Psalms 10:8-18

8 He sits in ambush in the villages; in hiding places he murders the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the hapless,

9 he lurks in secret like a lion in his covert; he lurks that he may seize the poor, he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net.

10 The hapless is crushed, sinks down, and falls by his might.

11 He thinks in his heart, "God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it."

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

13 Why does the wicked renounce God, and say in his heart, "Thou wilt not call to account"?

14 Thou dost see; yea, thou dost note trouble and vexation, that thou mayest take it into thy hands; the hapless commits himself to thee; thou hast been the helper of the fatherless.

15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and evildoer; seek out his wickedness till thou find none.

16 The LORD is king for ever and ever; the nations shall perish from his land.

17 O LORD, thou wilt hear the desire of the meek; thou wilt strengthen their heart, thou wilt incline thy ear

18 to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.

Psalms 10:8-18 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.