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 52:1-6

Psalm 52 ² 

For the music director; a well-written song ³  by David. It was written when Doeg the Edomite went and informed Saul: “David has arrived at the home of Ahimelech.” ⁴ 

52:1 Why do you boast about your evil plans, ⁵  O powerful man?

God’s loyal love protects me all day long! ⁶ 

52:2 Your tongue carries out your destructive plans; ⁷ 

it is as effective as a sharp razor, O deceiver. ⁸ 

52:3 You love evil more than good,

lies more than speaking the truth. ⁹  (Selah)

52:4 You love to use all the words that destroy, ¹⁰ 

and the tongue that deceives.

52:5 Yet ¹¹  God will make you a permanent heap of ruins. ¹² 

He will scoop you up ¹³  and remove you from your home; ¹⁴ 

he will uproot you from the land of the living. (Selah)

52:6 When the godly see this, they will be filled with awe,

and will mock the evildoer, saying: ¹⁵ 

Job 22:13

22:13 But you have said, ‘What does God know?

Does he judge through such deep darkness? ¹⁶ 

Romans 1:28

1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, ¹⁷  God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. ¹⁸ 

Ephesians 2:12

2:12 that you were at that time without the Messiah, ¹⁹  alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, ²⁰  having no hope and without God in the world.

[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).

[52:1]  ² sn Psalm 52. The psalmist confidently confronts his enemy and affirms that God will destroy evildoers and vindicate the godly.

[52:1]  ³ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[52:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, ‘David has come to the house of Ahimelech.’”

[52:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “Why do you boast in evil?”

[52:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “the loyal love of God [is] all the day.” In this context, where the psalmist is threatened by his enemy, the point seems to be that the psalmist is protected by God’s loyal love at all times.

[52:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “destruction your tongue devises.”

[52:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “like a sharpened razor, doer of deceit.” The masculine participle עָשָׂה (’asah) is understood as a substantival vocative, addressed to the powerful man.

[52:3]  ⁹ tn Or “deceit more than speaking what is right.”

[52:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you love all the words of swallowing.” Traditionally בַּלַּע (bala’) has been taken to mean “swallowing” in the sense of “devouring” or “destructive” (see BDB 118 s.v. בָּלַע). HALOT 135 s.v. III *בֶּלַע proposes a homonym here, meaning “confusion.” This would fit the immediate context nicely and provide a close parallel to the following line, which refers to deceptive words.

[52:5]  ¹¹ tn The adverb גַּם (gam, “also; even”) is translated here in an adversative sense (“yet”). It highlights the contrastive correspondence between the evildoer’s behavior and God’s response.

[52:5]  ¹² tn Heb “will tear you down forever.”

[52:5]  ¹³ tn This rare verb (חָתָה, khatah) occurs only here and in Prov 6:27; 25:22; Isa 30:14.

[52:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from [your] tent.”

[52:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and the godly will see and will fear and at him will laugh.”

[22:13]  ¹⁶ sn Eliphaz is giving to Job the thoughts and words of the pagans, for they say, “How does God know, and is there knowledge in the Most High?” (see Ps 73:11; 94:11).

[1:28]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “and just as they did not approve to have God in knowledge.”

[1:28]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the things that are improper.”

[2:12]  ¹⁹ tn Or “without Christ.” Both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.” Because the context refers to ancient Israel’s messianic expectation, “Messiah” was employed in the translation at this point rather than “Christ.”

[2:12]  ²⁰ tn Or “covenants of the promise.”