Psalms 10:1-7

1 O LORD, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I am in trouble?
2 The wicked arrogantly hunt down the poor. Let them be caught in the evil they plan for others.
3 For they brag about their evil desires; they praise the greedy and curse the LORD .
4 The wicked are too proud to seek God. They seem to think that God is dead.
5 Yet they succeed in everything they do. They do not see your punishment awaiting them. They sneer at all their enemies.
6 They think, “Nothing bad will ever happen to us! We will be free of trouble forever!”
7 Their mouths are full of cursing, lies, and threats. Trouble and evil are on the tips of their tongues.

Psalms 10:1-7 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 1

  • [a]. Greek version reads cursing and bitterness. Compare Rom 3:14 .
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.