Psalms 10

1 Why are you so distant, LORD? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2 The wicked person arrogantly pursues oppressed people. He will be caught in the schemes that he planned.
3 The wicked person boasts about his selfish desires. He blesses robbers, but he curses the LORD.
4 He turns up his nose [and says], "God doesn't care." His every thought [concludes], "There is no God."
5 He always seems to succeed. Your judgments are beyond his understanding. He spits at all his opponents.
6 He says to himself, "Nothing can shake me. I'll never face any trouble."
7 His mouth is full of cursing, deception, and oppression. Trouble and wrongdoing are on the tip of his tongue.
8 He waits in ambush in the villages. From his hiding places he kills innocent people. His eyes are on the lookout for victims.
9 He lies in his hiding place like a lion in his den. He hides there to catch oppressed people. He catches oppressed people when he draws them into his net.
10 [His] victims are crushed. They collapse, and they fall under [the weight of] his power.
11 He says to himself, "God has forgotten. He has hidden his face. He will never see it!"
12 Arise, O LORD! Lift your hand, O God. Do not forget oppressed people!
13 Why does the wicked person despise God? Why does he say to himself, "God doesn't care"?
14 You have seen [it]; yes, you have taken note of trouble and grief and placed them under your control. The victim entrusts himself to you. You alone have been the helper of orphans.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil person. Punish his wickedness until you find no more.
16 The LORD is king forever and ever. The nations have vanished from his land.
17 You have heard the desire of oppressed people, O LORD. You encourage them. You pay close attention to them
18 in order to provide justice for orphans and oppressed people so that no mere mortal will terrify them again.

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Psalms 10 Commentary

Chapter 10

The psalmist complains of the wickedness of the wicked. (1-11) He prays to God to appear for the relief of his people. (12-18)

Verses 1-11 God's withdrawings are very grievous to his people, especially in times of trouble. We stand afar off from God by our unbelief, and then complain that God stands afar off from us. Passionate words against bad men do more hurt than good; if we speak of their badness, let it be to the Lord in prayer; he can make them better. The sinner proudly glories in his power and success. Wicked people will not seek after God, that is, will not call upon him. They live without prayer, and that is living without God. They have many thoughts, many objects and devices, but think not of the Lord in any of them; they have no submission to his will, nor aim for his glory. The cause of this is pride. Men think it below them to be religious. They could not break all the laws of justice and goodness toward man, if they had not first shaken off all sense of religion.

Verses 12-18 The psalmist speaks with astonishment, at the wickedness of the wicked, and at the patience and forbearance of God. God prepares the heart for prayer, by kindling holy desires, and strengthening our most holy faith, fixing the thoughts, and raising the affections, and then he graciously accepts the prayer. The preparation of the heart is from the Lord, and we must seek unto him for it. Let the poor, afflicted, persecuted, or tempted believer recollect, that Satan is the prince of this world, and that he is the father of all the ungodly. The children of God cannot expect kindness, truth, or justice from such persons as crucified the Lord of glory. But this once suffering Jesus, now reigns as King over all the earth, and of his dominion there shall be no end. Let us commit ourselves unto him, humbly trusting in his mercy. He will rescue the believer from every temptation, and break the arm of every wicked oppressor, and bruise Satan under our feet shortly. But in heaven alone will all sin and temptation be shut out, though in this life the believer has a foretaste of deliverance.

Chapter Summary

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.

Psalms 10 Commentaries

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