Psalm 10

1-2 
God, are you avoiding me? Where are you when I need you? Full of hot air, the wicked are hot on the trail of the poor. Trip them up, tangle them up in their fine-tuned plots.
3-4 The wicked are windbags, the swindlers have foul breath. The wicked snub God, their noses stuck high in the air. Their graffiti are scrawled on the walls: "Catch us if you can!" "God is dead."
5-6 They care nothing for what you think; if you get in their way, they blow you off. They live (they think) a charmed life: "We can't go wrong. This is our lucky year!"
7-8 They carry a mouthful of hexes, their tongues spit venom like adders. They hide behind ordinary people, then pounce on their victims.
9 They mark the luckless, then wait like a hunter in a blind; When the poor wretch wanders too close, they stab him in the back.
10-11 The hapless fool is kicked to the ground, the unlucky victim is brutally axed. He thinks God has dumped him, he's sure that God is indifferent to his plight.
12-13 Time to get up, God—get moving. The luckless think they're Godforsaken. They wonder why the wicked scorn God and get away with it, Why the wicked are so cocksure they'll never come up for audit.
14 But you know all about it— the contempt, the abuse. I dare to believe that the luckless will get lucky someday in you. You won't let them down: orphans won't be orphans forever.
15-16 Break the wicked right arms, break all the evil left arms. Search and destroy every sign of crime. God's grace and order wins; godlessness loses.
17-18 The victim's faint pulse picks up; the hearts of the hopeless pump red blood as you put your ear to their lips. Orphans get parents, the homeless get homes. The reign of terror is over, the rule of the gang lords is ended.

Psalm 10

1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you pay no attention during times of trouble?

2 The wicked arrogantly chase the oppressed;
the oppressed are trapped by the schemes the wicked have dreamed up.

3 Yes, the wicked man boasts because he gets what he wants;
the one who robs others curses and rejects the Lord.

4 The wicked man is so arrogant he always thinks,
“God won’t hold me accountable; he doesn’t care.”

5 He is secure at all times.
He has no regard for your commands;
he disdains all his enemies.

6 He says to himself,
“I will never be upended,
because I experience no calamity.”

7 His mouth is full of curses and deceptive, harmful words;
his tongue injures and destroys.

8 He waits in ambush near the villages;
in hidden places he kills the innocent.
His eyes look for some unfortunate victim.

9 He lies in ambush in a hidden place, like a lion in a thicket;
he lies in ambush, waiting to catch the oppressed;
he catches the oppressed by pulling in his net.

10 His victims are crushed and beaten down;
they are trapped in his sturdy nets.

11 He says to himself,
“God overlooks it;
he does not pay attention;
he never notices.”

12 Rise up, Lord!
O God, strike him down!
Do not forget the oppressed!

13 Why does the wicked man reject God?
He says to himself, “You will not hold me accountable.”

14 You have taken notice,
for you always see one who inflicts pain and suffering.
The unfortunate victim entrusts his cause to you;
you deliver the fatherless.

15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil man!
Hold him accountable for his wicked deeds,
which he thought you would not discover.

16 The Lord rules forever!
The nations are driven out of his land.

17 Lord, you have heard the request of the oppressed;
you make them feel secure because you listen to their prayer.

18 You defend the fatherless and oppressed,
so that mere mortals may no longer terrorize them.