Why has the wicked man renounced God? He says to himself, “You will never call me to account.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Why does the wicked person condemn God, and say in his heart, “God won’t call me into account?”
- KJV Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.
- ESV Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”?
- NKJV Why do the wicked renounce God? He has said in his heart, “You will not require an account.”
- NASB Why has the wicked treated God disrespectfully? He has said to himself, “You will not require an account.”
- NLT Why do the wicked get away with despising God? They think, “God will never call us to account.”
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Why does the wicked despise God, assuming he will not be held to account? The psalmist questions the presumption that sin escapes judgment.
Overview
The psalmist marvels at the wicked's contempt for God, rooted in the belief that there will be no reckoning. The question implicitly appeals to God to overturn that false assumption. Scripture is clear that all will give account, a truth that both warns the wicked and comforts the oppressed.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Luke 10:16Whoever listens to you listens to Me; whoever rejects you rejects Me; and whoever rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.”
- 2 Sam 12:9–10Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own, for you have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites.
- Ps 74:10How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?
- 2 Chr 24:22Thus King Joash failed to remember the kindness that Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had extended to him. Instead, Joash killed Jehoiada’s son. As he lay dying, Zechariah said, “May the LORD see this and call you to account.”
- Num 11:20but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and makes you nauseous—because you have rejected the LORD, who is among you, and have cried out before Him, saying, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’”
- Ps 74:18Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name.
- 1 Th 4:8Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One who gives you His Holy Spirit.
- Gen 9:5And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man:
- Gen 42:22And Reuben responded, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you would not listen. Now we must account for his blood!”
- Luke 11:50–51As a result, this generation will be charged with the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the foundation of the world,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 10:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.