Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
Parallel translations
- WEB Why do you stand far off, Yahweh? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
- BSB Why, O LORD, do You stand far off? Why do You hide in times of trouble?
- ESV Why, O LORD, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
- NKJV Why do You stand afar off, O Lord? Why do You hide in times of trouble?
- NASB Why do You stand far away, Lord? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?
- NLT O Lord, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I am in trouble?
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
The psalmist asks why God seems to stand far off and hide in times of trouble. It voices the honest anguish of feeling abandoned amid suffering.
Overview
Psalm 10 opens with a raw lament over God's apparent distance while the wicked prosper. Such questioning is not unbelief but faith wrestling honestly with God's seeming silence. Scripture allows the believer to bring even this perplexity before God, trusting He hears even when He seems hidden.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ps 22:1My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
- Ps 27:9Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
- Ps 13:1–3How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
- Ps 46:1God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
- Jer 14:8O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?
- Ps 44:24Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
- Job 13:24Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?
- Ps 30:7LORD, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.
- Ps 88:14LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?
- Job 34:29When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only:
- Job 23:9On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 10:1 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.