Psalm 9-10 (NIV84)

Psalm 9

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Death of the Son.” A psalm of David.

^{1 [a]}I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonders.

² I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

³ My enemies turn back;
they stumble and perish before you.

⁴ For you have upheld my right and my cause;
you have sat on your throne, judging righteously.

⁵ You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.

⁶ Endless ruin has overtaken the enemy,
you have uprooted their cities;
even the memory of them has perished.

⁷ The LORD reigns forever;
he has established his throne for judgment.

⁸ He will judge the world in righteousness;
he will govern the peoples with justice.

⁹ The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.

¹⁰ Those who know your name will trust in you,
for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.

¹¹ Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations what he has done.

¹² For he who avenges blood remembers;
he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.

¹³ O LORD, see how my enemies persecute me!
Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death,

¹⁴ that I may declare your praises
in the gates of the Daughter of Zion
and there rejoice in your salvation.

¹⁵ The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;
their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.

¹⁶ The LORD is known by his justice;
the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.
Higgaion. ^[b]Selah

¹⁷ The wicked return to the grave, ^[c]
all the nations that forget God.

¹⁸ But the needy will not always be forgotten,
nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.

¹⁹ Arise, O LORD, let not man triumph;
let the nations be judged in your presence.

²⁰ Strike them with terror, O LORD;
let the nations know they are but men.
Selah

Psalm 10

^{1 [d]}Why, O 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 of the cravings of his heart;
he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.

⁴ In his pride the wicked does not seek him;
in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

⁵ His ways are always prosperous;
he is haughty and your laws are far from him;
he sneers at all his enemies.

⁶ He says to himself, “Nothing will shake me;
I’ll always be happy and never have trouble.”

⁷ His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats;
trouble and evil are under his tongue.

⁸ He lies in wait near the villages;
from ambush he murders the innocent,
watching in secret for his victims.

⁹ He lies in wait like a lion in cover;
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 has forgotten;
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, O God, do see trouble and grief;
you consider it to take it in hand.
The victim commits himself to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless.

¹⁵ Break the arm of the wicked and evil man;
call him to account for his wickedness
that would not be found out.

¹⁶ The LORD is King for ever and ever;
the nations will perish from his land.

¹⁷ You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,

¹⁸ defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 9:1 Psalms 9 and 10 may have been originally a single acrostic poem, the stanzas of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the Septuagint they constitute one psalm.
2. Psalm 9:16 Or Meditation ; possibly a musical notation
3. Psalm 9:17 Hebrew Sheol
4. Psalm 10:1 Psalms 9 and 10 may have been originally a single acrostic poem, the stanzas of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the Septuagint they constitute one psalm.