Psalms 10
Big idea: This is the psalm that says the quiet part out loud. Why do you stand far off, Yahweh? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? And then it spends ten verses describing exactly the man it is complaining about — prosperous, contemptuous, ambushing the poor near the villages, saying in his heart that God has forgotten and will never see it. The answer, when it comes, is not that God will strike him down; it is verse 14, which simply denies the premise: but you do see trouble and grief.
Psalm 10 closes the acrostic begun in Psalm 9. Psalm 11 answers the same fear with a completely different temperament.
10:1–11 — He says in his heart, God has forgotten
The psalm that says the quiet part out loud, and then declines to move on from it. After two lines of complaint it spends ten verses describing a man who is thriving — the evidence for the complaint is his prosperity, not his cruelty. Twice it quotes what he says inside himself, which is where the real horror sits: the psalm treats private thought as a person's actual theology, and his is that God has stopped looking.
1 Why do you stand far off, Yahweh? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? 2 In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak. They are caught in the schemes that they devise. 3 For the wicked boasts of his heart’s cravings. He blesses the greedy and condemns Yahweh. 4 The wicked, in the pride of his face, has no room in his thoughts for God. 5 His ways are prosperous at all times. He is arrogant, and your laws are far from his sight. As for all his adversaries, he sneers at them. 6 He says in his heart, “I shall not be shaken. For generations I shall have no trouble.” 7 His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and oppression. Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity. 8 He lies in wait near the villages. From ambushes, he murders the innocent. His eyes are secretly set against the helpless. 9 He lurks in secret as a lion in his ambush. He lies in wait to catch the helpless. He catches the helpless when he draws him in his net. 10 The helpless are crushed. They collapse. They fall under his strength. 11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten. He hides his face. He will never see it.”
10:12–18 — But you do see trouble and grief
The reply turns on one word. Everything the wicked man assumed — that God has forgotten, hides his face, will never see — is answered in verse 14 by 'but you DO see', which is a correction of fact rather than a promise of rescue. Nothing is said about when. The acrostic then completes itself, the King is named, and the last line quietly dismantles the man of the first half: he is soil.
12 Arise, Yahweh! God, lift up your hand! Don’t forget the helpless. 13 Why does the wicked person condemn God, and say in his heart, “God won’t call me into account”? 14 But you do see trouble and grief. You consider it to take it into your hand. You help the victim and the fatherless. 15 Break the arm of the wicked. As for the evil man, seek out his wickedness until you find none. 16 Yahweh is King forever and ever! The nations will perish out of his land. 17 Yahweh, you have heard the desire of the humble. You will prepare their heart. You will cause your ear to hear, 18 to judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that man who is of the earth may terrify no more.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).