Psalms 9:1-20
1 I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.
2 I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.
3 When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence.
4 For thou hast maintaineda my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right.
5 Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.
6 O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and thou hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them.
7 But the LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment.
8 And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.
9 The LORD also will be a refugeb for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
10 And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.
11 Sing praises to the LORD, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his doings.
12 When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.c
13 Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death:
14 That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.
15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
16 The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion.d Selah.
17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
18 For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.
19 Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight.
20 Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.
9 and 10. Yahweh the Refuge of His People. These two Pss., divided in MT, were originally one, This is proved by the fact that they are one in LXX. and Vulg., by the absence of title over Psalms 10, and, conclusively, by the evidence that 9 and 10 form one acrostic poem. It was arranged in strophes of four lines each, the first letter of each strophe being one of the letters of the Heb. alphabet in regular succession. This system is carried out in the whole of Psalms 9-2 in Psalms 10. So far we have the first twelve letters of the alphabet, the only omission being that of the fourth letter, which, however, can be supplied by an easy and convincing emendation. Then from Psalms 10:3 to Psalms 10:11 the acrostic character disappears and can be recovered only by precarious emendation. It reappears in Psalms 10:12 and continues to the end, where the strophes begin with the last four letters of the alphabet. This irregularity implies great corruption in MT, and shows, like the comparison of Psalms 18 with 2 Samuel 22, that any absolute trust in that text is misplaced.
The subject-matter raises a further difficulty. The poem is in part a triumphal song over Israel's foes, but the writer oscillates between the thought of foreign oppressors and of godless Israelites who defy Yahweh and spoil the orphan and the afflicted. A very slight emendation in Psalms 10:16, proud instead of nations, removes this second difficulty. But a third remains: the Psalmist begins with gratitude for the defeat of his adversaries and changes his song to one of supplication for a victory which is not yet secure.
Psalms 9:13 f. Observe the contrast between the gates of Sheol and those of Zion.
Psalms 10:4. Here, as always in the OT, the atheism meant is practical not theoretical. The godless believe in a God who lives far away and does not trouble Himself with human affairs.
Psalms 10:5. Read, He prospers in his ways at all times. The villages in Psalms 10 may, being unwalled, have fallen an easy prey to the enemy, or, more probably, they have become nests of robbers. The LXX. Psalms 10:8 reads, He sitteth in ambush with the rich.