The Psalter

Psalm 10

Song of the Robber Barons

David has described wicked politicians, slanderers, and Satan himself. Psalm 10 is about the wicked rich, which we'll call the "robber baron". The KJV has two words translated poor in this Psalm:

ani    - poor: humble, lowly, depressed in mind or circumstance v. 2,9,12,17
chelka - poor: unfortunate, wretch, hapless v. 8,10,14, I translate this
	"mark" in the song.

In other psalms there is also ebyon - needy, economically poor, destitute. That is the American idea of "poor".

10:2 "taken in their own devices" - same theme we saw in Psalm 7
10:4 גֹּבַהּgobah: "height" - "face lifted up" or "nose in the air". "God is not in his thoughts at all" - as we saw in Psalm 9:17, a fiery fate awaits those who forget God.
10:6 "I shall not be moved" - this is a false confidence, as opposed to Psalm 15, where confidence is in God.
10:8 "against the poor" - חֵלְכָא chelka': poor, unhappy, wretch. From a root meaning "dark" or "unhappy". "Poor" as in "you poor thing". The 3 occurences in Psalm 10 (verses 8,10,14) are the only ones. Other translations include "helpless" (not quite right) and "hapless".
10:9 "catches the lowly" - עָנִי ani: afflicted, depressed in mind or circumstance. KJV translates this also as "poor"
10:10 "he crouches and acts humble (bows down)" - a majority of modern translations, including ESV, get this wrong and apply this to the victim. "that the hapless may fall by his strong ones". "That" is literally in the Hebrew. Plus Hebrew poetry rhymes concepts, and lions crouch and lie low. The better modern translations go with the King James, or the lion metaphor in v9. E.g. Amplified Bible: "He crushes [his prey] and crouches; And the unfortunate fall by his mighty claws. "Strong ones" is literally "many mighty ones". AB continues the lion metaphor by making it many "mighty claws", as a cat "crouches and bows" over the kill. In my opinion, this verse connects the lion as predator in v9 with the human as predator: "crouches and acts humble" is a Dickensian villain obsequiously pretending humility while springing a trap for the victim, and "mighty ones" are his "enforcers", or "strong men" - analogous to the claws of a lion.
10:11 "he says in his heart, God has forgotten" - Psalm 94:7
10:12 "lift up Your hand" - asking God to intervene now.
10:13-14 "God won't notice" - "God notices" expected deliverance.
10:15 "seek out his wickedness" - David prays this for himself in Psalm 139:23-24. Just as in Psalm 5, this is the way to pray for the wicked in power. Loss of power is needed to break the power of sin.
10:17 "You will prepare their hearts" - to shaback: praise Him for