Psalms 10:12

10:12 Rise up, Lord! ¹ 

O God, strike him down! ² 

Do not forget the oppressed!

Psalms 9:12

9:12 For the one who takes revenge against murderers took notice of the oppressed; ³ 

he did not overlook ⁴  their cry for help ⁵ 

Psalms 9:18

9:18 for the needy are not permanently ignored, ⁶ 

the hopes of the oppressed are not forever dashed. ⁷ 

¹ sn Rise up, O Lord! The psalmist’s mood changes from lament to petition and confidence.

² tn Heb “lift up your hand.” Usually the expression “lifting the hand” refers to praying (Pss 28:2; 134:2) or making an oath (Ps 106:26), but here it probably refers to “striking a blow” (see 2 Sam 18:28; 20:21). Note v. 15, where the psalmist asks the Lord to “break the arm of the wicked.” A less likely option is that the psalmist is requesting that the Lord declare by oath his intention to intervene.

³ tn Heb “for the one who seeks shed blood remembered them.” The idiomatic expression “to seek shed blood” seems to carry the idea “to seek payment/restitution for one’s shed blood.” The plural form דָּמִים (damim, “shed blood”) occurs only here as the object of דָּרַשׁ (darash); the singular form דָּם (dam, “blood”) appears with the verb in Gen 9:5; 42:22; Ezek 33:6. “Them,” the pronominal object of the verb “remembered,” refers to the oppressed, mentioned specifically in the next line, so the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “did not forget.”

⁵ tn Heb “the cry for help of the oppressed.” In this context the “oppressed” are the psalmist and those he represents, whom the hostile nations have threatened.

⁵ tn Or “forgotten.”

⁶ tn Heb “the hope of the afflicted does [not] perish forever.” The negative particle is understood by ellipsis; note the preceding line. The imperfect verbal forms express what typically happens.