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Psalm 10[a]

Why, O Eternal One, are You so far away?
    Why can’t You be found during troubling times?
Mean and haughty people hunt down the poor.
    May they get caught up in their own wicked schemes.

For the wicked celebrates the evil cravings of his heart
    as the greedy curses and rejects the Eternal.
The arrogance of the wicked one keeps him from seeking the True God.
    He truly thinks, “There is no God.”

His ways seem always to be successful;
    Your judgments, too, seem far beyond him, out of his reach.
    He looks down on all his enemies.
In his heart he has decided, “Nothing will faze me.
    From generation to generation I will not face trouble.”

His mouth is full of curses, lies, and oppression.[b]
    Beneath his tongue lie trouble and wickedness.
He hides in the shadows of the villages,
    waiting to ambush and kill the innocent in dark corners.
He eyes the weak and the poor.

Ominously, like a lion in its lair,
    he lurks in secret to waylay those who are downtrodden.
When he catches them, he draws them in and drags them off with his net.

10 Quietly crouching, lying low,
    ready to overwhelm the next by his strength,
11 The wicked thinks in his heart, “God has forgotten us!
    He has covered His face and will never notice!”

12 Arise, O Eternal, my True God. Lift up Your hand.
    Do not forget the downtrodden.
13 Why does the wicked revile the True God?
    He has decided, “He will not hold me responsible.”

14 But wait! You have seen,
    and You will consider the trouble and grief he caused.
    You will impose consequences for his actions.
The helpless, the orphans, commit themselves to You,
    and You have been their Helper.

15 Break the arm of the one guilty of doing evil;
    investigate all his wicked acts;
    hold him responsible for every last one of them.
16 The Eternal will reign as King forever.
    The other nations will be swept off His land.

17 O Eternal One, You have heard the longings of the poor and lowly.
    You will strengthen them; You who are of heaven will hear them,
18 Vindicating the orphan and the oppressed
    so that men who are of the earth will terrify them no more.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 10 Psalms 9–10 were originally a single acrostic poem.
  2. 10:7 Romans 3:14

Psalm 10[a]

Why, Lord, do you stand far off?(A)
    Why do you hide yourself(B) in times of trouble?

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

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

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

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

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 10:1 Psalms 9 and 10 may originally have been a single acrostic poem in which alternating lines began with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the Septuagint they constitute one psalm.
  2. Psalm 10:5 See Septuagint; Hebrew / they are haughty, and your laws are far from