Psalm 10 – A Prayer for Help

Revision 2

10 Why do you stand, Lord, so far away,

hiding yourself in times of trouble?

2 The wicked, in their pride, are pursuing the helpless:

let them be caught in the schemes they have plotted.

3 For the wicked boasts of their wanton greed;

the robber despises the Lord, and curses him,

4 in wicked pride, thinks:

God doesn’t care,

God doesn’t call to account.

5 Never a season that they do not prosper;

your judgments are far above out of their sight:

they scoff at their foes.

6 Each says in their heart,

‘I will never be shaken;

I will live for all time

untouched by misfortune.’

7 Their mouths are full of deceit and oppression:

under their tongues lurks mischief and wrong.

8 Lying in secret in some village ambush,

and stealthily watching, they murder the innocent.

9 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 Their victims are crushed,

sink down to the ground.

Under their claws

the hapless fall.

11 The wicked say in their hearts

that God has forgotten,

has hidden his face,

will see nothing.

12 Arise, Lord, lift up your hand,

do not forget the cry of the wretched.

13 Why do the wicked treat God with contempt,

and say in their hearts, ‘God doesn’t care’?

14 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 evil:

search out their sin, till no more be found.

16 The Lord is king forever and ever:

the nations will vanish from his land.

17 Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble,

inclining your ear, strengthening their hearts,

18 rights you have won for the crushed and the orphan,

so no one on earth may strike terror again.