Why read Psalm 10?
Psalm 10 encourages steadfastness when fear makes you want to flee. Its trust in the Lord as a refuge offers reassurance even when your sense of safety is shaken.
You can read this psalm when its themes speak to your circumstances, or as part of your regular reading of the Psalter. This explanation draws on the text itself; the psalm is not reserved for one particular need.
Psalm 10 — «In the Lord I have hoped. How can you...» — is the prayer through which the Psalmist places before God the experience of a whole hour of life. It belongs to the 2nd Kathisma and has 7 verses, which you will find below in full.
The text of Psalm 10
1. In the Lord I have hoped. How can you say to my soul: “Move to the mountains like a bird?”
2. For behold, the sinners have drawn the bow and prepared arrows in the quiver, to shoot in the darkness at the upright in heart.
3. For they have torn down what You established; but what has the righteous one done?
4. The Lord is in His holy dwelling; the Lord has His throne in heaven. His eyes look upon the poor, His eyelids examine the children of men.
5. The Lord examines the righteous and the unbeliever; His soul hates the one who loves injustice.
6. He will rain snares, fire and sulphur upon sinners; a stormy wind is the portion of their cup.
7. For the Lord is righteous and has loved righteousness, and His face looks upon the righteous.
When Psalm 10 is read
- It belongs to the 2nd Kathisma — the psalms are read in full within the cycle of kathismata, at Matins and Vespers.
- At the end of each psalm, tradition adds: «Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.».
Adjacent psalms
The numbering follows the Orthodox Psalter (Septuagint). The same psalm may have a different number in other Bible editions.
