In pride the wicked pursue the needy; let them be caught in the schemes they devise.
Parallel translations
- WEB In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak. They are caught in the schemes that they devise.
- KJV The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
- NKJV The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.
- NASB In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the needy; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.
- NLT The wicked arrogantly hunt down the poor. Let them be caught in the evil they plan for others.
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
In arrogance the wicked hunt the weak, who are caught in the schemes devised. The proud oppress the vulnerable, yet their plots will trap themselves.
Overview
The psalmist describes the wicked preying on the poor through prideful cunning. The final clause hints at the just reversal whereby evil schemes ensnare their makers. This portrait of arrogant oppression sets up the prayer for God to defend the helpless that closes the psalm.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Ps 59:12By the sins of their mouths and the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride, in the curses and lies they utter.
- Ps 36:11Let not the foot of the proud come against me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
- Ps 7:16His trouble recoils on himself, and his violence falls on his own head.
- Prov 5:22The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.
- Ps 31:18May lying lips be silenced—lips that speak with arrogance against the righteous, full of pride and contempt.
- Ps 119:122Ensure Your servant’s well-being; do not let the arrogant oppress me.
- Isa 10:12–13So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud look in his eyes.
- Ps 140:5The proud hide a snare for me; the cords of their net are spread along the path, and lures are set out for me. Selah
- Ps 119:85The arrogant have dug pits for me in violation of Your law.
- Ps 119:69Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep Your precepts with all my heart.
- Ps 9:15–16The nations have fallen into a pit of their making; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
- Ps 119:5Oh, that my ways were committed to keeping Your statutes!
- Isa 14:16Those who see you will stare; they will ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made the kingdoms tremble,
- Jer 43:2Azariah son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are lying! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to reside there.’
- Isa 14:13You said in your heart: “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north.
- Exod 18:11Now I know that the LORD is greater than all other gods, for He did this when they treated Israel with arrogance.”
- Exod 9:17Still, you lord it over My people and do not allow them to go.
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 10:2 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.