Psalm 10
Revised Geneva Translation
10 Why do you stand afar off, O LORD, hiding Yourself in time of trouble?
2 With pride, the wicked persecute the poor. Let them be taken in the crafts that they have imagined.
3 For the wicked has boasted of his own heart’s desire; and the covetous blesses himself and despises the LORD.
4 The wicked is so proud that he does not seek. He thinks always, “There is no God.”
5 His ways always prosper. Your judgments are high above his sight. He defies all his enemies.
6 He says in his heart, “I shall never be moved, nor be in danger.”
7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud. Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.
8 He lies in wait in the villages. He murders the innocent in the secret places. His eyes are bent against the poor.
9 He lies in wait secretly, as a lion in his den. He lies in wait to catch the poor. He catches the poor when he draws him into his net.
10 He crouches and bows. Therefore, heaps of the poor fall by his might.
11 He has said in his heart, “God has forgotten. He hides his face and will never see.”
12 Arise, O LORD God. Lift up Your hand. Do not forget the poor.
13 Why do the wicked despise God? He says in his heart, “You will not see.”
14 Yet You have seen it. For You behold mischief and wrong, so that You may take it into Your hands. The poor commits himself to You. You are the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and malicious. Search his wickedness until you shall find none.
16 The LORD is King forever and ever. The heathen are destroyed from His land.
17 LORD, You have heard the desire of the oppressed. You prepare their heart. You bend Your ear
18 to vindicate the fatherless and oppressed, so that earthly man causes no more fear. To him who excels: A Psalm of David.
Psalm 10
Living Bible
10 Lord, why are you standing aloof and far away? Why do you hide when I need you the most?
2 Come and deal with all these proud and wicked men who viciously persecute the poor. Pour upon these men the evil they planned for others! 3 For these men brag of all their evil lusts; they revile God and congratulate those the Lord abhors, whose only goal in life is money.
4 These wicked men, so proud and haughty, seem to think that God is dead.[a] They wouldn’t think of looking for him! 5 Yet there is success in everything they do, and their enemies fall before them. They do not see your punishment awaiting them. 6 They boast that neither God nor man can ever keep them down—somehow they’ll find a way!
7 Their mouths are full of profanity and lies and fraud. They are always boasting of their evil plans. 8 They lurk in dark alleys of the city and murder passersby. 9 Like lions they crouch silently, waiting to pounce upon the poor. Like hunters they catch their victims in their traps. 10 The unfortunate are overwhelmed by their superior strength and fall beneath their blows. 11 “God isn’t watching,” they say to themselves; “he’ll never know!”
12 O Lord, arise! O God, crush them! Don’t forget the poor or anyone else in need. 13 Why do you let the wicked get away with this contempt for God? For they think that God will never call them to account. 14 Lord, you see what they are doing. You have noted each evil act. You know what trouble and grief they have caused. Now punish them. O Lord, the poor man trusts himself to you; you are known as the helper of the helpless. 15 Break the arms of these wicked men. Go after them until the last of them is destroyed.
16 The Lord is King forever and forever. Those who follow other gods shall be swept from his land.
17 Lord, you know the hopes of humble people. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort their hearts by helping them. 18 You will be with the orphans and all who are oppressed, so that mere earthly man will terrify them no longer.
Footnotes
- Psalm 10:4 that God is dead, literally, “that there is no God.”
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