Psalms 10

LORD, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide yourself when trouble comes?

1Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?

NotePsalm 10 has no heading of its own in the Hebrew, and it continues an alphabet acrostic begun in Psalm 9, where successive stanzas open with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Greek and Latin Bibles count 9 and 10 as a single psalm, which is why their numbering runs one behind the King James from here onward.

2The wicked man is proud, and he hunts down the poor. Let such men be caught in the very traps they thought up.

2The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.

Note"Devices that they have imagined" means the schemes they have thought up. In 1611 a "device" was a plot or contrivance, and to "imagine" something was to plan or plot it, not to daydream about it.

3The wicked man brags about the cravings of his own heart. He praises the greedy person, the one the LORD hates.

3For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.

NoteThe Hebrew of the second half is compressed and can be read two ways: "he blesses the greedy man, whom the LORD abhors" (the King James reading), or "he blesses the greedy and curses the LORD." Translations divide, and the rendering follows the first.

4The wicked man is too proud to look for God. You can see it on his face. In all his thinking there is no room for God.

4The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

Note"The pride of his countenance" is literally the height of his nose, a Hebrew idiom for a man with his face tilted up in arrogance. The closing clause is also open: it can mean the wicked man concludes "there is no God," or that God simply never figures in any of his calculations.

5His ways go well for him all the time. Your judgments are so high above him that he never sees them. He sneers at everyone who stands against him.

5His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.

Note"Grievous" here does not mean painful or distressing. The King James uses an older sense in which his ways are solid and hold firm; the Hebrew says his ways prosper at all times. "He puffeth at them" describes a gesture of contempt, blowing or snorting at an opponent to dismiss him as nothing.

6He says to himself, "Nothing will ever shake me. I will never run into trouble, not in any generation."

6He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity.

7His mouth is full of cursing, lies, and cheating. Under his tongue are trouble and evil.

7His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.

NoteIn the King James "mischief" means serious harm or injury, not a prank, and "vanity" means emptiness or worthlessness, not conceit. "Under his tongue" pictures words kept ready in the mouth, the way a snake's venom or a hidden weapon is kept ready.

8He waits in hiding near the villages. From secret places he murders innocent people. His eyes watch quietly for anyone who is helpless.

8He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.

Note"Privily" means secretly. The "villages" are unwalled hamlets and open settlements with no defenses, the easiest places for a predator to work.

9He lies in wait, hidden like a lion in its den. He waits to grab the poor man. He does catch him, dragging him off in his net.

9He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net.

NoteThe picture shifts inside the verse: first a lion crouched in cover, then a hunter hauling in a net. In both halves the poor man is being treated as game.

10He crouches down and makes himself low, and the helpless fall because he is strong.

10He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.

NoteThe Hebrew of this verse is among the most obscure in the book, and translations differ widely. "His strong ones" may mean the predator's own limbs and claws, continuing the lion image, or the strong men who work for him.

11He says to himself, "God has forgotten. He has turned his face away. He will never see it."

11He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.

Note"He hideth his face" is a standard Hebrew idiom for deliberately withholding attention or favor, not hiding from view, but refusing to look.

12Get up, LORD. Lift up your hand, God. Do not forget the people who are beaten down.

12Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.

Note"Lift up thine hand" is the gesture of someone raising an arm to strike. To ask God to lift his hand is to ask him to step in and act.

13Why does the wicked man treat God with scorn? He says to himself, "You will never make me answer for it."

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

Note"Contemn" is an old word meaning to despise or treat as worthless; it is not a misprint for "condemn." "Require it" is legal language: to demand a reckoning, to call someone to account for what he has done.

14But you have seen it. You do look at trouble and cruelty, and you take it in hand to pay it back. The helpless person puts himself in your care. You are the helper of the child who has no father.

14Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.

Note"Requite" means to pay back. "The fatherless" is the orphan, who in ancient Israel, along with the widow and the resident foreigner, belonged to the standard class of people with no male relative to defend them in court or protect their property, and whom Israel's law placed under God's own protection.

15Break the arm of the wicked man, the man who does evil. Search out his wickedness until there is none left to find.

15Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.

Note"Break the arm" is figurative: the arm stands for a person's capacity to act, so breaking it means stripping him of the power to do harm.

16The LORD is King forever and ever. The nations have vanished from his land.

16The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.

Note"The heathen" translates a Hebrew word meaning simply the nations, the peoples other than Israel. In 1611 the word carried no more contempt than that.

17LORD, you have heard what the humble long for. You will make their hearts strong. You will listen closely,

17LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:

Note"Prepare their heart" does not mean get them ready. The Hebrew verb means to make firm or steady, so the sense is that God strengthens the resolve of those who are beaten down.

18so that you can give justice to the child with no father and to the person who is crushed, and so that a mere human, made of earth, will terrify them no more.

18To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.

Note"The man of the earth" renders a Hebrew phrase that is open to more than one reading: a mere mortal made of dust, or a man who belongs to the land. Either way the phrase is set against the God who is King forever in the previous verse.