Psalms 10:1-11

1 hy, ADONAI, do you stand at a distance? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

2 The wicked in their arrogance hunt down the poor, who get caught in the schemes they think up.

3 For the wicked boasts about his lusts; he blesses greed and despises ADONAI.

4 Every scheme of the wicked in his arrogance [says], "There is no God, [so] it won't be held against me."

5 His ways prosper at all times. Your judgments are way up there, so he takes no notice. His adversaries? He scoffs at them all.

6 In his heart he thinks, "I will never be shaken; I won't meet trouble, not now or ever."

7 His mouth is full of curses, deceit, oppression; under his tongue, mischief and injustice.

8 He waits near settlements in ambush and kills an innocent man in secret; his eyes are on the hunt for the helpless.

9 Lurking unseen like a lion in his lair, he lies in wait to pounce on the poor, then seizes the poor and drags him off in his net.

10 Yes, he stoops, crouches down low; and the helpless wretch falls into his clutches.

11 He says in his heart, "God forgets, he hides his face, he will never see."

Psalms 10:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 10

This psalm in the Septuagint version, and those that follow it, is a part and continuation of the preceding psalm, and makes but one with it; hence in these versions the number of the following psalms differ from others, and what is the eleventh with others is the tenth with them, and so on to the hundred fourteenth and one hundred fifteenth, which also are put into one; but in order to make up the whole number of one hundred and fifty, the hundred sixteenth and the hundred forty seventh are both divided into two; and indeed the subject of this psalm is much the same with the former. Antichrist and antichristian times are very manifestly described; the impiety, blasphemy, and atheism of the man of sin; his pride, haughtiness, boasting of himself, and presumption of security; his persecution of the poor, and murder of innocents, are plainly pointed at; nor does the character of the man of the earth agree to well to any as to him: his times are times of trouble; but at the end of them the kingdom of Christ will appear in great glory, when the Gentiles, the antichristian nations, will perish out of his land, Ps 10:1-11,16,18.