Psalm 10 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Why Do You Hide Yourself?

Psa 10:1Why, O LORD, do you stand far away?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

Psa 10:2In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;
let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised.

Psa 10:3For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul,
and the one greedy for gain curses[fn] and renounces the LORD.

Psa 10:4

Psa 10:4In the pride of his face[fn] the wicked does not seek him;[fn]
all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”

Psa 10:5

Psa 10:5His ways prosper at all times;
your judgments are on high, out of his sight;
as for all his foes, he puffs at them.

Psa 10:6

Psa 10:6He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.”

Psa 10:7

Psa 10:7His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;
under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.

Psa 10:8

Psa 10:8He sits in ambush in the villages;
in hiding places he murders the innocent.
His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;

Psa 10:9

Psa 10:9he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket;
he lurks that he may seize the poor;
he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net.

Psa 10:10

Psa 10:10The helpless are crushed, sink down,
and fall by his might.

Psa 10:11

Psa 10:11He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,
he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”

Psa 10:12

Psa 10:12Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand;
forget not the afflicted.

Psa 10:13

Psa 10:13Why does the wicked renounce God
and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”?

Psa 10:14

Psa 10:14But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation,
that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless commits himself;
you have been the helper of the fatherless.

Psa 10:15

Psa 10:15Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer;
call his wickedness to account till you find none.

Psa 10:16

Psa 10:16The LORD is king forever and ever;
the nations perish from his land.

Psa 10:17

Psa 10:17O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear

Psa 10:18

Psa 10:18to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(10:3)

Or and he blesses the one greedy for gain

(10:4)

Or of his anger

(10:4)

Or the wicked says, “He will not call to account”

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For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.