In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his schemes there is no God.
Parallel translations
- WEB The wicked, in the pride of his face, has no room in his thoughts for God.
- KJV The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
- ESV In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”
- NKJV The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.
- NASB The wicked, in his haughtiness, does not seek Him. There is no God in all his schemes.
- NLT The wicked are too proud to seek God. They seem to think that God is dead.
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
In his pride the wicked has no room for God in his thoughts. Practical atheism flows from arrogance.
Overview
The psalmist locates the source of evil in pride that crowds God out of one's thinking. This is not always denial of God's existence but a life lived as though He were irrelevant. Scripture calls such heart-attitude folly (Psalm 14:1), the opposite of the fear of the Lord that begins wisdom.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 27
- Ps 14:1–2For the choirmaster. Of David. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their acts are vile. There is no one who does good.
- Rom 1:28Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
- Acts 8:22Repent, therefore, of your wickedness, and pray to the Lord. Perhaps He will forgive you for the intent of your heart.
- Gen 6:5Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.
- Rom 1:21For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.
- Deut 8:14then your heart will become proud, and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- Job 22:17They said to God, ‘Depart from us. What can the Almighty do to us?’
- Exod 5:2But Pharaoh replied, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.”
- Ps 53:1For the choirmaster. According to Mahalath. A Maskil of David. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their ways are vile. There is no one who does good.
- Isa 65:2All day long I have held out My hands to an obstinate people who walk in the wrong path, who follow their own imaginations,
- Mark 7:21For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
- Prov 21:4Haughty eyes and a proud heart—the guides of the wicked—are sin.
- Prov 30:9Otherwise, I may have too much and deny You, saying, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, profaning the name of my God.
- Ps 18:27For You save an afflicted people, but You humble those with haughty eyes.
- Ps 36:1For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD. An oracle is in my heart regarding the transgression of the wicked man: There is no fear of God before his eyes.
- Prov 6:17haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
- Ps 27:8My heart said, “Seek His face.” Your face, O LORD, I will seek.
- Zeph 2:3Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth who carry out His justice. Seek righteousness; seek humility. Perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger.
- Isa 59:7Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake.
- Prov 30:13There is a generation—how haughty are their eyes and pretentious are their glances—
- Isa 3:9The expression on their faces testifies against them, and like Sodom they flaunt their sin; they do not conceal it. Woe to them, for they have brought disaster upon themselves.
- Jer 2:31You people of this generation, consider the word of the LORD: “Have I been a wilderness to Israel or a land of dense darkness? Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will come to You no more’?
- Ps 101:5Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; the one with haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not endure.
- Isa 2:11The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
- Eph 2:12remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
- Jer 4:14Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?
- Dan 5:22–23But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this.
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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 10:4 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.