Psalms 10:6-16

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.

10 His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength.

11 He says to himself, “God will never notice; he covers his face and never sees.”

12 Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless.

13 Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, “He won’t call me to account”?

14 But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.

15 Break the arm of the wicked man; call the evildoer to account for his wickedness that would not otherwise be found out.

16 The LORD is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land.

Psalms 10:6-16 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

• 1. Revelation 18:7
• 2. Romans 3:14*
• 3. Psalms 73:8; Psalms 119:134; Ecclesiastes 4:1; Isaiah 30:12
• 4. S Job 20:12; Psalms 140:3
• 5. Psalms 37:32; Psalms 59:3; Psalms 71:10; Proverbs 1:11; Jeremiah 5:26; Micah 7:2
• 6. Hosea 6:9; Psalms 94:6
• 7. S ver 2; Psalms 17:12; Psalms 59:3; Psalms 140:5
• 8. S Job 18:8
• 9. S Job 9:17
• 10. Job 22:13; Psalms 42:9; Psalms 77:9
• 11. S Job 22:14
• 12. Psalms 3:7
• 13. Psalms 17:7; Psalms 20:6; Psalms 106:26; Isaiah 26:11; Micah 5:9
• 14. Psalms 9:12
• 15. ver 3
• 16. S Job 31:14
• 17. ver 7; Psalms 22:11
• 18. Psalms 37:5
• 19. S Deuteronomy 33:29; Psalms 68:5
• 20. S Job 31:22; Psalms 37:17
• 21. S Exodus 15:18; Psalms 29:10
• 22. S Deuteronomy 8:20