Psalms 10:1-9

1 [a]Why, LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises.
3 He boasts about the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.
4 In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
5 His ways are always prosperous; your laws are rejected by[b] him; he sneers at all his enemies.
6 He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.” He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.”
7 His mouth is full of lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue.
8 He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent. His eyes watch in secret for his victims;
9 like a lion in cover he lies in wait. He lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.

Psalms 10:1-9 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.

Cross References 15

  • 1. Psalms 22:1,11; Psalms 35:22; Psalms 38:21; Psalms 71:12
  • 2. Psalms 13:1
  • 3. ver 9; S Job 20:19
  • 4. Psalms 49:6; Psalms 94:4; Jeremiah 48:30
  • 5. S Job 1:5
  • 6. Psalms 14:1; Psalms 36:1
  • 7. Psalms 18:27; Psalms 101:5; Proverbs 6:17; Isaiah 13:11; Jeremiah 48:29
  • 8. Revelation 18:7
  • 9. Romans 3:14*
  • 10. Psalms 73:8; Psalms 119:134; Ecclesiastes 4:1; Isaiah 30:12
  • 11. S Job 20:12; Psalms 140:3
  • 12. Psalms 37:32; Psalms 59:3; Psalms 71:10; Proverbs 1:11; Jeremiah 5:26; Micah 7:2
  • 13. Hosea 6:9; Psalms 94:6
  • 14. S ver 2; Psalms 17:12; Psalms 59:3; Psalms 140:5
  • 15. S Job 18:8

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Psalms 9 and 10 may originally have been a single acrostic poem in which alternating lines began with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the Septuagint they constitute one psalm.
  • [b]. See Septuagint; Hebrew "/ they are haughty, and your laws are far from"
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