Book 1.4: The Wicked

Complement    Part 1: The Character of the Wicked

Opposite   Chapter 1.1: The wicked do not fear Jehovah (Psalm 36)

¹The transgression of the wicked says within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes: ²for he flatters himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity is found to be hateful. ³The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit; he has left off to be wise, and to do good. ⁴He devises mischief upon his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he abhors not evil.

⁵Your mercy, O Jehovah, is in the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches unto the clouds. ⁶Your righteousness is like the great mountains; your Judgments are like a great ocean. O Jehovah, you preserve man and beast.

⁷How excellent is your loving-kindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of your wings. ⁸They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of your House; and you shall make them drink of the river of your pleasures. ⁹For with you is the fountain of Life; in your Light shall we see Light.

¹⁰O continue your loving-kindness to them that know you, and your righteousness to the upright in heart. ¹¹Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me.

¹²The workers of iniquity have fallen there; they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise.

Opposite   Chapter 1.2: Jehovah will judge the wicked with fire and brimstone (Psalm 11)

¹In Jehovah do I put my trust.

Why do you say to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your mountain?” ²For, see, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may secretly shoot at the upright in heart. ³If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?

⁴Jehovah is in his Holy Temple; Jehovah’s throne is in Heaven; his eyes behold, his eyelids test, the children of men.

⁵Jehovah tests the righteous; but the wicked and him that loves violence his soul hates. ⁶Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest; this shall be the portion of their cup.

⁷For the righteous Jehovah loves righteousness: his countenance beholds the upright.

 

 

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Complement   Chapter 1.3: The wicked have set their eyes on the earth (Psalm 17)

§Unique   Introduction: I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress

¹Hear the right, O Jehovah; attend to my cry; give ear to my prayer, that goes not out of deceitful lips.

²Let my sentence come forth from your presence. Let your eyes behold the things that are equal. ³You have tested my heart; you have visited me in the night; you have tested me, and shall find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. ⁴Concerning the words of men, by the Word of your lips I have kept myself from the paths of the destroyer.

⁵Hold up my goings in your paths, that my footsteps do not slip. I have called upon you: for you will hear me.

§Complement   Body: Save me and keep me safe from the wicked that oppress me and surround me

O God, incline your ear to me, and hear my speech.

⁷Show your marvelous loving-kindness, O you that save by your right hand them who put their trust in you from those that rise up against them.

⁸Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me under the shadow of your wings ⁹from the wicked that oppress me; from my deadly enemies, who surround me.

¹⁰They are enclosed in their own fat; with their mouth they speak proudly.

¹¹They have now surrounded us in our steps; they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth, ¹²like a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.

§Complement   Conclusion: Deliver my soul from the wicked, who are your sword and your hand

¹³Arise, O Jehovah; disappoint him; cast him down.

Deliver my soul from the wicked, who are your sword; ¹⁴from men who are your hand, O Jehovah; from men of the world, who have their portion in this life, and whose belly you fill with your hidden wrath; they are full of children, and leave the rest of their possessions to their young ones.

¹⁵As for me, I will behold your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with your likeness.

Complement   Chapter 1.4: The wicked have set their eyes against the poor (Psalm 10)

§Unique   Introduction: Jehovah, why do you hide yourself from the evil works of the wicked?

¹Why do you stand far away, O Jehovah? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

²The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor; let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.

³For the wicked boasts of his heart’s desire, and blesses the covetous, whom Jehovah abhors.

§Complement   Body: The wicked are full of sin and want nothing to do with God

⁴The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek God; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.” ⁵His ways are always grievous; your Judgments are far above out of his sight.

As for all his enemies, he rails at them. ⁶He has said in his heart, “I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity.” ⁷His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and fraud; under his tongue is mischief and vanity.

⁸He sits in the lurking places of the villages; in the secret places he murders the innocent; his eyes are secretly set against the poor. ⁹He lays in wait secretly as a lion in his den; he lays in wait to catch the poor. He catches the poor, when he draws him into his net. ¹⁰He crouches, and humbles himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones. ¹¹He has said in his heart, “God has forgotten; he hides his face; he will never see it.”

¹²Arise, O Jehovah; O God, lift up your hand: forget not the humble. ¹³Why does the wicked scorn God? He has said in his heart, “You will not require it.” ¹⁴But you have seen it: for you behold mischief and spite, to repay it with your hand. The poor commits himself to you. You are the helper of the fatherless. ¹⁵Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man; seek out his wickedness until you find none.

¹⁶Jehovah is King forever and ever; the heathen have perished out of his land.

§Complement   Conclusion: Jehovah will judge the fatherless and oppressed

¹⁷Jehovah, you have heard the desire of the humble;

you will prepare their heart.

You will cause your ear to hear: ¹⁸to judge the fatherless and the oppressed, so that the man of the earth may no longer oppress.

Unique   Chapter 1.5: The wicked are liars from birth (Psalm 58)

§Complement   Introduction: You work wickedness in your heart and weigh the violence of your hands in the earth

¹Do you indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? Do you judge uprightly, O you sons of men?

²Indeed, you work wickedness in your heart;

you weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.

§Complement   Body: Let the wicked melt away as running water; let them be as cut in pieces

³The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. ⁴Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder that stops her ear, ⁵which will not listen to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.

⁶Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth; break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah.

⁷Let them melt away as water which runs continually.

When he bends his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.

⁸As a snail which melts, let every one of them pass away; like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.

§Unique   Conclusion: The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance of God

⁹Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.

¹⁰The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.

¹¹So that a man shall say, “Truly there is a reward for the righteous; truly he is a God that judges in the earth.”

 

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Complement   Part 2: The Mouth of the Wicked

Opposite   Chapter 2.1: The false tongue shall be pierced by sharp arrows (Psalm 120)

¹In my distress I cried to Jehovah, and he heard me: ²“Deliver my soul, O Jehovah, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.”

³What shall be given to you? Or what shall be done to you, you false tongue?

⁴Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of the broom tree.

⁵Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech; that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!

⁶My soul has long dwelt with him that hates peace. ⁷I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.

Opposite   Chapter 2.2: God shall shoot at the wicked with an arrow (Psalm 64)

¹Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer.

Preserve my life from fear of the enemy. ²Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked, from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity, ³who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and bend their bow to shoot their arrows, even bitter words, ⁴that they may shoot in secret at the blameless; suddenly do they shoot at him, and are not afraid. ⁵They encourage themselves in an evil matter; they commune of laying snares secretly; they say, “Who shall see them?” ⁶They devise wicked things. They accomplish a diligent search; both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep.

⁷But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded. ⁸So shall they make their own tongue to fall upon themselves.

All that see them shall flee away; ⁹and all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God: for they shall wisely consider of his doing.

¹⁰The righteous shall be glad in Jehovah, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.

 

 

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Complement   Chapter 2.3: The tongue of the wicked is like a sharp razor (Psalm 52)

§Unique   Introduction: The tongue of the wicked devises mischief, and you love evil more than good

¹Why do you boast yourself in mischief, O mighty man? The goodness of God endures continually.

²Your tongue devises mischief, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.

³You love evil more than good, and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.

§Complement   Body: God shall destroy you forever, and root you out of the land of the living

⁴You love all devouring words, O you deceitful tongue.

⁵God shall likewise destroy you forever.

He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place, and root you out of the land of the living. Selah.

⁶The righteous also shall see, and fear.

And they shall laugh at him, saying, ⁷“See, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.”

§Complement   Conclusion: I am like a green olive tree in the House of God; I will praise you forever

⁸But I am like a green olive tree in the House of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.

⁹I will praise you forever, because you have done it.

And I will wait on your Name: for it is good before your saints.

Complement   Chapter 2.4: The tongue of the violent is like a serpent (Psalm 140)

§Unique   Introduction: Protect me from the hands of the wicked and the proud, who have purposed to overthrow my goings

¹Deliver me, O Jehovah, from the evil man; preserve me from the violent man, ²who imagine mischief in their heart; continually are they gathered together for war. ³They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders’ poison is under their lips. Selah.

⁴Protect me, O Jehovah, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man, who have purposed to overthrow my goings.

⁵The proud have hidden a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set traps for me. Selah.

§Complement   Body: Hear my supplications, O Jehovah; you have covered my head in the day of battle

⁶I said to Jehovah, “You are my God.”

Hear the voice of my supplications, O Jehovah.

⁷O Lord Jehovah, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle.

⁸Grant not, O Jehovah, the desires of the wicked; further not his wicked device, lest they exalt themselves. Selah.

⁹As for the head of those that surround me, let the mischief of their own lips cover them. ¹⁰Let burning coals fall upon them; let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not up again. ¹¹Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth; evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him.

§Complement   Conclusion: I know that Jehovah will maintain the cause of the afflicted; surely the righteous shall give thanks to your Name

¹²I know that Jehovah will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.

¹³Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your Name.

The upright shall dwell in your presence.

Unique   Chapter 2.5: The mouth of the wicked is like a roaring lion (Psalm 57)

§Complement   Introduction: I will cry unto God most high; He shall send from Heaven and save me from the wicked

¹Be merciful to me, O God; be merciful to me: for my soul trusts in you; moreover, in the shadow of your wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities have passed over.

²I will cry unto God most high: unto God that performs all things for me.

³He shall send from Heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.

§Complement   Body: The wicked have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down

⁴My soul is among lions; and I lie among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are like spears and arrows, and their tongue as a sharp sword.

⁵Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be above all the earth.

⁶They have prepared a net for my steps.

My soul is bowed down.

They have dug a pit before me, into the midst whereof they have fallen themselves. Selah.

§Unique   Conclusion: I will sing and give praise to you, O Lord

⁷My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise. ⁸Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp; I myself will awake early.

⁹I will praise you, O Lord, among the people; I will sing to you among the nations: ¹⁰for your mercy is great to the heavens, and your truth to the clouds.

¹¹Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be above all the earth.

 

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