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Psalm 10:1

Why do you stand far off, LORD? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

1Why do you stand far off, LORD? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak. They are caught in the schemes that they devise.
3For the wicked boasts of his heart’s cravings. He blesses the greedy and condemns the LORD.
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Psalm 10:2 →
Notice

The repeated “Why” names the distress of trouble compounded by God’s apparent distance, while the next lines describe the wicked hunting down the weak.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What trouble, if any, makes the words “stand far off” fit your prayer today?

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What would you want to say to God after asking these two questions?

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How does the next verse’s picture of the weak being hunted shape your reading of this cry?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 22:1For the Chief Musician; set to “The Doe of the Morning.” A Psalm by David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and …Both prayers ask why God seems far away when the speaker needs help.
Psalm 27:9Don’t hide your face from me. Don’t put your servant away in anger. You have been my help. Don’t abandon me, neither forsake me, God of my salvation.Both address God over his hiddenness: Psalm 10 asks why he hides, while Psalm 27 pleads that he will not.
Psalm 13:1–3For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?Both question God’s hiddenness; Psalm 10 asks why, while Psalm 13 asks how long.
Psalm 27:5For in the day of trouble, he will keep me secretly in his pavilion. In the secret place of his tabernacle, he will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock.Both speak of trouble and hiding: Psalm 10 questions God’s concealment, while Psalm 27 trusts God to conceal the speaker in safety.
Job 23:8“If I go east, he is not there. If I go west, I can’t find him.Both describe the distress of God seeming out of reach, through distance in the psalm and a fruitless search in Job.
Job 13:24Why do you hide your face, and consider me your enemy?Both ask God why he hides; Job’s question adds the fear of being treated as an enemy.
Jeremiah 14:8You hope of Israel, its Savior in the time of trouble, why should you be as a foreigner in the land, and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to stay for a night?Both address God in trouble and question his apparent distance; Jeremiah compares Israel’s Savior to a stranger passing through.
Job 34:29When he gives quietness, who then can condemn? When he hides his face, who then can see him? He is over a nation or a man alike,Both speak of God hiding himself; Psalm 10 protests his distance, while Job 34 describes human inability to see him.
Proverbs 15:29The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.Both speak of the LORD being far away, though Proverbs distinguishes the wicked from the righteous whose prayers he hears.
Job 23:9He works to the north, but I can’t see him. He turns south, but I can’t catch a glimpse of him.Both describe God as unseen: the psalm asks why he hides, while Job speaks of God working beyond his sight.
Isaiah 64:12Will you hold yourself back for these things, LORD? Will you keep silent and punish us very severely?Both direct urgent questions to the LORD about his apparent withholding of help amid suffering.
Ezekiel 39:23The nations will know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they trespassed against me, and I hid my face from them; so I …Both speak of God hiding himself; Ezekiel names Israel’s trespass as the cause, while Psalm 10:1 leaves its question unanswered.
Where this verse fits

Feeling distant from God. injustice and anger. doubt.

What the Bible says about doubt →What the Bible says about anger →What the Bible says about doubt →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Pray Psalm 10:1 aloud with one trouble in mind

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Encouragement

An unanswered question can still be addressed to YHWH. Here, the speaker asks why God seems hidden, and Scripture preserves that cry without resolving it in this verse.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 10:1. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 10 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).