Psalm 10:9-18

9 he lurks in ambush like ¹a lion in his ²thicket; he ³lurks that he may seize the poor; he seizes the poor when he draws him into his ⁴net.

10 The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might.

11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten, he has ⁵hidden his face, he ⁶will never see it. ”

12 ⁷Arise, O Lord; O God, ⁸lift up your hand; ⁹forget not the afflicted.

13 Why does the wicked ¹⁰renounce God and say in his heart, “You will not ¹¹call to account”?

14 But you do see, for you ¹²note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands; to you the helpless ¹³commits himself; you have been ¹⁴the helper of the fatherless.

15 ¹⁵Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; ¹⁶call his wickedness to account till you find none.

16 ¹⁷The Lord is king forever and ever; the ¹⁸nations perish from his land.

17 O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will ¹⁹strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear

18 to ²⁰do justice to the fatherless and ²¹the oppressed, so that ²²man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.

Psalm 10:9-18 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.

Cross References

• 1. 10:9 Ps. 17:12
• 2. 10:9 Job 38:40
• 3. 10:9 Ps. 59:3; Mic. 7:2
• 4. 10:9 Ps. 9:15
• 5. 10:11 [Ps. 73:11]; Job 22:13
• 6. 10:11 Ps. 94:7; Ezek. 8:12; 9:9; [Zeph. 1:12]
• 7. 10:12 See Ps. 3:7
• 8. 10:12 Mic. 5:9
• 9. 10:12 Ps. 9:12, 18
• 10. 10:13 ver. 3
• 11. 10:13 Ps. 9:12
• 12. 10:14 Ps. 33:13
• 13. 10:14 2 Tim. 1:12; 1 Pet. 4:19
• 14. 10:14 Ps. 68:5; 146:9; Hos. 14:3
• 15. 10:15 See Ps. 37:17
• 16. 10:15 [Ps. 37:36; Isa. 41:12]
• 17. 10:16 Ps. 29:10; Ex. 15:18; Jer. 10:10; Lam. 5:19; Dan. 4:34; 6:26; 1 Tim. 1:17; Rev. 11:15
• 18. 10:16 Deut. 8:20
• 19. 10:17 1 Chr. 29:18
• 20. 10:18 Ps. 82:3; [Isa. 1:17; 11:4]
• 21. 10:18 Ps. 9:9; 74:21
• 22. 10:18 Ps. 9:19, 20; 17:14