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10. Psalm 10

¹ Why, LORD, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

    ² In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,
   who are caught in the schemes he devises.
³ He boasts about the cravings of his heart;
   he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.
⁴ In his pride the wicked man does not seek him;
   in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
⁵ His ways are always prosperous;
   your laws are rejected by See Septuagint; Hebrew / they are haughty, and your laws are far from him;
   he sneers at all his enemies.
⁶ He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.”
   He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.”

    ⁷ His mouth is full of lies and threats;
   trouble and evil are under his tongue.
⁸ He lies in wait near the villages;
   from ambush he murders the innocent.
His eyes watch in secret for his victims;
    ⁹ like a lion in cover he lies in wait.
He lies in wait to catch the helpless;
   he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
¹⁰ His victims are crushed, they collapse;
   they fall under his strength.
¹¹ He says to himself, “God will never notice;
   he covers his face and never sees.”

    ¹² Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God.
   Do not forget the helpless.
¹³ Why does the wicked man revile God?
   Why does he say to himself,
   “He won’t call me to account”?
¹⁴ But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
   you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
   you are the helper of the fatherless.
¹⁵ Break the arm of the wicked man;
   call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
   that would not otherwise be found out.

    ¹⁶ The LORD is King for ever and ever;
   the nations will perish from his land.
¹⁷ You, LORD, hear the desire of the afflicted;
   you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
¹⁸ defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
   so that mere earthly mortals
   will never again strike terror.

15. Break thou the arm. This form of expression just means breaking the power of the wicked. And it is not simply a prayer; it may also be regarded as a prophecy. As the ungovernable fury of our enemies very often makes us lose courage, as if there were no means by which it could be restrained, David, in order to support his faith, and preserve it from failing through the fears which presented themselves, sets before himself the consideration, that whenever it shall please God to break the power of the ungodly, he will bring to nothing both themselves and all their schemes. To make the meaning the more evident, the sentence may be explained in this way, — Lord, as soon as it shall seem good to thee to break the arm of the wicked, thou wilt destroy him in a moment, and bring to nought his powerful and violent efforts in the work of doing mischief. David, indeed, beseeches God to hasten his assistance and his vengeance; but, in the meantime, while these are withheld, he sustains himself by the consolatory reflection, that the ungodly cannot break forth into violence and mischief except in so far as God permits them; since it is in his power, whenever he ascends into the judgment-seat, to destroy them even with his look alone. And certainly, as the rising sun dissipates the clouds and vapours by his heat, and clears up the dark air, so God, when he stretches forth his hand to execute the office of a Judge, restores to tranquillity and order all the troubles and confusions of the world. The Psalmist calls the person of whom he speaks not only wicked, but the wicked and the evil man, and he does so, in my judgment, for the purpose of setting forth in a stronger light the greatness of the wickedness of the character which he describes. His words are as if he had said, Wicked men may even be frantic in their malice and impiety; but God can promptly and effectually remedy this evil whenever he pleases.