ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Psalms 10.1

Book: Psalms · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

1. Why standest thou afar off, O Jehovah? Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?

  1. In the pride of the wicked the poor is hotly pursued; Let them be taken in the devices that they have conceived. 3. For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, And the covetous renounceth, yea, contemneth Jehovah. (Psalms 10:1-3, ASV)
WEB

1. Why do you stand far off, Yahweh? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

  1. 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. (Psalms 10:1-3, WEB)
KJV

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

  1. The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. The wicked: Heb. In the pride of the wicked he doth persecute 3. For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth. heart's: Heb. soul's blesseth: or, the covetous blesseth himself, he abhorreth the LORD (Psalms 10:1-3, KJV)
YLT

1. Why, Jehovah, dost Thou stand at a distance? Thou dost hide in times of adversity,

  1. Through the pride of the wicked, Is the poor inflamed, They are caught in devices that they devised. 3. Because the wicked hath boasted Of the desire of his soul, And a dishonest gainer he hath blessed, He hath despised Jehovah. (Psalms 10:1-3, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: the psalmist; the psalm carries no attribution
  • Audience: Israel gathered in worship; the Psalter is the congregation's book
  • Location: the sanctuary and its liturgy, rather than a narrative setting
  • Time period: the monarchy or later; individual psalms are difficult to date and the Psalter was compiled over centuries

Theological reading

Why do you stand far off, O LORD? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

The Psalter's willingness to address God this way is itself the theological datum. The question is not answered in the psalm and is not withdrawn, and the collection preserves it as prayer rather than editing it out.

Psalms 9 and 10 form an acrostic together in the Hebrew and are one psalm in the Septuagint numbering, which matters here: the confident praise of 9 and the complaint of 10 are two halves of a single movement, so the doubt is placed inside the praise rather than opposed to it.

The rest of the psalm describes the wicked man in unusual detail, his contempt, his boasting, his conviction that God has forgotten. It ends with the affirmation that the LORD is king forever and does hear, which does not cancel the opening question so much as hold it alongside.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

  • TBD
  • TBD
  • TBD
  • TBD

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.