10 1 He complaineth of the fraud, rapine, tyranny, and all kinds of wrong, which worldly men use, assigning the cause thereof, that wicked men, being as it were drunken with worldly prosperity, and therefore setting apart all fear and reverence towards God, think they may do all things without controlling. 15 Therefore he calleth upon God to send some remedy against these desperate evils, 16 and at length comforteth himself with hope of deliverance.
1 Why standest thou far off, O Lord, and hidest thee in [a]due time, even in affliction?
2 The wicked with pride doth persecute the poor; let them be taken in the crafts that they have imagined.
3 For the wicked hath [b]made boast of his own heart’s desire, and the covetous blesseth himself, he contemneth the Lord.
4 The wicked is so proud, that he seeketh not for God: he thinketh always, There is no God.
5 His ways always prosper: thy judgments are high above his sight; therefore [c]defieth he all his enemies.
6 He saith in his heart, I shall [d]never be moved, [e]nor be in danger.
7 His mouth is full of cursing, and deceit, and fraud; under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.
8 [f]He lieth in wait in the villages; in the secret places doth he murder the innocent; his eyes are bent against the poor.
9 He lieth in wait secretly, even as a lion in his den; he lieth in wait to spoil the poor; he doth spoil the poor, when he draweth him into his net.
10 He croucheth and boweth; therefore heaps of the [g]poor do fall by his might.
11 He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten, he hideth away his face, and will never see.
12 [h]Arise, O Lord God, lift up thine hand; forget not the poor.
13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he saith in his heart, Thou wilt not [i]regard.
14 Yet thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and wrong; that thou mayest [j]take it into thine hands; the poor committeth himself unto thee; for thou art the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and malicious; search his wickedness, and thou shalt find [k]none.
16 The Lord is King forever and ever; the [l]heathen are destroyed forth of his land.
17 Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the poor; thou preparest their heart; thou bendest thine ear to them,
18 [m]To judge the fatherless and poor, that earthly man [n]cause to fear no more.
Footnotes
- Psalm 10:1 So soon as we enter into affliction, we think God should help us, but that is not always his due time.
- Psalm 10:3 The wicked man rejoiceth in his own lust, he boasteth when he hath that he would: he braggeth of his wit and wealth, and blesseth himself, and thus blasphemeth the Lord.
- Psalm 10:5 Or, snuffeth at.
- Psalm 10:6 Or, not be moved, because he was never in evil.
- Psalm 10:6 The evil shall not touch me, Isa. 28:15, or else he speaketh thus because he never felt evil.
- Psalm 10:8 He showeth that the wicked have many means to hide their cruelty, and therefore ought more to be feared.
- Psalm 10:10 By the hypocrisy of them that have authority, the poor are devoured.
- Psalm 10:12 He calleth to God for help, because wickedness is so far overgrown, that God must now help or never.
- Psalm 10:13 Therefore thou must needs punish this their blasphemy.
- Psalm 10:14 To judge between the right and the wrong.
- Psalm 10:15 For thou hast utterly destroyed him.
- Psalm 10:16 The hypocrites or such as live not after God’s Law, shall be destroyed.
- Psalm 10:18 God helpeth when man’s help ceaseth.
- Psalm 10:18 Or, destroy no more man upon the earth.