Psalms 10:2 - Exposition

The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor . Dr. Kay translates, "Through the pride of the wicked man the poor is set on fire;" and our Revisers, "In the pride of the wicked, the poor is hotly pursued;" and so (nearly) the LXX ; the Vulgate, Aquila, Symmachus, Kohler, Hengstenberg, and others. The Authorized Version paraphrases rather than translates; but it does not misrepresent the general sense, which is a complaint that the poor are persecuted by the wicked . Let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined (comp. Psalms 35:8 , "Let his net that he hath hid catch himself;" and Psalms 141:10 , "Let the wicked fall into their own nets;" see also Psalms 7:15 , Psalms 7:16 ; Psalms 9:15 ; Proverbs 5:22 ; Proverbs 26:27 : Ecclesiastes 10:8 ). Some, however, translate, "They ( i.e. the poor) are ensnared in the devices which they ( i.e. the wicked) have imagined;" and this is certainly a possible rendering. Hengstenberg regards it as preferable to the other "on account of the parallelism and connection."