Psalms 73:10

10 Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance.^[a]

Psalms 73:10 in Other Translations

10 Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.

10 Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them.

10 And so the people are dismayed and confused, drinking in all their words.

10 People actually listen to them - can you believe it? Like thirsty puppies, they lap up their words.

10 Therefore His people turn to them and drink in their overflowing waters.

Psalms 73:10 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 73:10

Therefore his people return hither
Either the true people of God, and so the Targum, the people of the Lord, and whom the psalmist owned for his people; for the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, read "my people"; who seeing the prosperity of the wicked, and feeling their own afflictions, return to the same way of thinking, and fall by the same snare and temptation as the psalmist did; or such who were only the people of God by profession, but hypocrites, who observing the trouble that attends a religious life, and the prosperity of wicked men, return from the good ways of God they have outwardly walked in for some time, to the conversation of these men, and join themselves to them: or else, "his" being put for "their", the sense is, the people of these wicked men, of everyone of them, return unto them, and flock about them, and caress and flatter them, because of their prosperous circumstances, and join with them in their evil practices of oppression and slander; which sense seems best to agree with what goes before and follows after:

and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them;
meaning either to the people of God, and to be understood either of the abundance of their tears, on account of their afflictions inward and outward; see ( Psalms 6:6 ) ( 42:3 ) ( 119:136 ) , so the Targum,

``and many tears flow unto them;''

or of their afflictions themselves, which are oftentimes compared to waters in Scripture; see ( Psalms 42:7 ) ( 66:12 ) ( Isaiah 43:2 ) , which are given them in measure: it is a cup of them that is put into their hands, and in full measure; they have a full cup of them; many are their tribulations, through which they enter the kingdom, and they are all of God; it is he that wrings them out to them with his fatherly hand: or else, taking the people to mean the followers and companions of the wicked, the words are to be understood of the plenty of good things which such men enjoy in this life, their cup runs over; and indeed these seem to be the persons who are introduced speaking the following words.

Psalms 73:10 In-Context

8 They scoff, and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression.

9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth.

10 Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance.

11 They say, “How would God know? Does the Most High know anything?”

12 This is what the wicked are like— always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.

Footnotes

• [a]. The meaning of the Hebrew for this verse is uncertain.