Psalms 10:8
He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor. He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.
The psalm was composed by Asaph, Ethan, and others during the Babylonian captivity, most likely in the latter portion of that captivity during the reign of Belshazzar, when the persecution and distress of the Jews were greatest. It belongs to the sorrows and afflictions of the Hebrew captives, set amid exhortations and encouragements with assurance of divine help and final deliverance from persecutors.
The verse is part of an inspired prayer that expresses God's will toward mankind. It sets out the oppression of the poor by the wicked, describing the wicked as watching for opportunities to harm the innocent and to oppress the poor. The sitting in lurking places in villages points especially to villages and rural districts, where people are closely observed and where old customs make opposition to new religious teachings stronger.
The verse applies to God's servants when persecuted for their faith, whose oppressors may act secretly while claiming that God does not see. It shows that God sees the suffering of the humble, has not forgotten them, and will bring a day of retribution. Its force is not a wish for personal vengeance upon the wicked but a plea that God will execute justice for the sake of the poor and the oppressed.