John Calvin Commentary Psalms 10:15

"Break thou the arm of the wicked; And as for the evil man, seek out his wickedness till thou find none." — Psalms 10:15 (ASV)

Break thou the arm. This form of expression simply means breaking the power of the wicked. And it is not merely a prayer; it may also be regarded as a prophecy. As the ungovernable fury of our enemies very often causes us to lose courage, as if there were no means by which it could be restrained, David, in order to support his faith and preserve it from failing due to the fears that presented themselves, considers that whenever it pleases God to break the power of the ungodly, he will bring to nothing both them and all their schemes.

To make the meaning clearer, the sentence can be explained this way: Lord, as soon as it seems good to You to break the arm of the wicked, You will destroy him in a moment and bring to nothing his powerful and violent efforts in doing mischief.

David, indeed, implores God to hasten his assistance and his vengeance; but, in the meantime, while these are withheld, he sustains himself with the comforting reflection that the ungodly cannot break out into violence and mischief except insofar as God permits them, since it is in his power, whenever he ascends to the judgment seat, to destroy them even with his look alone.

And certainly, just as the rising sun dissipates the clouds and vapors by its heat and clears the dark air, so God, when he stretches out his hand to carry out the duties of a Judge, restores all the troubles and confusions of the world to tranquility and order.

The Psalmist calls the person he speaks of not only wicked, but the wicked and the evil man; in my judgment, he does so to emphasize more strongly the great wickedness of the character he describes. It is as if he were saying: Wicked men may even be frantic in their malice and impiety, but God can promptly and effectively remedy this evil whenever he pleases.