Psalms 10:1-6

1 Why, Jehovah, standest thou afar off? [Why] hidest thou thyself in times of distress?
2 The wicked, in his pride, doth hotly pursue the afflicted. They shall be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
3 For the wicked boasteth of his soul's desire, and he blesseth the covetous; he contemneth Jehovah.
4 The wicked [saith], in the haughtiness of his countenance, He doth not search out: all his thoughts are, There is no God!
5 His ways always succeed; thy judgments are far above out of his sight; [as for] all his adversaries, he puffeth at them.
6 He saith in his heart, I shall not be moved; from generation to generation I shall be in no adversity.

Psalms 10:1-6 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 3

  • [a]. Or 'Through the pride of the wicked [man], the afflicted is sore pressed.'
  • [b]. Or 'The wicked in his haughtiness doth not seek [God];' or 'troubleth himself for nothing.'
  • [c]. Lit. 'are rigid.'
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.