Psalms 10:4

10:4 The wicked man is so arrogant he always thinks,

“God won’t hold me accountable; he doesn’t care.” ¹ 

Psalms 10:6

10:6 He says to himself, ² 

“I will never ³  be upended,

because I experience no calamity.” ⁴ 

Psalms 10:11

10:11 He says to himself, ⁵ 

“God overlooks it;

he does not pay attention;

he never notices.” ⁶ 

Psalms 10:13

10:13 Why does the wicked man reject God? ⁷ 

He says to himself, ⁸  “You ⁹  will not hold me accountable.” ¹⁰ 

Psalms 10:1

Psalm 10 ¹¹ 

10:1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off?

Why do you pay no attention during times of trouble? ¹² 

Psalms 12:1

Psalm 12 ¹³ 

For the music director; according to the sheminith style; ¹⁴  a psalm of David.

12:1 Deliver, Lord!

For the godly ¹⁵  have disappeared; ¹⁶ 

people of integrity ¹⁷  have vanished. ¹⁸ 

Romans 1:21

1:21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts ¹⁹  were darkened.

Romans 1:28

1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, ²⁰  God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. ²¹ 

[10:4]  ¹ tn Heb “the wicked [one], according to the height of his nose, he does not seek, there is no God, all his thoughts.” The phrase “height of his nose” probably refers to an arrogant or snooty attitude; it likely pictures one with his nose turned upward toward the sky in pride. One could take the “wicked” as the subject of the negated verb “seek,” in which case the point is that the wicked do not “seek” God. The translation assumes that this statement, along with “there is no God,” is what the wicked man thinks to himself. In this case God is the subject of the verb “seek,” and the point is that God will not hold the wicked man accountable for his actions. Verse 13 strongly favors this interpretation. The statement “there is no God” is not a philosophical assertion that God does not exist, but rather a confident affirmation that he is unconcerned about how men live morally and ethically (see v. 11).

[10:6]  ² tn Heb “he says in his heart/mind.”

[10:6]  ³ tn Heb “for a generation and a generation.” The traditional accentuation of the MT understands these words with the following line.

[10:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “who, not in calamity.” If אֲשֶׁר (’asher) is taken as a relative pronoun here, then one could translate, “[I] who [am] not in calamity.” Some emend אֲשֶׁר to אֹשֶׁר (’osher, “happiness”; see HALOT 99 s.v. אֹשֶׁר); one might then translate, “[I live in] happiness, not in calamity.” The present translation assumes that אֲשֶׁר functions here as a causal conjunction, “because, for.” For this use of אֲשֶׁר, see BDB 83 s.v. אֲשֶׁר 8.c (where the present text is not cited).

[10:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “he says in his heart.” See v. 6.

[10:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “God forgets, he hides his face, he never sees.”

[10:13]  ⁷ tn The rhetorical question expresses the psalmist’s outrage that the wicked would have the audacity to disdain God.

[10:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “he says in his heart” (see vv. 6, 11). Another option is to understand an ellipsis of the interrogative particle here (cf. the preceding line), “Why does he say in his heart?”

[10:13]  ⁹ tn Here the wicked man addresses God directly.

[10:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you will not seek.” The verb דָרַשׁ (darash, “seek”) is used here in the sense of “seek an accounting.” One could understand the imperfect as generalizing about what is typical and translate, “you do not hold [people] accountable.”

[10:1]  ¹¹ sn Psalm 10. Many Hebrew mss and the ancient Greek version (LXX) combine Psalms 9 and 10 into a single psalm. Taken in isolation, Psalm 10 is a petition for help in which the psalmist urges the Lord to deliver him from his dangerous enemies, whom he describes in vivid and terrifying detail. The psalmist concludes with confidence; he is certain that God’s justice will prevail.

[10:1]  ¹² tn Heb “you hide for times in trouble.” The interrogative “why” is understood by ellipsis; note the preceding line. The Hiphil verbal form “hide” has no expressed object. Some supply “your eyes” by ellipsis (see BDB 761 s.v. I עָלַם Hiph and HALOT 835 s.v. I עלם hif) or emend the form to a Niphal (“you hide yourself,” see BHS, note c; cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[12:1]  ¹³ sn Psalm 12. The psalmist asks the Lord to intervene, for society is overrun by deceitful, arrogant oppressors and godly individuals are a dying breed. When the Lord announces his intention to defend the oppressed, the psalmist affirms his confidence in the divine promise.

[12:1]  ¹⁴ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term שְׁמִינִית (shÿminit) is uncertain; perhaps it refers to a particular style of music. See 1 Chr 15:21.

[12:1]  ¹⁵ tn The singular form is collective or representative. Note the plural form “faithful [ones]” in the following line. A “godly [one]” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

[12:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “have come to an end.”

[12:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the faithful [ones] from the sons of man.”

[12:1]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew verb פָּסַס (pasas) occurs only here. An Akkadian cognate means “efface, blot out.”

[1:21]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “heart.”

[1:28]  ²⁰ tn Grk “and just as they did not approve to have God in knowledge.”

[1:28]  ²¹ tn Grk “the things that are improper.”