Table of Contents
Psalm 10
Psalm 10
1 Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth.
4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
5 His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.
6 He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity.
7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.
8 He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.
9 He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net.
10 He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.
11 He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.
12 Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.
13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.
14 Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.
16 The Lord is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.
17 Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.
Notes
Cross Reference
Concordance
Commentary
Rashi
Verse 1
<html><b>You hide in times of distress</b> You hide Your eyes in times of distress.</html>
Verse 2
<html><b>he pursues</b> Heb. ידלק, he pursues, as (in Gen. 31:36): “that you pursued (דלקת) me?” <b>they are caught</b> The poor are caught in the plots that the wicked devise against them.</html>
Verse 3
<html><b>For the wicked man boasts</b> This refers to “O Lord, why do You stand from afar,” for now the wicked man boasts that he achieves all the desire of his soul. <b>and the robber congratulates himself for having blasphemed the Lord</b> And the robber praises himself, saying that he has blasphemed the Lord, yet he will have peace. <b>congratulates</b> Heb. בֵּרֵך, like בֵּרַך, an expression of the past tense. You should know [that this is so,] for if it were a noun, the accent would be on the first letter and it would be vowelized with a “pattah” [meaning a “seggol” under the “resh”], but this one is vowelized with a small “kamatz” [i.e., with a “tzereh”] and it is accented below on the “resh.” Do not wonder about בֵּרֵך, that he did not say: בֵּרַך, because many words spelled with a “resh” are vowelized in this manner, e.g. (below 74:18), “an enemy blasphemed (חֵרֵף) the Lord,” and it does not say חֵרַף. <b>blasphemed</b> Heb. נאץ, like חֵרֵף and Menachem interpreted every expression of נאוץ in this manner.</html>
Verse 4
<html><b>A wicked man at the height of his anger</b> When he is haughty, and he lifts up and holds his face erect, and his anger is at its height. <b>He will not seek</b> All his thoughts tell him, “The Holy One, blessed be He, will not seek anything that I may do because there is no judgment.” <b>there is no God</b> There is no judgment, and there is no judge.</html>
Verse 5
<html><b>prosper</b> Heb. יחילו, prosper, and similar to this is (in Job 20:21): “therefore shall his goods not prosper (יחיל).” Others explain יחילו like (II Sam. 3:29): “May it rest (יחולו) upon the head of Joab.” <b>Your judgments are far removed from him</b> Your judgments of pains and punishments are removed and distanced from him, for they do not come upon him. <b>All his adversarieshe blows at them</b> With a blowing of wind, he blows at them, and they fall before him.</html>
Verse 6
<html><b>“for all generations I will not be in adversity”</b> Adversity will not befall me throughout my generations.</html>
Verse 7
<html><b>and guile</b> Heb. ותך, an expression of an evil thought that lodges constantly in his midst.</html>
Verse 8
<html><b>his eyes spy on Your army</b> The eyes of Esau lurk for Israel, who are Your army. <b>on Your army</b> Heb. לחלכה ; (verse 14), “upon You Your army (חלכה) leaves.” Both of them are in the masorah as words spelled with כה instead of ך, like (Exod. 7:29), “upon you (ובכה) and upon your people”; (Prov. 2:11), “discretion shall guard you (תנצרכה) (Exod. 29:35), “I commanded you (אתכה)”; (I Sam. 1: 26), “who was standing with you (עמכה).” We learn from the masorah that חלכה is like חילך, Your army. But Menachem (p.89) interprets לחלכה יצפנו and so יעזב חלכה like (verse 10), “and helpless ones (חלכאים) shall fall into his power,” a word meaning humble and moaning. Accordingly, כה is [part of] the radical.</html>
Verse 10
<html><b>He crouches, he bows down</b> So is the habit of the lurker; he crouches and lowers [himself] and makes himself small in order to be inconspicuous. <b>and an army of broken people fall by his signals</b> Heb. חלכאם, an army of broken people. I saw in the great masorah that חלכאים is one of fifteen words that are written as one word and read as two words, as is בגד in the verse (Gen. 30:11) commencing “And Leah said.” Also (in Deut. 33:2), “a fiery Law (אשדת) is to them”; (Isa. 3: 15), “What do you mean (מלכם) that you crush My people?” Also this word means חל כאים, an army of broken people. כאים is an expression of (below 109:16) “and a broken-hearted one (ונכאה לבב) to kill.” If you say that the “nun” is the radical, (Ezek. 13:22) “Because you have broken (הכאות) the heart of the righteous” will prove that [it is not]. We learn that the “nun” of נראה is like the “nun” of (I Sam. 15:9) נמבזה and the “nun” of (Jer. 6:14) נקלה, and so is its interpretation: and…fall by the signals of this wicked man, with his hints and his winks, an expression of (Isa. 41:21) “present your signals (עצמותיכם).” and (ibid. 33:15) “and closes (ועצם) his eyes,” an army of poor people. Another explanation: בעצומיו, by his mighty men. Said Rabbi Simon: This wicked man puts into his “callirus,” meaning army, only mighty men like himself, as it is said (in Dan. 3:20): “And he commanded the mighty warriors who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abed- nego” (Mid. Ps. 10:5). However, Menachem, (p. 89) interprets חלכאים as “poor and weak (וחלך),” the “chaf” being a radical.</html>
Verse 13
<html><b>Why did a wicked man blaspheme</b> the Holy One, blessed be He? Because he said in his heart that You do not seek.</html>
Verse 14
<html><b>You saw</b> what he does, and You remain silent. <b>for You</b> So is Your custom, that You look at mischief and provocation. <b>to give with Your power</b> With Your power, You lend a hand to the wicked to prosper with their wickedness. <b>upon You Your army leaves</b> Your people Israel, who are Your army, leave the burden upon You that You should execute justice upon the wicked. Menachem (p. 132) interprets יעזב as an expression of help, as (in Exod. 23:5): “you shall help (עזב תעזב) with him.” He interprets חלכה as an expression of “poor and weak (חלך),” the “chaf” being a radical. <b>You would help the orphan</b> in the early days.</html>
Verse 15
<html><b>Break the arm</b> of the wicked Esau. <b>but as for the evil one—You will seek his wickedness and not find [it]</b> As for the wicked of Israel, when they see the wicked [of the nations] prospering, their heart inspires them to deal wickedly, but when You break the arm of the wicked, if You were to come [then] to seek the wickedness of the wicked of Israel, You would not find it.</html>
Verse 16
<html><b>The Lord is King forever and ever</b> after the nations perish from His land.</html>
Verse 18
<html><b>To judge the orphan</b> To perform judgments for Israel, the orphans, and crushed people. <b>that he no longer continue</b> Ishmael and Esau. <b>to break the weak</b> To crush and break the weak and sick.</html>