What does Psalms Chapter 10 say, and which statements belong to its speaker?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The speaker challenges advice to go to the mountain like a sparrow. He describes bows in darkness and speaks of the Lord’s temple, throne and examination. He speaks of snares, fire, brimstone and winds and the Lord’s love of justice.

Chapter breakdown

The Latin incipit is In Domino confido. The separate heading describes the just man's confidence amid persecution; the inscription is unto the end, a psalm to David. The speaker trusts in the Lord and questions advice to his soul to go to a mountain like a sparrow. He says wicked men bent a bow and readied arrows in the quiver to shoot the upright in darkness. They destroyed what was made, and he asks what the just man has done, not what he can accomplish.

In the psalmist’s speech, he says the Lord is in His holy temple with His throne in heaven, eyes looking on the poor and eyelids examining the sons of men. The Lord tries just and wicked, but one loving iniquity hates his soul. He speaks of snares rained on sinners and fire, brimstone and storms of wind as their cup's portion, concluding that the Lord is just, loves justice and has beheld righteousness. Neither the advisers' motives nor a specific leader's post, actual escape route or subsequent safety is stated.

The story inside

Opening: The speaker challenges advice to go to the mountain like a sparrow. Development: He describes bows in darkness and speaks of the Lord’s temple, throne and examination. Conclusion: He speaks of snares, fire, brimstone and winds and the Lord’s love of justice.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The speaker challenges advice to go to the mountain like a sparrow.
2
He describes bows in darkness and speaks of the Lord’s temple, throne and examination.
3
He speaks of snares, fire, brimstone and winds and the Lord’s love of justice.

Test your recall

Which images and requests does the speaker use, and what does the chapter leave unresolved?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 58307–58311
10:2. In the Lord I put my trust: how then do you say to my soul: Get thee away from hence to the mountain, like a sparrow. 10:3. For, lo, the wicked have bent their bow: they have prepared their arrows in the quiver, to shoot in the dark the upright of heart.
Lines 58316–58320
10:5. The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven. His eyes look on the poor man: his eyelids examine the sons of men. 10:6. The Lord trieth the just and the wicked: but he that loveth iniquity, hateth his own soul.
Lines 58322–58326
10:7. He shall rain snares upon sinners: fire and brimstone, and storms of winds, shall be the portion of their cup. 10:8. For the Lord is just, and hath loved justice: his countenance hath beheld righteousness.