Bible Strands
Psalms 10:2
In pride the wicked pursue the needy; let them be caught in the schemes they devise.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses YHWH in a lament, naming the wicked's behavior as the reason for his cry in v. 1. He is a righteous observer who sees the poor being hunted and demands that God act.
The words — יִדְלַק (yid.lak, H1814) is literally "he burns" or "he is kindled," conveying a hot, aggressive pursuit rather than a casual one. מְזִמּוֹת (m.zi.Mot, H4209) means "schemes" or "plots," the same word used for the conspiracy against Joseph (Genesis 37:20) and against Jesus (Matthew 12:14).
The thread — The motif of the wicked being caught in their own devices recurs in Psalms 7:16 and 59:12, and the threat of the proud's foot against the righteous appears in Psalms 36:11. The pattern is consistent: deliberate plotting meets its own consequence.
Why it lands — The verse refuses to let the reader treat the suffering of the poor as an accident or a natural outcome; it names the act as plotted and hot, and it demands that the reader take the same stance as the psalmist — to see it and to call for justice.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
Cross-references
- Psalms 59:12 By 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.
- Psalms 36:11 Let not the foot of the proud come against me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
- Psalms 7:16 His trouble recoils on himself, and his violence falls on his own head.
- Proverbs 5:22 The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.
- Psalms 31:18 May lying lips be silenced—lips that speak with arrogance against the righteous, full of pride and contempt.
- Psalms 119:122 Ensure Your servant’s well-being; do not let the arrogant oppress me.
- Psalms 140:5 The proud hide a snare for me; the cords of their net are spread along the path, and lures are set out for me. Selah
- Isaiah 10:12 So 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.
- Psalms 119:69 Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep Your precepts with all my heart.
- Psalms 119:85 The arrogant have dug pits for me in violation of Your law.