all.

Arise

O Lord

and lift Thy hand

The poor in me­mo­ry keep.

How can the wick­ed blas­pheme God

And say He is asleep?

For sure­ly Thou dost see

O Lord

Dost see the sin and spite;

And when the help­less look to Thee

Thou dost their wrong re­quite.

Break Thou the force of evil men

Befriend the fa­ther­less

Trace out the wick­ed ev­ery­where

Uproot their wickedness.

The Lord our God is sov­er­eign still

The heathen all are slain.

Thou

Lord

hast heard the sup­pli­ant’s pray­er

And dost his heart sus­tain.

No more shall boast­ing ar­ro­gance

Or taunt­ing pride op­press;

The poor and or­phaned Thou wilt hear

And judge with right­eous­ness.