Lectionary Calendar
Tuesday, July 15th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Read the Bible

Good News Translation

Psalms 10:10

The helpless victims lie crushed; brute strength has defeated them.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Malice;   Poor;   Wicked (People);   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Murder;  

Dictionaries:

- Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Acrostic;   English Versions;   Greek Versions of Ot;   Meekness;   Psalms;   Sin;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Psalms the book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Humility;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
So he is oppressed and beaten down;helpless people fall because of the wicked one’s strength.
Hebrew Names Version
The helpless are crushed, they collapse, They fall under his strength.
King James Version
He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.
English Standard Version
The helpless are crushed, sink down, and fall by his might.
New Century Version
The poor are thrown down and crushed; they are defeated because the others are stronger.
New English Translation
His victims are crushed and beaten down; they are trapped in his sturdy nets.
Amplified Bible
He crushes [his prey] and crouches; And the unfortunate fall by his mighty claws.
New American Standard Bible
Then he crushes the needy one, who cowers; And unfortunate people fall by his mighty power.
World English Bible
The helpless are crushed, they collapse, They fall under his strength.
Geneva Bible (1587)
He croucheth and boweth: therefore heaps of the poore doe fall by his might.
Legacy Standard Bible
He crouches, he bows down,And the unfortunate fall by his mighty ones.
Berean Standard Bible
They are crushed and beaten down; the hapless fall prey to his strength.
Contemporary English Version
They crouch down and wait to grab a victim.
Complete Jewish Bible
Yes, he stoops, crouches down low; and the helpless wretch falls into his clutches.
Darby Translation
He croucheth, he boweth down, that the wretched may fall by his strong ones.
Easy-to-Read Version
Again and again they hurt people who are already weak and suffering.
George Lamsa Translation
He shall be humbled and overthrown, and in his bones there shall be sickness and pain.
Lexham English Bible
He is crushed; he is bowed down; so the helpless host falls by his might.
Literal Translation
and the poor being crushed, he bows; yea, the poor have fallen by his strong ones.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then smyteth he, then oppresseth he & casteth downe the poore with his auctorite.
American Standard Version
He croucheth, he boweth down, And the helpless fall by his strong ones.
Bible in Basic English
The upright are crushed and made low, and the feeble are overcome by his strong ones.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
He croucheth, he boweth down, and the helpless fall into his mighty claws.
King James Version (1611)
He croucheth, and humbleth himselfe, that the poore may fall by his strong ones.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
He croucheth and humbleth him selfe: so that a number of the that be weake, fall by his myght.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
He will bow down and fall when he has mastered the poor.
English Revised Version
He croucheth, he boweth down, and the helpless fall by his strong ones.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
In his snare he schal make meke the pore man; he schal bowe hym silf, and schal falle doun, whanne he hath be lord of pore men.
Update Bible Version
He crouches, he bows down, And the helpless fall by his strong ones.
Webster's Bible Translation
He croucheth, [and] humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.
New King James Version
So he crouches, he lies low, That the helpless may fall by his strength.
New Living Translation
Their helpless victims are crushed; they fall beneath the strength of the wicked.
New Life Bible
The weak are hurt and they fall. They cannot stand under his strength.
New Revised Standard
They stoop, they crouch, and the helpless fall by their might.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
He croucheth, he lieth down, then falleth he with his strong claws upon the unfortunate.
Douay-Rheims Bible
(9-31) In his net he will bring him down, he will crouch and fall, when he shall have power over the poor.
Revised Standard Version
The hapless is crushed, sinks down, and falls by his might.
Young's Literal Translation
He is bruised -- he boweth down, Fallen by his mighty ones hath the afflicted.
THE MESSAGE
The hapless fool is kicked to the ground, the unlucky victim is brutally axed. He thinks God has dumped him, he's sure that God is indifferent to his plight.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
He crouches, he bows down, And the unfortunate fall by his mighty ones.

Contextual Overview

1 Why are you so far away, O Lord ? Why do you hide yourself when we are in trouble? 2 The wicked are proud and persecute the poor; catch them in the traps they have made. 3 The wicked are proud of their evil desires; the greedy curse and reject the Lord . 4 The wicked do not care about the Lord ; in their pride they think that God doesn't matter. 5 The wicked succeed in everything. They cannot understand God's judgments; they sneer at their enemies. 6 They say to themselves, "We will never fail; we will never be in trouble." 7 Their speech is filled with curses, lies, and threats; they are quick to speak hateful, evil words. 8 They hide themselves in the villages, waiting to murder innocent people. They spy on their helpless victims; 9 they wait in their hiding place like lions. They lie in wait for the poor; they catch them in their traps and drag them away. 10 The helpless victims lie crushed; brute strength has defeated them.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

croucheth: Heb. breaketh himself, 1 Samuel 2:36

humbleth: 1 Samuel 18:21-26, 1 Samuel 23:21, 1 Samuel 23:22, 2 Samuel 15:5

by his strong ones: Heb. or, into his strong parts

Reciprocal: Psalms 59:3 - they Psalms 73:8 - speak wickedly Ecclesiastes 4:1 - and considered Jeremiah 5:26 - lay wait Matthew 2:7 - General James 2:6 - Do

Cross-References

Genesis 11:2
As they wandered about in the East, they came to a plain in Babylonia and settled there.
Genesis 11:9
The city was called Babylon, because there the Lord mixed up the language of all the people, and from there he scattered them all over the earth.
Genesis 14:1
Four kings, Amraphel of Babylonia, Arioch of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer of Elam, and Tidal of Goiim,
Isaiah 10:9
I conquered the cities of Calno and Carchemish, the cities of Hamath and Arpad. I conquered Samaria and Damascus.
Isaiah 11:11
When that day comes, the Lord will once again use his power and bring back home those of his people who are left in Assyria and Egypt, in the lands of Pathros, Ethiopia, Elam, Babylonia, and Hamath, and in the coastlands and on the islands of the sea.
Isaiah 39:1
About that same time the king of Babylonia, Merodach Baladan, son of Baladan, heard that King Hezekiah had been sick, so he sent him a letter and a present.
Jeremiah 50:21
The Lord says, "Attack the people of Merathaim and of Pekod. Kill and destroy them. Do everything I command you. I, the Lord , have spoken.
Daniel 1:2
The Lord let him capture King Jehoiakim and seize some of the Temple treasures. He took some prisoners back with him to the temple of his gods in Babylon, and put the captured treasures in the temple storerooms.
Amos 6:2
Go and look at the city of Calneh. Then go on to the great city of Hamath and on down to the Philistine city of Gath. Were they any better than the kingdoms of Judah and Israel? Was their territory larger than yours?
Micah 4:10
Twist and groan, people of Jerusalem, like a woman giving birth, for now you will have to leave the city and live in the open country. You will have to go to Babylon, but there the Lord will save you from your enemies.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

He croucheth [and] humbleth himself,.... As the lion before he leaps and seizes on his prey, and as the fowler creepeth upon the ground to draw the bird into his net and catch it; so the antichristian beast has two horns like a lamb; though he has the mouth of a lion, and speaks like a dragon, he would be thought to be like the Lamb of God, meek, and lowly, and humble, and therefore calls himself "servus servorum", "the servant of servants"; but his end is,

that the poor may fall by his strong ones; the word for "poor" is here used, as before observed on Psalms 10:8, in the plural number, and is read by the Masorites as two words, though it is written as one, and is by them and other Jewish writers h interpreted a multitude, company, or army of poor ones, whose strength is worn out; these weak and feeble ones antichrist causes to fall by his strong ones; either by his strong decrees, cruel edicts, and severe punishments, as by sword, by flame, by captivity and by spoils, Daniel 11:33; or by the kings of the earth and their armies, their mighty men of war, their soldiers, whom he instigates and influences to persecute their subjects, who will not receive his mark in their right hands or foreheads, Revelation 13:15. It is very observable, that those persecuted by antichrist are so often in this prophetic psalm called "poor"; and it is also remarkable, that there were a set of men in the darkest times of Popery, and who were persecuted by the Papists, called the "poor" men of Lyons: the whole verse may be rendered and paraphrased thus, "he tears in pieces", that is, the poor, whom he catches in his net; "he boweth himself", as the lion does, as before observed; "that he may fall", or rush upon; with his strong ones, his mighty armies, "upon the multitude of the poor".

h Jarchi, Kimchi, & Ben Melech in loc.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He croucheth - Margin, “breaketh himself.” Coverdale, “Then smiteth he, then oppresseth he.” Prof. Alexander, “And bruised he will sink.” Horsley, “And the overpowered man submits.” Luther, “He slays, and thrusts down, and presses to the earth the poor with power.” This variety of interpretation arises from some ambiguity in regard to the meaning of the original. The word rendered “croucheth” - ודכה, in the Kethib (the text) - is in the Qeri’ (margin), ידכה, “and crushed, he sinks down.” There is some uncertainty about the form in which the word is used, but it is certain that it does not mean, as in our translation, “he croucheth.” The word דכה dâkâh, properly means to be broken in pieces, to be crushed; and this idea runs through all the forms in which the word occurs. The true idea, it seems to me, is that this does not refer to the wicked man, but to his victim or victims, represented here by a word in the collective singular; and the meaning is that such a victim, crushed and broken down, sinks under the power of the persecutor and oppressor. “And the crushed one sinks down.”

And humbleth himself - The word used here - ישׁח yāśoch - from שׁוּח śûch - means to sink down; to settle down. Here it means to sink down as one does who is overcome or oppressed, or who is smitten to the earth. The idea is, that he is crushed or smitten by the wicked, and sinks to the ground.

That the poor may fall - Rather, as in the original, “and the poor fall;” that is, they do fall. The idea is, that they do in fact fall by the arm of the persecutor and oppressor who treads them down.

By his strong ones - Margin, “Or, into his strong parts.” The text here best expresses the sense. The reference is to the strong ones - the followers and abettors of the “wicked” here referred to - his train of followers. The allusion seems to be to this wicked man represented as the head or leader of a band of robbers or outlaws - strong, athletic men engaged under him in committing robbery on the unprotected. See Psalms 10:8-9. Under these strong men the poor and the unprotected fall, and are crushed to the earth. The meaning of the whole verse, therefore, may be thus expressed: “And the crushed one sinks down, and the poor fall under his mighty ones.” The word rendered “poor” is in the plural, while the verb “fall” is in the singular; but this construction is not uncommon when the verb precedes. Nordheimer, Hebrew Grammar, Section 759, i., a. The word rendered “poor” means the wretched or the afflicted, and refers here to those who were unprotected - the victims of oppression and robbery.

The following account of the condition of Palestine at the present time will illustrate the passage here, and show how true the statements of the psalmist are to nature. It occurs in “The land and the Book,” by W. M. Thomson, D. D., Missionary in Syria. He is speaking of the sandy beach, or the sand hills, in the neighborhood of Mount Carmel, and says, respecting these “sandy downs, with feathery reeds, running far inland, the chosen retreat of wild boars and wild Arabs,” “The Arab robber larks like a wolf among these sand heaps, and often springs out suddenly upon the solitary traveler, robs him in a trice, and then plunges again into the wilderness of sand hills and reedy downs, where pursuit is fruitless. Our friends are careful not to allow us to straggle about or lag behind, and yet it seems absurd to fear a surprise here - Khaifa before, and Acre in the rear, and travelers in sight on both sides. Robberies, however, do often occur, just where we now are. Strange country! and it has always been so.” And then quoting the passage before us Psalms 10:8-10, he adds, “A thousand rascals, the living originals of this picture, are this day crouching and lying in wait all over the country to catch poor helpless travelers. You observe that all these people we meet or pass are armed; nor would they venture to go from Acre to Khaifa without their musket, although the cannon of the castles seem to command every foot of the way.” Vol. i., pp. 487, 488.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 10:10. He croucheth — Of the scoffing, mocking, insulting, and insidious conduct of Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, the fourth and sixth chapters of Nehemiah give abundant proof; and possibly the allusion is to them. The lion squats down and gathers himself together, that he may make the greater spring.


 
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