Psalms 10

A Prayer for God to Throw down the Wicked

1 Why, O Yahweh, do you stand far off? [Why] do you hide during times of distress?

2 In arrogance [the] wicked persecutes [the] poor. Let them be caught in [the] schemes that they devised,

3 for [the] wicked boasts about the desire of his {heart}, and [the] one greedy for gain curses [and] treats Yahweh with contempt.

4 {With bald-faced pride} [the] wicked will not seek [God]. There is no God in any of his thoughts.

5 His ways endure at all times. Your judgments are aloof from him. [As for] all his enemies, he scoffs at them.

6 He says in his heart, "I shall not be moved {throughout all generations}, [during] which [I will have] no trouble."

7 His mouth is filled with cursing, with deceits and oppression; under his tongue are trouble and evil.

8 He sits in ambush in villages; in the hiding places he kills [the] innocent. His eyes {lurk} for [the] helpless.

9 He lies in ambush {secretly,} like a lion in a thicket. He lies in ambush to seize [the] poor; he seizes [the] poor by catching him in his net.

10 He is crushed; he is bowed down; so the helpless host falls by his {might}.

11 He says in his heart, "God has forgotten. He has hidden his face. He never sees."

12 Rise up, O Yahweh; O God, lift up your hand. Do not forget [the] afflicted.

13 Why does the wicked treat God with contempt? He says in his heart, "You will not call [me] to account."

14 [But] you have seen; indeed you have noted trouble and grief to take [it] into your hand. The helpless abandons [himself] upon you; you have been [the] helper [for the] orphan.

15 Break [the] arm of [the] wicked, and [as for the] evil [man]-- seek out his wickedness [until] you find none.

16 Yahweh [is] king forever and ever; the nations have perished from his land.

17 [The] longing of [the] afflicted you have heard, O Yahweh. You will make their heart secure. You will {listen attentively}

18 to render judgment [for the] fatherless and [the] oppressed [so that] a [mere] mortal from the earth will no longer cause terror.

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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "shut [your eyes]"
• [b]. Or "pursues"
• [c]. Literally "soul"
• [d]. Literally "According to the height of his nose"
• [e]. According to the reading tradition (Qere)
• [f]. Hebrew "time"
• [g]. Literally "for a generation and a generation"
• [h]. Literally "lie hid"
• [i]. Literally "in the secret places"
• [j]. Or "and he [the wicked] stoops"
• [k]. Or "he [the wicked] crouches"
• [l]. Or "and"
• [m]. According to the reading tradition (Qere)
• [n]. Literally "mighty ones"
• [o]. Literally "cause your ear to hear"

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.