Psalms 10
1 Why, YHWH, do You stand at a distance? Do You hide in times of adversity?
Why do you stand, Lord, so far away, hiding yourself in times of trouble?
2 Through the pride of the wicked, Is the poor inflamed, They are caught in schemes that they devised.
The wicked, in their pride, are pursuing the helpless: let them be caught in the schemes they have plotted.
3 Because the wicked has boasted Of the desire of his soul, And he has blessed a dishonest gainer, He has despised YHWH.
For the wicked boasts of their wanton greed; the robber despises the Lord, and curses him,
4 The wicked does not inquire according to the height of his face. “There is no God!” [are] all his schemes.
in wicked pride, thinks: God doesn’t care, God doesn’t call to account.
5 His ways writhe at all times, Your judgments [are] on high before him, All his adversaries—he puffs at them.
Never a season that they do not prosper; your judgments are far above out of their sight: they scoff at their foes.
6 He has said in his heart, “I am not moved, [And am] not in calamity to generation and generation.”
Each says in their heart, “I will never be shaken; I will live for all time untouched by misfortune.”
7 His mouth is full of oaths, And deceits, and fraud: Under his tongue [is] perverseness and iniquity,
Their mouths are full of deceit and oppression: under their tongues lurks mischief and wrong.
8 He sits in an ambush of the villages, He slays the innocent in secret places. His eyes secretly watch for the afflicted,
Lying in secret in some village ambush, and stealthily watching, they murder the innocent.
9 He lies in wait in a secret place, as a lion in a covert. He lies in wait to catch the poor, He catches the poor, drawing him into his net.
Like a lion that lurks in a secret lair they lurk intending to catch the defenceless; to seize them, to drag them away in their net.
10 He is bruised—he bows down, The afflicted has fallen by his mighty ones.
Their victims are crushed, sink down to the ground. Under their claws the hapless fall.
11 He said in his heart, “God has forgotten, He has hid His face, He has never seen.”
The wicked say in their hearts that God has forgotten, has hidden his face, will see nothing.
12 Arise, O YHWH! O God, lift up Your hand! Do not forget the humble.
Arise, Lord, lift up your hand, do not forget the cry of the wretched.
13 Why has the wicked despised God? He has said in his heart, “It is not required.”
Why do the wicked treat God with contempt, and say in their hearts, “God doesn’t care”?
14 You have seen, For You behold perverseness and anger; By giving into Your hand, The afflicted leave [it] on You, You have been a helper of the fatherless.
You have seen the trouble and sorrow; you mark it all, and will take it in hand. The hapless can count on you, helper of orphans.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and the evil, Seek out his wickedness, find none;
Break the arm of the wicked and evil: search out their sin, till no more be found.
16 YHWH [is] King for all time and forever, The nations have perished out of His land!
The Lord is king forever and ever: the nations will vanish from his land.
17 You have heard the desire of the humble, O YHWH. You prepare their heart; You cause Your ear to attend,
Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble, inclining your ear, strengthening their hearts,
18 To judge the fatherless and bruised: He adds no more to oppress—man of the earth!
rights you have won for the crushed and the orphan, so no one on earth may strike terror again.
