Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 9:12

"For he that maketh inquisition for blood remembereth them; He forgetteth not the cry of the poor." — Psalms 9:12 (ASV)

When. — A better rendering is, for he makes inquiry; literally, the seeker of bloods: that is, “the avenger of blood.” The allusion is to the goel, the nearest relative of the murdered man, who, according to ancient Eastern custom, was obligated to avenge him. The verbs are better rendered in the past tense: “remembered,” “did not forget.”

Them — that is, the sufferers to be mentioned now.

Humble. — This follows the Hebrew margin. A better rendering here is the afflicted. In Hebrew, the two readings provide two forms from the same root, generally understood as one having an ethical sense and the other a physical sense; however, this distinction is not supported by biblical usage.