Why do You stand afar off, O Lord? Why do You hide in times of trouble?
Parallel translations
- WEB Why do you stand far off, Yahweh? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
- KJV Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself 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?
- 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 22:1For the Chief Musician; set to “The Doe of the Morning.” A Psalm by David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?
- Ps 27:9Don’t hide your face from me. Don’t put your servant away in anger. You have been my help. Don’t abandon me, neither forsake me, God of my salvation.
- Ps 13:1–3For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. How long, Yahweh? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
- Ps 46:1For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
- Jer 14:8You hope of Israel, its Savior in the time of trouble, why should you be as a foreigner in the land, and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to stay for a night?
- Ps 44:24Why do you hide your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression?
- Job 13:24Why hide you your face, and hold me for your enemy?
- Ps 30:7You, Yahweh, when you favored me, made my mountain stand strong; but when you hid your face, I was troubled.
- Ps 88:14Yahweh, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your face from me?
- Job 34:29When he gives quietness, who then can condemn? When he hides his face, who then can see him? Alike whether to a nation, or to a man,
- Job 23:9He works to the north, but I can’t see him. He turns south, but I can’t catch a glimpse of 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.