Psalms 10:1-18
1 Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
2 The wickeda in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart'sb desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.
4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
5 His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.
6 He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall neverc be in adversity.
7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceitd and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.
8 He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.
9 He lieth in wait secretlye as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net.
10 He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.
11 He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.
12 Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.f
13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.
14 Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committethg himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.
16 The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.
17 LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepareh their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.i
Gordon Churchyard
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God will Always Remember you
Psalms 9 and 10
Gordon Churchyard
Jesus said, "I did not come to judge the world. I came to save the world". (John 12:47) (Judge here means say who is wrong.)
Psalms 10
v1 LORD, why are you standing so far away?
Why do you hide when there is trouble?
v2 in his pride, the wicked man tries to catch helpless people.
I hope that wicked people catch themselves with their bad plans!
v3 The wicked boasts about what he wants.
He says good things about those that want more than is fair.
He says very bad things about the LORD.
v4 In his pride, the wicked does not look for God.
He will not even think of God.
v5 Everything that the wicked does always works well.
He puts the rules of God far from him.
He laughs at the people that do not like him.
v6 He says to himself, "There will be no trouble for me.
Nothing bad will ever happen to me or to my children".
v7 His mouth makes bad promises.
It is full of words that are not true.
He says that he will do very bad things to people.
There is evil on his tongue.
v8 He hides behind the bushes near the villages.
He watches in secret for people to hurt.
He jumps out and murders people that have done nothing wrong.
v9 He lies like a lion under the cover of a bush.
He waits to catch someone that is helpless.
He does catch him and takes him away in his net.
v10 He beats the helpless man.
The helpless man fails and falls under the stronger man.
v11 He says to himself, "God forgot.
He hid his face. He never saw what happened".
v12 Rise up, O God! Lift up your hand.
Do not forget the helpless people.
v13 Why does the wicked man say such bad things about God?
Why does he think, "God will not do anything about it?"
v14 See it all, God, all the trouble,
all the *oppressed people.
Decide what to do about it.
The helpless puts his trust in you.
You give help to the *fatherless.
v15 The arm of the wicked and evil man... break it (LORD)!
Tell him to explain what he has done.
He thought that you would not discover it!
v16 The LORD will always be king.
The nations will not remain in his land for *evermore.
v17 You hear, LORD, what *oppressed people want.
You listen when they pray. You give them something to hope for.
v18 You care for the *fatherless and the *oppressed.
People from the earth will not frighten the poor again.
What Psalms 10 means
You can see that the acrostic is incomplete. "Incomplete" means that it is not all there. The psalm is all there, though. A few words became changed. They still mean the same thing.Psalms 10:1–7: In Psalms 9, we read about the enemy of God. He was also the enemy of David. The enemy was probably a foreign country. In Psalms 10, we read about the wicked man, or the wicked. They were people that lived in David's country. Perhaps some of them were women. They wanted more that it was fair for them to have. They made plans to take things from people that were helpless. Some of these helpless people were people of God. Sometimes they felt that God did not care any more.
Psalms 10:8–11: The wicked man is like a wild animal called a lion. They kill for what they can get. In Psalms 10:11 we do not know if "he" is the bad man or the helpless man. The Hebrew Bible just says "he". Both people felt that God was not looking.
Psalms 10:12–18: David prays that God will do something. In verses 16-18 David tells his people that God will do something. God will frighten the wicked away. (Frighten means make afraid). David knew that after fighting foreign countries (look in Psalms 9) there was unrest in his own kingdom. ("Unrest" means people in the same country fighting each other). King David tried to stop it, but he knew that only God would really stop it. (A kingdom is a country that has a king or a queen.)
Something to do
When there is trouble pray to God about it. There may be unrest in your own country. Pray to God about it. You may feel frightened. You may not feel safe. Pray to God about it. Then read Psalms 10:16-18. Believe that one day it will be true. That is the promise of God to you.
oppressed ~ helpless people that wicked people hurt
fatherless ~ someone that has no father, usually a child
evermore ~ another word for always