Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, “You will not call 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.
- BSB Why has the wicked man renounced God? He says to himself, “You will never call me 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, and whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
- 2 Sam 12:9–10Why have you despised Yahweh’s word, to do that which is evil in his sight? You have struck Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
- Ps 74:10How long, God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever?
- 2 Chr 24:22Thus Joash the king didn’t remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. When he died, he said, “May Yahweh look at it, and repay it.”
- Num 11:20but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils, and it is loathsome to you; because you have rejected Yahweh who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’”
- Ps 74:18Remember this, that the enemy has mocked you, Yahweh. Foolish people have blasphemed your name.
- 1 Th 4:8Therefore he who rejects this doesn’t reject man, but God, who has also given his Holy Spirit to you.
- Gen 9:5I will surely require your blood of your lives; at the hand of every animal I will require it. At the hand of man, even at the hand of every man’s brother, I will require the life of man.
- Gen 42:22Reuben answered them, saying, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘Don’t sin against the child,’ and you wouldn’t listen? Therefore also, behold, his blood is required.”
- Luke 11:50–51that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.