Psalms 10:1-8

1 Lord,[a] why do You stand so far away? Why do You hide in times of trouble?
2 In arrogance the wicked relentlessly pursue the afflicted; let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.
3 For the wicked one boasts about his own cravings; the one who is greedy curses[b] and despises the Lord.
4 In all his scheming, the wicked arrogantly thinks:[c] "There is no accountability, [since] God does not exist."[d]
5 His ways are always secure;[e] Your lofty judgments are beyond his sight; he scoffs at all his adversaries.
6 He says to himself, "I will never be moved- from generation to generation without calamity."[f]
7 Cursing, deceit, and violence fill his mouth; trouble and malice are under his tongue.[g]
8 He waits in ambush near the villages; he kills the innocent in secret places; his eyes are on the lookout for the helpless.

Psalms 10:1-8 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 7

  • [a]. A few Hb mss and LXX connect Pss 9-10. Together these 2 psalms form a partial acrostic.
  • [b]. Or he blesses the greedy
  • [c]. Lit wicked according to the height of his nose
  • [d]. Ps 10:11; 14:1; 53:1
  • [e]. Or prosperous
  • [f]. Ps 49:11
  • [g]. Rm 3:13-14
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