Psalms 10

¹Why standest thou afar off, O Jehovah?

Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?

²In the pride of the wicked the poor is hotly pursued;

Let them be taken in the devices that they have conceived.

³For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire,

And the covetous renounceth, yea , contemneth Jehovah.

⁴The wicked, in the pride of his countenance, saith , He will not require it .

All his thoughts are, There is no God.

⁵His ways are firm at all times;

Thy judgments are far above out of his sight:

As for all his adversaries, he puffeth at them.

⁶He saith in his heart, I shall not be moved;

To all generations I shall not be in adversity.

⁷His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression:

Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.

⁸He sitteth in the lurking-places of the villages;

In the secret places doth he murder the innocent;

His eyes are privily set against the helpless.

⁹He lurketh in secret as a lion in his covert;

He lieth in wait to catch the poor:

He doth catch the poor, when he draweth him in his net.

¹⁰He croucheth, he boweth down,

And the helpless fall by his strong ones.

¹¹He saith in his heart: God hath forgotten;

He hideth his face, he will never see it.

¹²Arise, O Jehovah; O God, lift up thy hand:

Forget not the poor.

¹³Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God,

And say in his heart, Thou wilt not require it ?

¹⁴Thou hast seen it ; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand:

The helpless committeth himself unto thee;

Thou hast been the helper of the fatherless.

¹⁵Break thou the arm of the wicked;

And as for the evil man, seek out his wickedness till thou find none.

¹⁶Jehovah is King for ever and ever:

The nations are perished out of his land.

¹⁷Jehovah, thou hast heard the desire of the meek:

Thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear;

¹⁸To judge the fatherless and the oppressed,

That man who is of the earth may be terrible no more.