Psalm 10–12

Psalm 10

¹Why standest thou afar off, O Jehovah?

Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?

²In the pride of the wicked the poor is hotly pursued;

Let them be taken in the devices that they have conceived.

³For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire,

And the covetous renounceth, yea, contemneth Jehovah.

⁴The wicked, in the pride of his countenance, saith,

He will not require it.

All his thoughts are,

There is no God.

⁵His ways are firm at all times;

Thy judgments are far above out of his sight:

As for all his adversaries, he puffeth at them.

⁶He saith in his heart, I shall not be moved;

To all generations I shall not be in adversity.

⁷His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression:

Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.

⁸He sitteth in the lurking-places of the villages;

In the secret places doth he murder the innocent;

His eyes are privily set against the helpless.

⁹He lurketh in secret as a lion in his covert;

He lieth in wait to catch the poor:

He doth catch the poor, when he draweth him in his net.

¹⁰He croucheth, he boweth down,

And the helpless fall by his strong ones.

¹¹He saith in his heart, God hath forgotten;

He hideth his face; he will never see it.

¹²Arise, O Jehovah; O God, lift up thy hand:

Forget not the poor.

¹³Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God,

And say in his heart,

Thou wilt not require it?

¹⁴Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand:

The helpless committeth himself unto thee;

Thou hast been the helper of the fatherless.

¹⁵Break thou the arm of the wicked;

And as for the evil man, seek out his wickedness till thou find none.

¹⁶Jehovah is King for ever and ever:

The nations are perished out of his land.

¹⁷Jehovah, thou hast heard the desire of the meek:

Thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear;

¹⁸To judge the fatherless and the oppressed,

That man who is of the earth may be terrible no more.

Psalm 11

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

¹In Jehovah do I take refuge:

How say ye to my soul,

Flee as a bird to your mountain;

²For, lo, the wicked bend the bow,

They make ready their arrow upon the string,

That they may shoot in darkness at the upright in heart;

³If the foundations be destroyed,

What can the righteous do?

⁴Jehovah is in his holy temple;

Jehovah, his throne is in heaven;

His eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.

⁵Jehovah trieth the righteous;

But the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

⁶Upon the wicked he will rain snares;

Fire and brimstone and burning wind shall be the portion of their cup.

⁷For Jehovah is righteous;

He loveth righteousness:

The upright shall behold his face.

Psalm 12

For the Chief Musician; set to the Sheminith. A Psalm of David.

¹Help, Jehovah; for the godly man ceaseth;

For the faithful fail from among the children of men.

²They speak falsehood every one with his neighbor:

With flattering lip, and with a double heart, do they speak.

³Jehovah will cut off all flattering lips,

The tongue that speaketh great things;

⁴Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail;

Our lips are our own: who is lord over us?

⁵Because of the oppression of the poor, because of the sighing of the needy,

Now will I arise, saith Jehovah;

I will set him in the safety he panteth for.

⁶The words of Jehovah are pure words;

As silver tried in a furnace on the earth,

Purified seven times.

⁷Thou wilt keep them, O Jehovah,

Thou wilt preserve them from this generation for ever.

⁸The wicked walk on every side,

When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.