Psalm 9–10

Praise for Yahweh’s Justice

9For the music director, according to Muth-labben.^a A psalm of David.^b

¹I will thank Yahweh with all my heart.

I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.

²I will be glad and rejoice in you.

I will sing the praise of your name, O Most High.

³When my enemies turn back,

they will stumble and perish because of your presence.

⁴For you have maintained my just cause;

you have sat on the throne judging correctly.

⁵You have rebuked the nations;

you have destroyed the wicked.

Their name you have blotted out

forever and ever.

⁶The enemies are destroyed in ruins forever,

and you have uprooted their cities;

their very memory has perished.

⁷But Yahweh sits enthroned forever.

He has established his throne for judgment.

⁸And he will judge the world with righteousness.

He will judge the peoples with equity.

⁹And Yahweh will be a stronghold for the oppressed,

a stronghold in times of distress.

¹⁰And those who know your name will trust in you,

for you do not forsake those who seek you, O Yahweh.

¹¹Sing praises to Yahweh who sits enthroned^c in Zion.

Tell his deeds among the peoples,

¹²for he who avenges bloodshed^d remembers them.

He does not forget the distressed cry of the afflicted.

¹³Be gracious to me, O Yahweh.

See my suffering from those who hate me,

you who lift me up from the gates of death,

¹⁴so that I may tell of all your praises.

In the gates of the daughter of Zion

let me rejoice in your salvation.

¹⁵The nations have fallen in the pit that they made;

their foot is caught in the net that they hid.

¹⁶Yahweh has made himself known;

he has executed judgment.

The wicked is snared by the work of his hands. Higgaion^e Selah

¹⁷The wicked shall turn back to Sheol,

all the nations forgetting God,

¹⁸for the needy shall not always be forgotten;

the hope of the poor shall never perish.

¹⁹Rise up, O Yahweh, let not humans^e prevail;

let the nations be judged before you.

²⁰O Yahweh, put them in fear.

Let the nations know they are merely human. Selah

A Prayer for God to Throw down the Wicked

10Why, O Yahweh, do you stand far off?

Why do you hide^a during times of distress?

²In arrogance the wicked persecutes^b the poor.

Let them be caught in the schemes that they devised,

³for the wicked boasts about the desire of his heart,^c

and the one greedy for gain curses and treats Yahweh with contempt.

⁴With bald-faced pride^d the wicked will not seek God.

There is no God in any of his thoughts.

⁵His ways^e endure at all times.^f

Your judgments are aloof from him.

As for all his enemies, he scoffs at them.

⁶He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved

throughout all generations,^g during which I will have no trouble.”

⁷His mouth is filled with cursing,

with deceits and oppression;

under his tongue are trouble and evil.

⁸He sits in ambush in villages;

in the hiding places he kills the innocent.

His eyes lurk^h for the helpless.

⁹He 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.

¹⁰He is crushed;^j he is bowed down;^k

so^l the helpless host^m falls by his might.ⁿ

¹¹He says in his heart, “God has forgotten.

He has hidden his face.

He never sees.”

¹²Rise up, O Yahweh;

O God, lift up your hand.

Do not forget the afflicted.

¹³Why does the wicked treat God with contempt?

He says in his heart, “You will not call me to account.”

¹⁴But you have seen; indeed you have noted trouble and grief

to take it into your hand.

The helpless abandons himself upon you;

you have been the helper for the orphan.

¹⁵Break the arm of the wicked,

and as for the evil man—

seek out his wickedness until you find none.

¹⁶Yahweh is king forever and ever;

the nations have perished from his land.

¹⁷The longing of the afflicted you have heard, O Yahweh.

You will make their heart secure. You will listen attentively^o

¹⁸to render judgment for the fatherless and the oppressed

so that a mere mortal from the earth will no longer cause terror.