Psalm 10:11 - Printer Friendly

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

NIV: He says to himself, 'God will never notice; he covers his face and never sees.'

NASB: He says to himself, 'God has forgotten; He has hidden His face; He will never see it.'

CSB: He says to himself, "God has forgotten; he hides his face and will never see."

NLT: The wicked think, 'God isn’t watching us! He has closed his eyes and won’t even see what we do!'

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

NKJV: He has said in his heart, “God has forgotten; He hides His face; He will never see.”

Those who reject God's authority often waver in how they express that rebellion. In some cases, they deny that God exists at all (Psalm 10:4). Those same people, however, often criticize or misrepresent God to make Him fit their preferences. In that same way, the same wicked man who refuses to believe God exists now claims God has forgotten his evil crimes against the helpless. He even supposes God has hidden His face and will never see the evil the wicked man commits.

Of course, anyone who thinks this way is terribly wrong (Revelation 20:11–15). Hebrews 4:13 exclaims, "And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account." After Hagar fled from Abram's home because Sarai, Abram's wife, had dealt harshly with her, she rested by a spring of water in the wilderness. The angel of the Lord found her there and commanded her to return to Sarai and submit to her. He assured her she would bear a son who would become the father of a vast number of people. In response, Hagar "called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, 'You are a God of seeing,' for she said, 'Truly here I have seen him who looks after me'" (Genesis 16:13).

Psalm 10:1–11 asks why God seems to ignore the character and deeds of wicked people. The wicked are described as haughty oppressors of the poor and helpless. They are arrogant, greedy, insulters of God. They don't believe He exists, so they feel free to take advantage of poor and helpless victims.

This song opens with a common question humanity asks in hard times: "where are you, God?" There follows a description of wicked people and their deeds and motives. Evil people feel free to be depraved and arrogant, assuming there is no God to judge them. Like predators, these wicked people ambush helpless people. Despite their wrong assumptions, God keeps His promises. He will judge the wicked and defend His people. Helpless people can trust God to make matters right. Someday, He will rid the earth of all sin and suffering. His justice will prevail, and His people will never again experience persecution.

According to some scholars, Psalms 9 and 10 might have been composed together, possibly even as one psalm. No title is affixed to Psalm 10, and it seems to continue the acrostic pattern of Psalm 9, starting each section with a successive letter from the Hebrew alphabet. The Septuagint and the Vulgate place the two psalms as one. However, the mood shifts from one psalm to the other. Psalm 9 focuses on judgment to come; Psalm 10 focuses on the presence of widespread injustice. Whether literally composed together, or separately, they deal with related issues using profoundly different tones.

The book of Psalms is composed of individual songs, hymns, or poems, each of which is a ''Psalm'' in and of itself. These works contain a wide variety of themes. Some Psalms focus on praising and worshipping God. Others cry out in anguish over the pain of life. Still other Psalms look forward to the coming of the Messiah. While some Psalms are related, each has its own historical and biblical context.