Psalm 10:4-18

4 In all his scheming, the wicked arrogantly thinks:^[a] "There is no accountability, [since] God does not exist."^[b]

5 His ways are always secure;^[c] Your lofty judgments are beyond his sight; he scoffs at all his adversaries.

6 He says to himself, "I will never be moved- from generation to generation without calamity."^[d]

7 Cursing, deceit, and violence fill his mouth; trouble and malice are under his tongue.^[e]

8 He waits in ambush near the villages; he kills the innocent in secret places; his eyes are on the lookout for the helpless.

9 He lurks in secret like a lion in a thicket. He lurks in order to seize the afflicted. He seizes the afflicted and drags him in his net.^[f]

10 He crouches and bends down; the helpless fall because of his strength.

11 He says to himself, "God has forgotten; He hides His face and will never see."

12 Rise up, Lord God! Lift up Your hand. Do not forget the afflicted.

13 Why has the wicked despised God? He says to himself, "You will not demand an account."

14 But You Yourself have seen trouble and grief, observing it in order to take the matter into Your hands. The helpless entrusts himself to You; You are a helper of the fatherless.

15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil person; call his wickedness into account until nothing remains of it.^[g]

16 The Lord is King forever and ever;^[h] the nations will perish from His land.

17 Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble;^[i] You will strengthen their hearts. You will listen carefully,

18 doing justice for the fatherless and the oppressed, so that men of the earth may terrify [them] no more.^[j]

Psalm 10:4-18 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.

Footnotes

• [a] Lit wicked according to the height of his nose
• [b] Ps 10:11; 14:1; 53:1
• [c] Or prosperous
• [d] Ps 49:11
• [e] Rm 3:13-14
• [f] Ps 17:11-12
• [g] Lit account You do not find
• [h] Ps 29:10
• [i] Other Hb mss, LXX, Syr read afflicted
• [j] Ps 68:5; Ex 22:22-24; Dt 10:18