Psalms 10:3-13

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.

7 His mouth is full of cursing, and deceit, and oppression; under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.

8 He sitteth in the lurking-places of the villages; in the secret places doth he slay the innocent: his eyes watch for the wretched.

9 He lieth in wait secretly, like a lion in his thicket; he lieth in wait to catch the afflicted: he doth catch the afflicted, drawing him into his net.

10 He croucheth, he boweth down, that the wretched may fall by his strong ones.

11 He saith in his heart, God hath forgotten, he hideth his face, he will never see [it].

12 Arise, Jehovah; O God, lift up thy hand: forget not the afflicted.

13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? He hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require [it].

Psalms 10:3-13 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

• [a]. Or 'The wicked in his haughtiness doth not seek [God];' or 'troubleth himself for nothing.'
• [b]. Lit. 'are rigid.'
• [c]. An allusion probably to 'fangs [of a lion].'
• [d]. Others, 'the meek,' as also in Ps. 9.12: see 9.18.