Arise, Yahweh! God, lift up your hand! Don’t forget the helpless.
Parallel translations
- KJV Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.
- BSB Arise, O LORD! Lift up Your hand, O God! Do not forget the helpless.
- ESV Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted.
- NKJV Arise, O Lord! O God, lift up Your hand! Do not forget the humble.
- NASB ¶Arise, Lord; God, lift up Your hand. Do not forget the humble.
- NLT Arise, O Lord! Punish the wicked, O God! Do not ignore the helpless!
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The psalmist cries for God to arise, lift His hand, and not forget the helpless. Lament turns to urgent prayer for God to act.
Overview
Having exposed the wicked's boast that God forgets, the psalmist directly petitions God to rise in defense of the afflicted. The call to 'lift up your hand' invokes God's power against oppression. This bold prayer models bringing injustice before the God who is both able and willing to act.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Mic 5:9Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries, and let all of your enemies be cut off.
- Ps 9:12For he who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn’t forget the cry of the afflicted.
- Ps 94:2Rise up, you judge of the earth. Pay back the proud what they deserve.
- Ps 17:7Show your marvelous loving kindness, you who save those who take refuge by your right hand from their enemies.
- Isa 33:10“Now I will arise,” says Yahweh; “Now I will lift myself up. Now I will be exalted.
- Ps 9:19Arise, Yahweh! Don’t let man prevail. Let the nations be judged in your sight.
- Ps 3:7Arise, Yahweh! Save me, my God! For you have struck all of my enemies on the cheek bone. You have broken the teeth of the wicked.
- Ps 77:9Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he, in anger, withheld his compassion?” Selah.
- Isa 26:11Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they don’t see; but they will see your zeal for the people, and be disappointed. Yes, fire will consume your adversaries.
- Ps 7:6Arise, Yahweh, in your anger. Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries. Awake for me. You have commanded judgment.
- Ps 13:1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. How long, Yahweh? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 10:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.