Psalm 10
Lexham English Bible
A Prayer for God to Throw down the Wicked
10 Why, O Yahweh, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide[a] during times of distress?
2 In arrogance the wicked persecutes[b] the poor.
Let them be caught in the schemes that they devised,
3 for the wicked boasts about the desire of his heart,[c]
and the one greedy for gain curses and treats Yahweh with contempt.
4 With bald-faced pride[d] the wicked will not seek God.
There is no God in any of his thoughts.
5 His ways[e] endure at all times.[f]
Your judgments are aloof from him.
As for all his enemies, he scoffs at them.
6 He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved
throughout all generations,[g] during which I will have no trouble.”
7 His mouth is filled with cursing,
with deceits and oppression;
under his tongue are trouble and evil.
8 He sits in ambush in villages;
in the hiding places he kills the innocent.
His eyes lurk[h] for the helpless.
9 He lies in ambush secretly,[i] like a lion in a thicket.
He lies in ambush to seize the poor;
he seizes the poor by catching him in his net.
10 He is crushed;[j] he is bowed down;[k]
so[l] the helpless host[m] falls by his might.[n]
11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten.
He has hidden his face.
He never sees.”
12 Rise up, O Yahweh;
O God, lift up your hand.
Do not forget the afflicted.
13 Why does the wicked treat God with contempt?
He says in his heart, “You will not call me to account.”
14 But you have seen; indeed you have noted trouble and grief
to take it into your hand.
The helpless abandons himself upon you;
you have been the helper for the orphan.
15 Break the arm of the wicked,
and as for the evil man—
seek out his wickedness until you find none.
16 Yahweh is king forever and ever;
the nations have perished from his land.
17 The longing of the afflicted you have heard, O Yahweh.
You will make their heart secure. You will listen attentively[o]
18 to render judgment for the fatherless and the oppressed
so that a mere mortal from the earth will no longer cause terror.
Footnotes
- Psalm 10:1 Or “shut your eyes”
- Psalm 10:2 Or “pursues”
- Psalm 10:3 Literally “soul”
- Psalm 10:4 Literally “According to the height of his nose”
- Psalm 10:5 According to the reading tradition (Qere)
- Psalm 10:5 Hebrew “time”
- Psalm 10:6 Literally “for a generation and a generation”
- Psalm 10:8 Literally “lie hid”
- Psalm 10:9 Literally “in the secret places”
- Psalm 10:10 Or “and he the wicked stoops”
- Psalm 10:10 Or “he the wicked crouches”
- Psalm 10:10 Or “and”
- Psalm 10:10 According to the reading tradition (Qere)
- Psalm 10:10 Literally “mighty ones”
- Psalm 10:17 Literally “cause your ear to hear”
Psalm 10
Wycliffe Bible
10 Lord, why hast thou gone far away? thou despisest us in covenable times in tribulation. (Lord, why hast thou gone so far away? despisest thou us in our time of trouble?)
2 While the wicked man waxeth proud, the poor man is burnt; they be taken in the wicked counsels, which they thinked. (While the wicked grow proud, the poor be persecuted; let the wicked be caught in the wicked plans, which they themselves have thought out.)
3 For why the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul; and the wicked is blessed. The sinner hath stirred the Lord to wrath; (For the sinner glorieth in the desires of his own soul; and he blesseth the wicked, who have stirred the Lord to anger.)
4 after the multitude of his wrath, he shall not seek (after God). God is not in his sight; (And because of the multitude of his pride, he shall not seek after God. Indeed God is not in any of his thoughts;)
5 his ways be defouled in all time. Thy dooms be taken away from his face; he shall be lord of all his enemies. (his ways be defiled forever. And though thy judgements be far away from him, that is, beyond his grasp; he shall still be lord, or he shall still rule, over all his enemies.)
6 For he said in his heart, I shall not be moved, from generation into generation without evil. (For he said in his heart, I shall never be shaken; yea, for all generations, I shall never have any trouble.)
7 Whose mouth is full of cursing, and of bitterness, and of guile; travail and sorrow is under his tongue. (His mouth is full of curses, and of bitterness, and of deceit, or lies; trouble and sorrow be upon his tongue.)
8 He sitteth in ambushes with rich men in privates; to slay the innocent man. His eyes behold cruelly on the poor man; (He sitteth in ambush in villages; to secretly kill the innocent. His eyes look cruelly upon the poor;)
9 he setteth ambushes in hid place, as a lion in his den. He setteth ambushes, for to ravish a poor man; for to ravish a poor man, while he draweth (in) the poor man. In his snare he shall make meek the poor man; (he setteth ambush from a hidden place, like a lion in his den. He setteth ambush to catch a poor man; yea, to catch a poor man, when he draweth him into his trap. And with his snare, he shall bring down that poor man;)
10 he shall bow himself down, and he shall fall, when he hath been lord of poor men. (yea, that good man shall fall down, and so the poor shall be brought down by his brute strength.)
11 For he said in his heart, God hath forgotten; he hath turned away his face, that he see not into the end. (For he said in his heart, God hath forgotten them; he hath turned away his face, and he shall never see this.)
12 Lord God, rise thou up, and thine hand be enhanced; forget thou not poor men. (Lord God, rise thou up, and let thy hand be lifted up; do not thou forget the poor.)
13 For what thing stirred the wicked man God to wrath? for he said in his heart, God shall not seek. (And why hath the wicked person made God angry? for he said in his heart, God shall not see this/God shall not care about this.)
14 Thou seest, for thou beholdest travail and sorrow; that thou take them into thine hands. The poor man is left to thee; thou shalt be an helper to the fatherless and motherless. (But thou do see it, for thou beholdest all trouble, or all tribulation, and sorrow; and thou hast taken the matter into thy own hands. And the poor commit themselves to thee; and thou art a helper to the fatherless and the motherless.)
15 All-break thou the arm of the sinner, and evil-willed; his sin shall be sought, and it shall not be found. (Break thou the arm, or the power, of the sinner, and those who be evil-willed; let their sins be sought out until no more be found.)
16 The Lord shall reign [into] without end, and into the world of world; folks, ye shall perish from the land of him. (The Lord shall reign forever and ever; and all the nations have vanished from his land/and all the peoples shall vanish from his land.)
17 The Lord hath heard the desire of poor men; thine ear hath heard the making ready of their heart. (The Lord hath heard the desire of the poor; yea, thy ears have heard the desires of their hearts.)
18 To deem for the motherless and meek; that a man presume no more to make himself great on earth. (And thou shalt judge in favour of the motherless, and the fatherless, and the humble; so that no longer shall anyone presume to make themselves great upon the earth.)
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2001 by Terence P. Noble