You hide in times of distress You hide Your eyes in times of distress.

he pursues Heb. ידלק, he pursues, as (in Gen. 31:36): “that you pursued (דלקת) me?”

they are caught The poor are caught in the plots that the wicked devise against them.

For the wicked man boasts This refers to “O Lord, why do You stand from afar,” for now the wicked man boasts that he achieves all the desire of his soul.

and the robber congratulates himself for having blasphemed the Lord And the robber praises himself, saying that he has blasphemed the Lord, yet he will have peace.

congratulates Heb. בֵּרֵך, like בֵּרַך, an expression of the past tense. You should know [that this is so,] for if it were a noun, the accent would be on the first letter and it would be vowelized with a “pattah” [meaning a “seggol” under the “resh”], but this one is vowelized with a small “kamatz” [i.e., with a “tzereh”] and it is accented below on the “resh.” Do not wonder about בֵּרֵך, that he did not say: בֵּרַך, because many words spelled with a “resh” are vowelized in this manner, e.g. (below 74:18), “an enemy blasphemed (חֵרֵף) the Lord,” and it does not say חֵרַף.

blasphemed Heb. נאץ, like חֵרֵף and Menachem interpreted every expression of נאוץ in this manner.

A wicked man at the height of his anger When he is haughty, and he lifts up and holds his face erect, and his anger is at its height.

He will not seek All his thoughts tell him, “The Holy One, blessed be He, will not seek anything that I may do because there is no judgment.”

there is no God There is no judgment, and there is no judge.

prosper Heb. יחילו, prosper, and similar to this is (in Job 20:21): “therefore shall his goods not prosper (יחיל).” Others explain יחילו like (II Sam. 3:29): “May it rest (יחולו) upon the head of Joab.”

Your judgments are far removed from him Your judgments of pains and punishments are removed and distanced from him, for they do not come upon him.

All his adversaries he blows at them With a blowing of wind, he blows at them, and they fall before him.

“for all generations I will not be in adversity” Adversity will not befall me throughout my generations.

and guile Heb. ותך, an expression of an evil thought that lodges constantly in his midst.

his eyes spy on Your army The eyes of Esau lurk for Israel, who are Your army.

on Your army Heb. לחלכה ; (verse 14), “upon You Your army (חלכה) leaves.” Both of them are in the masorah as words spelled with כה instead of ך, like (Exod. 7:29), “upon you (ובכה) and upon your people”; (Prov. 2:11), “discretion shall guard you (תנצרכה) (Exod. 29:35), “I commanded you (אתכה)”; (I Sam. 1: 26), “who was standing with you (עמכה).” We learn from the masorah that חלכה is like חילך, Your army. But Menachem (p.89) interprets לחלכה יצפנו and so יעזב חלכה like (verse 10), “and helpless ones (חלכאים) shall fall into his power,” a word meaning humble and moaning. Accordingly, כה is [part of] the radical.

He crouches, he bows down So is the habit of the lurker; he crouches and lowers [himself] and makes himself small in order to be inconspicuous.

and an army of broken people fall by his signals Heb. חלכאם, an army of broken people. I saw in the great masorah that חלכאים is one of fifteen words that are written as one word and read as two words, as is בגד in the verse (Gen. 30:11) commencing “And Leah said.” Also (in Deut. 33:2), “a fiery Law (אשדת) is to them”; (Isa. 3: 15), “What do you mean (מלכם) that you crush My people?” Also this word means חל כאים, an army of broken people. כאים is an expression of (below 109:16) “and a broken-hearted one (ונכאה לבב) to kill.” If you say that the “nun” is the radical, (Ezek. 13:22) “Because you have broken (הכאות) the heart of the righteous” will prove that [it is not]. We learn that the “nun” of נראה is like the “nun” of (I Sam. 15:9) נמבזה and the “nun” of (Jer. 6:14) נקלה, and so is its interpretation: and...fall by the signals of this wicked man, with his hints and his winks, an expression of (Isa. 41:21) “present your signals (עצמותיכם).” and (ibid. 33:15) “and closes (ועצם) his eyes,” an army of poor people. Another explanation: בעצומיו, by his mighty men. Said Rabbi Simon: This wicked man puts into his “callirus,” meaning army, only mighty men like himself, as it is said (in Dan. 3:20): “And he commanded the mighty warriors who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abed- nego” (Mid. Ps. 10:5). However, Menachem, (p. 89) interprets חלכאים as “poor and weak (וחלך),” the “chaf” being a radical.

Why did a wicked man blaspheme the Holy One, blessed be He? Because he said in his heart that You do not seek.

You saw what he does, and You remain silent.

for You So is Your custom, that You look at mischief and provocation.

to give with Your power With Your power, You lend a hand to the wicked to prosper with their wickedness.

upon You Your army leaves Your people Israel, who are Your army, leave the burden upon You that You should execute justice upon the wicked. Menachem (p. 132) interprets יעזב as an expression of help, as (in Exod. 23:5): “you shall help (עזב תעזב) with him.” He interprets חלכה as an expression of “poor and weak (חלך),” the “chaf” being a radical.

You would help the orphan in the early days.

Break the arm of the wicked Esau.

but as for the evil one—You will seek his wickedness and not find [it] As for the wicked of Israel, when they see the wicked [of the nations] prospering, their heart inspires them to deal wickedly, but when You break the arm of the wicked, if You were to come [then] to seek the wickedness of the wicked of Israel, You would not find it.

The Lord is King forever and ever after the nations perish from His land.

To judge the orphan To perform judgments for Israel, the orphans, and crushed people.

that he no longer continue Ishmael and Esau.

to break the weak To crush and break the weak and sick.