Add parallel Print Page Options

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?
In arrogance the wicked persecutes[b] the poor.
Let them be caught in the schemes that they devised,
for the wicked boasts about the desire of his heart,[c]
and the one greedy for gain curses and treats Yahweh with contempt.
With bald-faced pride[d] the wicked will not seek God.
There is no God in any of his thoughts.
His ways[e] endure at all times.[f]
Your judgments are aloof from him.
As for all his enemies, he scoffs at them.
He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved
throughout all generations,[g] during which I will have no trouble.”
His mouth is filled with cursing,
with deceits and oppression;
under his tongue are trouble and evil.
He sits in ambush in villages;
in the hiding places he kills the innocent.
His eyes lurk[h] for the helpless.
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.”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 10:1 Or “shut your eyes
  2. Psalm 10:2 Or “pursues”
  3. Psalm 10:3 Literally “soul”
  4. Psalm 10:4 Literally “According to the height of his nose”
  5. Psalm 10:5 According to the reading tradition (Qere)
  6. Psalm 10:5 Hebrew “time”
  7. Psalm 10:6 Literally “for a generation and a generation”
  8. Psalm 10:8 Literally “lie hid”
  9. Psalm 10:9 Literally “in the secret places”
  10. Psalm 10:10 Or “and he the wicked stoops”
  11. Psalm 10:10 Or “he the wicked crouches”
  12. Psalm 10:10 Or “and”
  13. Psalm 10:10 According to the reading tradition (Qere)
  14. Psalm 10:10 Literally “mighty ones”