In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak. They are caught in the schemes that they devise.
Parallel Translations
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In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak. They are caught in the schemes that they devise.
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The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
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Through the pride of the wicked the poor is hotly pursued, they are taken in the devices that they have imagined.
Cross-references (17)
Passages linked to Psalms 10:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 59:12 For the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride, for the curses and lies which they utter.
- Psalms 36:11 Don’t let the foot of pride come against me. Don’t let the hand of the wicked drive me away.
- Psalms 7:16 The trouble he causes shall return to his own head. His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head.
- Proverbs 5:22 The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
- Psalms 31:18 Let the lying lips be mute, which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.
- Psalms 119:122 Ensure your servant’s well-being. Don’t let the proud oppress me.
- Psalms 140:5 The proud have hidden a snare for me, they have spread the cords of a net by the path. They have set traps for me.
- Isaiah 10:12-13 Therefore it will happen that when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his arrogant looks. For he has said, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding. I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers.
- Psalms 119:69 The proud have smeared a lie upon me. With my whole heart, I will keep your precepts.
- Psalms 119:85 The proud have dug pits for me, contrary to your law.
- Psalms 9:15-16 The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken. Yahweh has made himself known. He has executed judgment. The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands.
- Psalms 119:5 Oh that my ways were steadfast to obey your statutes!
- Isaiah 14:13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend into heaven! I will exalt my throne above the stars of God! I will sit on the mountain of assembly, in the far north!
- Isaiah 14:16 Those who see you will stare at you. They will ponder you, saying, “Is this the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms,
- Jeremiah 43:2 then Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men spoke, saying to Jeremiah, “You speak falsely. Yahweh our God has not sent you to say, ‘You shall not go into Egypt to live there;’
- Exodus 9:17 because you still exalt yourself against my people, that you won’t let them go.
- Exodus 18:11 Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all gods because of the way that they treated people arrogantly.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 2. The ungodly in his pride, etc Before uttering…
2. The ungodly in his pride, etc Before uttering his prayer against the ungodly, the Psalmist briefly sets forth their wickedness in cruelly vexing the afflicted, for no other reason but because they disdain and despise them, through the pride with which they are inflated. And their cruelty is not a little enhanced from this, that, forgetful of all humanity, they contemptuously triumph over the poor and afflicted, mocking them and inflicting injuries upon them. “En se mocquant d’eux et les outrageant.” — Fr.
דלק, dalak, signifies two things, to persecute, and to be set on fire; and though we render it in the former sense, and so apply it to רשע, rasha, the wicked, in the active tense, — the wicked persecutes the poor, yet the ancient interpreters generally render it in the passive, and apply it to עני, anay, the poor, that in the pride of the wicked he is set on fire, that is, brought into great tribulation.” — Hammond. The word used by the Septuagint is ἐμπυριζέται. There may be an allusion in the Hebrew word to the fires which persecutors have kindled for burning to death the confessors and martyrs of Christ.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 10:2 The wicked in [his] pride doth persecute…
Psa 10:2 The wicked in [his] pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
Ver. 2. The wicked in his pride doth persecute, &c.] Heb. hotly pursueth (εμπυριζεται. Chrysost.), and that out of his pride, the true cause of persecution, whatever else is pretended. And this is fitly here alleged, and urged as an argument to move God to make haste. See Deu 32:27 : The saints fare the better for the insolence and outrage of their enemies, whose ruin is thereby accelerated, and somewhat God will do the sooner for his people, lest the enemy exalt himself, Psa 140:8, and say, Our hand is high, the Lord hath not done this.
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Let them be taken in the devices, &c.] As all persecutors are sure to be in which regard Tertullian well adviseth Scapula, Si nobis non parcis, tibi parce; si non tibi, Carthagini: If thou wilt not spare us Christians, yet spare thyself; or if not thyself, yet thy city Carthage, which else will smart and smoke for thy cruelty.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain In his pride; through pride of heart; which makes…
In his pride; through pride of heart; which makes him forget God, Psa 10:4, and despise the poor, and oppress others, either because they oppose or dislike his wicked courses, or that he may have more fuel for his pride or ambition. Or, in his exaltation. This is the use that he makes of that power and authority to which thou hast advanced him, to persecute those whom he should protect and cherish. He seems to point at Saul or his courtiers.
Doth persecute with great fervency and burning fury, as the word signifies.
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The poor, to wit, me, who am through their tyranny poor, and destitute, and miserable, and therefore the more proper object for thy compassion, and others who favour my righteous cause.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor,....…
The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor,.... The "poor" is the good and gracious man, who is commonly poor in this world's things, and is sensibly poor in spirit, or sensible of his spiritual poverty; or he is so called because "afflicted", as the word signifies; and he is afflicted because he is poor: these two characters generally go together. The "wicked" man is the wicked one, the lawless one, the man of sin, and son of perdition, antichrist, the great persecutor of Christ's poor saints and faithful witnesses, more or less, ever since he has been in power; and which arises from the "pride" of his heart, not bearing that any should refuse to pay homage to him, contradict his will, or dissent from him. The word (s) signifies to follow after, to pursue, as Jarchi, Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, interpret it; and "to pursue hotly", as it is rendered in Gen 31:36; and denotes the vehemence and heat of his wrath and fury, with which antichrist persecutes the followers of the Lamb; hence persecution is compared to the heat of the sun, Mat 13:6; Some render the words, "through the pride of the wicked the poor is burned", or "the poor burns" (t): which may be understood either literally, of the burning of the martyrs of Jesus by antichrist, as here in Queen Mary's days; and which was foretold, that some of the saints should fall by flame, as well as by sword, captivity, and spoil; and to which that part of the description of Christ answers, whose feet are said to be like fine brass, as if it burned in a furnace; and which is prefaced to the epistle to the church at Thyatira, which is an emblem of the apostate church: see Dan 11:33; or figuratively, of the poor saints burning with grief at the pride and wickedness of the man of sin, and with zeal for the honour and glory of God; see Co2 11:29, Sol 8:6;
let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined: we read the words as a petition; and so the sense is, let the wicked persecutors be taken in the wicked and crafty schemes which they have devised for the hurt of others, as they are, or will be; see Psa 9:15. But the psalmist is not yet come to petitions, nor does he until Psa 10:12; but is all along describing the wickedness of the wicked one. It seems better therefore to render the words as do the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, "they are taken in the devices that they have imagined": and the meaning is, that the poor, who are persecuted by the wicked, are taken by their crafty schemes they lay for them, as Jarchi interprets it, and are put to death by them. So these words show the issue and event of persecution: and this sense best agrees with the boasted success of the wicked man Psa 10:3.
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(s) "fervide persequitur", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "ferventer", Gejerus; so Ainsworth. (t) "Incenditur", V. L. "ardet", Tigurine version, Muis, Cocceius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. The wicked in his pride] On no…
Verse 2. The wicked in his pride] On no principle of nature or reason can we account for a wicked man persecuting a humble follower of God because of his religion. The devil hates godliness; and the wicked man hates it also, because the devil is in his heart.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 10:2. The wicked in his pride — The…
Psa 10:2. The wicked in his pride — The pride of his heart which makes him forget God, despise the poor, and oppress others: Hebrew, בגאות, begaa-vath, in his exaltation; doth persecute the poor — With great earnestness and burning fury, as the verb דלק, dalak, here used, signifies: as if he had said, The use which he makes of that power and authority to which thou hast advanced him is to persecute those whom he ought to protect and cherish.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The wicked in his pride - Margin: “In the…
The wicked in his pride - Margin: “In the pride of the wicked he doth.” The margin is a literal translation of the Hebrew; but the sense is the same. The meaning is, that the fact that the wicked persecuted the poor, in the case referred to, was to be traced to his pride, haughtiness, ambition; that is, in pursuing his own selfish and ambitious purposes, he became utterly regardless of the rights and comforts of others. He esteemed their interest and happiness as unworthy of regard in comparison with his own aims and purposes, and trampled down all their rights in prosecuting his own ends. The term “wicked” here - in the original in the singular number, רשׁע rāshâ‛, though perhaps used collectively - means properly the wicked one, or the wicked man, and doubtless refers to some enemy that David had in his eye, and from whom he was at that time suffering wrong. It is not possible now to ascertain with certainty who this was; but as the whole description proceeds in the singular number Psa 10:3-11, it is most natural to suppose that this refers to one individual.
Doth persecute the poor - עני ידלק yidelaq ‛ânı̂y. Prof. Alexander renders this, “burns the sufferer.” Luther, muss der Elende leiden - “must the afflicted suffer.” DeWette: angstigen sich die Elenden. The Latin Vulgate: “When the impious (man) is proud, the poor (man) is burned:” incenditur pauper. So the Septuagint. Gesenius (Lexicon) supposes it means, to burn with anguish. Horsley renders it, “In the exaltation of the impious one the helpless is consumed.” But it seems to me that our common version has expressed the true sense. The word rendered persecuteth - דלק dâlaq - means properly to burn, to flame; then to burn with love, with anger; then to burn after anyone, to persecute. See it; explained in the notes at Psa 7:13. According to the most natural application of the word here, it would seem to mean, “In the pride of the wicked, he persecutes the poor or the afflicted;” that is, he burns after him; he is inflamed against him; he hotly pursues him. The word poor in this place - עני ‛ânı̂y - means the afflicted; the crushed; the downtrodden; those in circumstances of humiliation and poverty. The psalmist doubtless refers to himself as a poor and persecuted man; and the time in his life would seem to be when he was without a protector or friend, probably before he came to the throne.
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Let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined - The artifice, plan, or scheme, which they have formed. That is, they have formed a scheme to take advantage of, or to destroy others; and the psalmist prays that, as a just retribution, this very calamity may come upon them. No man could have a right to complain if the mischief and wrong which he had devised for others should be brought upon himself; and if it were certain that this in all eases would occur, there could be nothing that would so effectually deter men from wrongdoing. The psalmist, then, simply prays that justice might be done. Compare Psa 5:10, note; Psa 7:15-16, notes. The plural form of the verb is used here, but it is not certain that the psalmist had more than one enemy in view, for on expressing his feelings toward that one enemy he may have designed to use language which would be applicable to all in similar circumstances.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Literally, "In pride of the wicked they (the poor…
Literally, "In pride of the wicked they (the poor or humble, Psa 10:17; Psa 12:5) shall be taken in the devices they (the proud) have imagined."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 2. Wicked—The man who breaks law and departs from…
2. Wicked—The man who breaks law and departs from right with knowledge and of set purpose. The term is used five times in the psalm. It is not an ideal picture, but a living description of an actual state of society under the misrule and outrages of the worst conceivable men.
Poor—This is the oppressed class,—the opposite of the “wicked.” The title includes the ideas both of humble and afflicted; and under different original words is given seven times. Called, also, the “innocent,” “fatherless,” “oppressed.” Psa_10:8; Psa_10:14; Psa_10:17.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. The general sense of the first clause is…
2. The general sense of the first clause is that given by R.V.:
In the pride of the wicked the poor is hotly pursued;
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or possibly, is consumed, by fear, anxiety, and distress.
In the second clause there is a double ambiguity. The verb taken may be rendered as a wish or as a statement of fact; and its subject may be the ‘wicked’ or the ‘poor.’ Hence either, as A.V.,
let them (the wicked) be taken in the devices that they have imagined: or, as LXX, Vulg., R.V. marg.:
they (the poor) are taken in the devices that they (the wicked) have imagined.
With the first rendering comp. Psa_7:15-16, Psa_9:16 : but the second is on the whole preferable. It gives a good parallelism to the first line of the verse; and a further description of the wrongs of the poor suits the context better than a parenthetical cry for retribution.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) The wicked.—Better, in the pride of the wicked,…
(2) The wicked.—Better, in the pride of the wicked, the sufferer burns. (So LXX., Aquila, Symmachus, and Vulg.) Not to be taken of indignation felt by the sufferers, but literally of the afflictions they endure. The Authorised Version rendering of the next clause takes the wicked as the subject of the verb; but it preserves the parallelism better, and is more in accordance with the rest of the psalm (Psa_10:8-10), to understand it of the “humble,” the singular changing to the plural in the subject when supplied: “they (the sufferers) are taken (the verb is in the present) in the plot which they (the wicked) have devised.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor.…
The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor. Dr. Kay translates, "Through the pride of the wicked man the poor is set on fire;" and our Revisers, "In the pride of the wicked, the poor is hotly pursued;" and so (nearly) the LXX, the Vulgate, Aquila, Symmachus, Kohler, Hengstenberg, and others. The Authorized Version paraphrases rather than translates; but it does not misrepresent the general sense, which is a complaint that the poor are persecuted by the wicked . Let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. (comp. Psa_35:8, "Let his net that he hath hid catch himself;" and Psa_141:10, "Let the wicked fall into their own nets;" see also Psa_7:15, 16 9:15 Pro_5:22 Pro_26:27 Ecc_10:8) Some, however, translate, "They (i.e. the poor) are ensnared in the devices which they (i.e. the wicked) have imagined;" and this is certainly a possible rendering. Hengstenberg regards it as preferable to the other "on account of the parallelism and connection."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 2. The second verse contains the formal indictment…
Ver. 2. The second verse contains the formal indictment against the wicked:
The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor. The accusation divides itself into two distinct charges, pride and tyranny; the one the root and cause of the other. The second sentence is the humble petition of the oppressed:
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Let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. The prayer is reasonable, just, and natural. Even our enemies themselves being judges, it is but right that men should be done by as they wished to do to others. We only weigh you in your own scales, and measure your corn with your own bushel. Terrible shall be thy day, O persecuting Babylon! when thou shalt be made to drink of the wine cup which thou thyself hast filled to the brim with the blood of saints. There are none who will dispute the justice of God, when he shall hang every Haman on his own gallows, and cast all the enemies of his Daniels into their own den of lions.
Ver. 2. The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor. THE OPPRESSOR'S PLEA. I seek but what is my own by law; it was his own free act and deed the execution lies for goods and body; and goods or body I will have, or else my money. What if his beggardly children pine, or his proud wife perish? they perish at their own charge, not mine; and what is that to me? I must be paid, or he lie by it until I have my utmost farthing, or his bones. The law is just and good; and, being ruled by that, how can my fair proceedings be unjust? What is thirty in the hundred to a man of trade? Are we born to thrum caps or pick straws? and sell our livelihood for a few tears, and a whining face? I thank God they move me not so much as a howling dog at midnight. I will give no day if heaven itself would be security. I must have present money, or his bones...Fifteen shillings in the pound composition! I will hang first. Come, tell me not of a good conscience: a good conscience is no parcel in my trade; it hath made more bankrupts than all the loose wives in the universal city. My conscience is no fool: it tells me my own is my own, and that a well crammed bag is no deceitful friend, but will stick close to me when all my friends forsake me. If to gain a good estate out of nothing, and to regain a desperate debt which is as good as nothing, be the fruits and signs of a bad conscience, God help the good. Come, tell me not of griping and oppression. The world is hard, and he that hopes to thrive must gripe as hard. What I give I give, and what I lend I lend. If the way to heaven be to turn beggar upon earth, let them take it that like it. I know not what you call oppression, the law is my direction; but of the two, it is more profitable to oppress than to be oppressed. If debtors would be honest and discharge, our hands were bound: but when their failing offends my bags, they touch the apple of my eye, and I must right them. Francis Quarles.
Ver. 2. That famous persecutor, Domitian, like others of the Roman emperors, assumed divine honours, and heated the furnace seven times hotter against Christians because they refused to worship his image. In like manner, when the popes of Rome became decorated with the blasphemous titles of Masters of the World, and, Universal Fathers, they let loose their blood hounds upon the faithful. Pride is the egg of persecution. C.H.S.
Ver. 2. Pride, is a vice which cleaveth so fast unto the hearts of men, that if we were to strip ourselves of all faults one by one, we should undoubtedly find it the very last and hardest to put off. Richard Hooker, 1554-1600.
Ver. 2. Religious persecution in all its phases based on pride.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 10:2-11 Wicked and oppressive people might prosper, leaving ugly…
10:2-11 Wicked and oppressive people might prosper, leaving ugly consequences. Evil can be as dramatic as the psalmist portrays it here, or it could be more subtle.
10:2 The wicked brazenly defy God with their acts and speech (17:10; 31:18; 59:12; 73:8; 123:4). Although the Lord will deal with them (31:23), they disturb the righteous (see 5:4-6) prior to their condemnation and judgment.
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