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 - ready to waylay, kill, and plunder the peaceable villagers. Here the ideal sinner is represented in a further stage of wickedness.
His eyes are privily set - Hebrew, 'his eyes hide themselves,' or 'hide (his lurking-place, or snare).' DeBurgh explains it of the half-closing of the eyes in order to see more distinctly, and watch narrowly. It is translated. Proverbs 1:11; Proverbs 1:18, "to lay wait for."
Against the poor, х cheelªkaah (H2489)]. In Psalms 10:14 the plural occurs [with the Hebrew letter he (h) changed into the Hebrew letter 'aleph ('), which shows that this vowel is a radical]. The Hebrew for "poor" is compounded of two roots, 'to be weak' [chaalah], and 'to be sorrowful,' or 'afflicted' х kaa'ah (H3512)] (Psalms 109:16; Ezekiel 13:22). [Thus, the vowel pointing must be chalkeh (H2489).] Poverty and weakness are combined in the idea: so in Psalms 10:10 the word is used of "the poor," in contrast to the "strong ones." Compare Habakkuk 3:14.