Psalm 9–10

PSALM 9

To the choirmaster: according to Muth-labben. A Psalm of David.

¹I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;

I will tell of all thy wonderful deeds.

²I will be glad and exult in thee,

I will sing praise to thy name, O Most High.

³When my enemies turned back,

they stumbled and perished before thee.

⁴For thou hast maintained my just cause;

thou hast sat on the throne giving righteous judgment.

⁵Thou hast rebuked the nations, thou hast destroyed the wicked;

thou hast blotted out their name for ever and ever.

⁶The enemy have vanished in everlasting ruins;

their cities thou hast rooted out;

the very memory of them has perished.

⁷But the Lord sits enthroned for ever,

he has established his throne for judgment;

⁸and he judges the world with righteousness,

he judges the peoples with equity.

⁹The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,

a stronghold in times of trouble.

¹⁰And those who know thy name put their trust in thee,

for thou, O Lord, hast not forsaken those who seek thee.

¹¹Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion!

Tell among the peoples his deeds!

¹²For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;

he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.

¹³Be gracious to me, O Lord!

Behold what I suffer from those who hate me,

O thou who liftest me up from the gates of death,

¹⁴that I may recount all thy praises,

that in the gates of the daughter of Zion

I may rejoice in thy deliverance.

¹⁵The nations have sunk in the pit which they made;

in the net which they hid has their own foot been caught.

¹⁶The Lord has made himself known, he has executed judgment;

the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion. Selah

¹⁷The wicked shall depart to Sheol,

all the nations that forget God.

¹⁸For the needy shall not always be forgotten,

and the hope of the poor shall not perish for ever.

¹⁹Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail;

let the nations be judged before thee!

²⁰Put them in fear, O Lord!

Let the nations know that they are but men! Selah

PSALM 10

¹Why dost thou stand afar off, O Lord?

Why dost thou hide thyself in times of trouble?

²In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;

let them be caught in the schemes which they have devised.

³For the wicked boasts of the desires of his heart,

and the man greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord.

⁴In the pride of his countenance the wicked does not seek him;

all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”

⁵His ways prosper at all times;

thy judgments are on high, out of his sight;

as for all his foes, he puffs at them.

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

throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.”

⁷His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;

under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.

⁸He sits in ambush in the villages;

in hiding places he murders the innocent.

His eyes stealthily watch for the hapless,

⁹he lurks in secret like a lion in his covert;

he lurks that he may seize the poor,

he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net.

¹⁰The hapless is crushed, sinks down,

and falls by his might.

¹¹He thinks in his heart, “God has forgotten,

he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”

¹²Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up thy hand;

forget not the afflicted.

¹³Why does the wicked renounce God,

and say in his heart, “Thou wilt not call to account”?

¹⁴Thou dost see; yea, thou dost note trouble and vexation,

that thou mayest take it into thy hands;

the hapless commits himself to thee;

thou hast been the helper of the fatherless.

¹⁵Break thou the arm of the wicked and evildoer;

seek out his wickedness till thou find none.

¹⁶The Lord is king for ever and ever;

the nations shall perish from his land.

¹⁷O Lord, thou wilt hear the desire of the meek;

thou wilt strengthen their heart, thou wilt incline thy ear

¹⁸to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,

so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.