He lies in wait near the villages; in ambush he slays the innocent; his eyes watch in stealth for the helpless.
Parallel translations
- WEB He lies in wait near the villages. From ambushes, he murders the innocent. His eyes are secretly set against the helpless.
- KJV He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.
- NKJV He sits in the lurking places of the villages; In the secret places he murders the innocent; His eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless.
- NASB He sits in the lurking places of the villages; He kills the innocent in the secret places; His eyes surreptitiously watch for the unfortunate.
- NLT They lurk in ambush in the villages, waiting to murder innocent people. They are always searching for helpless victims.
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
He lies in ambush to murder the innocent, watching secretly for the helpless. The wicked plots calculated harm against the defenseless.
Overview
Like a predator, the wicked man lurks to attack the innocent and vulnerable. The imagery of hidden ambush conveys premeditated cruelty toward those least able to defend themselves. Such oppression of the helpless is precisely what stirs God's compassion and judgment in the verses that follow.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Hab 3:14With his own spear You pierced his head, when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as though ready to secretly devour the weak.
- Jer 22:17“But your eyes and heart are set on nothing except your own dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood, on practicing extortion and oppression.”
- 1 Sam 22:18So the king ordered Doeg, “You turn and strike down the priests!” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests himself. On that day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod.
- Ps 17:11They have tracked us down, and now surround us; their eyes are set to cast us to the ground,
- Ps 94:6They kill the widow and the foreigner; they murder the fatherless.
- 2 Kgs 21:16Moreover, Manasseh shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end, in addition to the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, doing evil in the sight of the LORD.
- Prov 1:11–12If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,
- Luke 8:1Soon afterward, Jesus traveled from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with Him,
- Prov 6:12–13A worthless person, a wicked man, walks with a perverse mouth,
- 1 Sam 23:23Observe and find out all the places where he hides. Then come back to me with certainty, and I will go with you. If he is in the land, I will search him out among all the clans of Judah.”
- Luke 10:1After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of Him to every town and place He was about to visit.
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 10:8 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.