Psalms 10:15

Psa 10:15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil [man]: seek out his wickedness [till] thou find none.

Ver. 15. Break thou the arm of the wicked] That arm that hath been lifted up against the godly. See Psa 3:8; Psa 58:7.

Seek out his wickedness till thou find none] Ad alios vel inficiendos, vel infestandos, Eze 23:48. Or, leave no sin of his unpunished. The Franciscans, to prove that Francis, the founder of their order, was without sin, foolishly allege this text, Quaeretur peccatum illius et non invenietur; wherein (according to the sense of the psalmist) what do they else but wish that God would trace him quite through the course and trade of his iniquities, even to the uttermost end of them, and punish him accordingly; which is done, no doubt, long since.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 10:15. Break thou the arm of the wicked — That is, their strength, the instrument of their violence and cruelty. Deprive them of all power to do mischief. Seek out his wickedness — Search for it, and punish these wicked atheists; till thou find none — Till no such wickedness be left in the world, or at least, in the church. “This,” says Dr. Horne, “may be either a prayer or a prediction, implying that the time will come when the power of Jehovah will dash in pieces that of the enemy, by the demolition either of sin or the sinner, until wickedness be come utterly to an end, and righteousness be established for ever in the kingdom of Messiah.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10:15 The psalmist strongly invokes a curse as he prays (see “Prayers for Vengeance” Theme Note). • Arms represent an ability to wage war (18:34; 44:3).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

For thou hast utterly destroyed him.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

arm--power.

till thou find none--So far from not requiting (Psa 10:11, Psa 10:13), God will utterly destroy the wicked and his deeds (Psa 9:5-6; Psa 34:16; Psa 37:36).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 15. Break thou the arm] Destroy his power, deprive him of his influence, that he may be no longer able to oppress.

Seek out his wickedness till thou find none.] All his public haunts and private ways shall be investigated; thou wilt bring all his villanies to light, and continue to inflict punishment, while there is a crime to punish. Or, "Continue to judge and punish transgressors, till not one is to be found." This agrees with the following verse.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. Break thou the arm. This form of expression just means breaking the power of the wicked. And it is not simply a prayer; it may also be regarded as a prophecy. As the ungovernable fury of our enemies very often makes us lose courage, as if there were no means by which it could be restrained, David, in order to support his faith, and preserve it from failing through the fears which presented themselves, sets before himself the consideration, that whenever it shall please God to break the power of the ungodly, he will bring to nothing both themselves and all their schemes. To make the meaning the more evident, the sentence may be explained in this way, — Lord, as soon as it shall seem good to thee to break the arm of the wicked, thou wilt destroy him in a moment, and bring to nought his powerful and violent efforts in the work of doing mischief. David, indeed, beseeches God to hasten his assistance and his vengeance; but, in the meantime, while these are withheld, he sustains himself by the consolatory reflection, that the ungodly cannot break forth into violence and mischief except in so far as God permits them; since it is in his power, whenever he ascends into the judgment-seat, to destroy them even with his look alone. And certainly, as the rising sun dissipates the clouds and vapours by his heat, and clears up the dark air, so God, when he stretches forth his hand to execute the office of a Judge, restores to tranquillity and order all the troubles and confusions of the world. The Psalmist calls the person of whom he speaks not only wicked, but the wicked and the evil man, and he does so, in my judgment, for the purpose of setting forth in a stronger light the greatness of the wickedness of the character which he describes. His words are as if he had said, Wicked men may even be frantic in their malice and impiety; but God can promptly and effectually remedy this evil whenever he pleases.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(15) Seek out.—The meaning of the verse is clear, from Psa_37:36, and Isa_41:12, where we see that to seek and not find was a proverb expressing “riddance of evil;” but the construction is difficult. The first clause should end at “wicked,” the words “and the evil” being absolute; and the verbs, which are in form either second or third person, should be taken in the second. Translate, and as for the evil man, thou shalt look for his wickedness, and not find it (thou=anybody, which preserves the proverbial tone. So the LXX., “his sin shall be sought, and not be found “).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. Break &c.] Paralyse his power to do mischief. Cp. Psa_37:17; Job_38:15.

of the wicked and the evil man] So the ancient versions, taking the most obvious division of the words. R.V. follows the accentuation of the Hebrew text in rendering, and as for the evil man, seek out &c.

seek out &c.] Lit. when thou requirest his wickedness, thou shall not find. The word is the same as that used in Psa_9:12 and in Psa_10:4; Psa_10:13. The Psalmist looks forward to a time when the wicked will be powerless to do harm. When God ‘makes inquisition’ and holds His assize, He will find no crime to punish, cp. Psa_17:3. There may be an allusion to the proverbial phrase ‘to seek and not find,’ used in reference to what has utterly disappeared (Psa_37:36), but a special word for ‘seek’ is chosen for the sake of the allusion indicated.

15, 16. Stanza of Shin. Prayer for the extermination of evil, based on the facts of faith and history.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man,.... His power and strength, so that he shall not be able to hold the sword, to strike a blow, or do any hurt to the people of God; see Eze 30:21. This prayer is in some measure already fulfilled in antichrist, the man of sin, or pope of Rome; though his kingdom is not broke to pieces; as it will be when Christ's kingdom shall be more visibly set up, to which reference is had in Psa 10:16; see Dan 2:44; yet his strength is weakened, his arm is broken, he has not the power he had, nor can he tyrannise and do the mischief he once did: "but as for the evil man" (m), for so the words should be read, there being an "athnach" under the word "wicked", which ends the proposition there:

seek out his wickedness till thou find none; which designs a thorough search after sin, full punishment of it, and the entire ruin and destruction of the wicked; and the sense is, that God would make a strict inquiry into the wickedness of the man of sin, which he promised himself he would not, Psa 10:13; and that he would punish him and his followers to the uttermost for it, until there should not be one of the antichristian party found upon earth; with which sense agrees Psa 10:16; see Psa 104:35.

(m) "improbum quod attinet, requiras", &c. Gejerus; so Michaelis.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Break thou the arm of the wicked - The arm is the instrument by which we effect a purpose, and especially in wielding a sword or a spear, as in battle; and if the arm is broken, we are powerless. The psalmist, therefore, prays that God would render the wicked, in this respect, powerless.

And the evil man - Of all the evil, or the wicked. In regard to the prayer here, see the note at Psa 5:10.

Seek out his wickedness until thou find none - Until it is all punished; until there has been a full recompense. This is a wish that no wicked act of his should be forgotten; that exact justice should be rendered. If it is right to punish the wicked at all, it is right to deal with them just as they deserve; if any wickedness may properly be punished, all may be; and, whatever may occur, the sinner may be assured that he will not be punished merely for a part of his sins. If God punishes the wicked at all, there will be nothing left unpunished.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Break thou; or, Thou wilt break. For it may be either a prayer or a prophecy.

The arm, i.e. his strength, the instrument of violence and mischief.

Seek out his wickedness; search for it so strictly, and punish these wicked atheists so severely.

Till thou find none, i.e. no such wickedness, to wit, undiscovered and unpunished, or indeed left in the world, or at least in the church; which might happen, because those wicked men here spoken of should be generally either convinced or rooted out, and the rest should be warned and reformed by their example, and so this lewdness should cease out of the land, as the phrase is, Eze 23:48. That is said to be sought for, and not found, which is utterly lost, as Job 20:7,8; Psa 37:36; Rev 16:20; 18:21. And this phrase is used both of good men, whose sins are taken away by God’s grace and mercy, pardoning and purging them away, and of wicked men in the sense above mentioned.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. Seek out—Thou wilt seek out. This stands opposed to the doctrine of the wicked in Psa_10:13, where, using the same word, they say: “God will not require, or seek out,” the sin, to punish it.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Seek - Search for it, and punish these wicked atheists. 'Till - No such wickedness be left in the world, or at least in the church.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The desire for Jahve's interposition now rises again with fresh earnestness. It is a mistake to regard דּרשׁ and מצא as correlative notions. In the phrase to seek and not find, when used of that which has totally disappeared, we never have דּרשׁ, but always בּקּשׁ, Psa 37:36; Isa 41:12; Jer 50:20, and frequently. The verb דּרשׁ signifies here exactly the same as in Psa 10:4, Psa 10:13, and Psa 9:13 : "and the wicked (nom. absol. as in Psa 10:4) - mayst Thou punish his wickedness, mayst Thou find nothing more of it." It is not without a meaning that, instead of the form of expression usual elsewhere (Psa 37:36; Job 20:8), the address to Jahve is retained: that which is no longer visible to the eye of God, not merely of man, has absolutely vanished out of existence. This absolute conquest of evil is to be as surely looked for, as that Jahve's universal kingship, which has been an element of the creed of God's people ever since the call and redemption of Israel (Exo 15:18), cannot remain without being perfectly and visibly realised. His absolute and eternal kingship must at length be realised, even in all the universality and endless duration foretold in Zac 14:9; Dan 7:14, Rev 11:15. Losing himself in the contemplation of this kingship, and beholding the kingdom of God, the kingdom of good, as realised, the psalmist's vision stretches beyond the foes of the church at home to its foes in general; and, inasmuch as the heathen in Israel and the heathen world outside of Israel are blended together into one to his mind, he comprehends them all in the collective name of גּוים, and sees the land of Jahve (Lev 25:23), the holy land, purified of all oppressors hostile to the church and its God. It is the same that is foretold by Isaiah (Isa 52:1), Nahum (Nah 2:1), and in other passages, which, by the anticipation of faith, here stands before the mind of the suppliant as an accomplished fact - viz. the consummation of the judgment, which has been celebrated in the hymnic half (Ps 9) of this double Psalm as a judgment already executed in part.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

15. Break thou the arm, destroy the power, of the wicked, and the bad (man), or as to the bad man, thou wilt seek for his wickedness (and) not find it. This may either mean, thou wilt utterly destroy him and his wickedness, so that when sought for it cannot be found (Psa 37:36), or thou wilt judicially investigate his guilt, and punish it till nothing more is left to punish. The Hebrew verb (wrd) has then the same sense as in ver. Psa 10:4; Psa 10:13, above, and there is a direct allusion to the sinner's boast that God will not inquire into men's acts or require an account of them. There may be a latent irony or sarcasm, as if he had said, Thou wilt find nothing, as he boasts, but in a very different sense; not because there is nothing worthy of punishment, but because there will be nothing left unpunished.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Break the arm of the wicked and evil man

Here "arm" represents power. AT: "Destroy the power of the wicked and evil man" or "Make the wicked and evil man weak" (See: Metonymy)

wicked and evil

These words have the same meaning. You can use one word to express both concepts. (See: Doublet)

Make him account for his evil deeds

Making someone account for his evil deeds represents punishing him. AT: "Punish him for the evil things he has done" (See: Metonymy)

the nations are driven out of his land

This can be stated in active form. "Yahweh forces the people of other nations to leave his land" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

works

king

nation

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Break the arm of the wicked Esau.

but as for the evil one—You will seek his wickedness and not find [it] As for the wicked of Israel, when they see the wicked [of the nations] prospering, their heart inspires them to deal wickedly, but when You break the arm of the wicked, if You were to come [then] to seek the wickedness of the wicked of Israel, You would not find it.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Break Thou the arm of the wicked: – Break his arm and his strength.

And as for the evil man, do Thou seek out his wickedness and Thou shalt find none: – When he says Thou wilt not require, as he said above (13), shew him that Thou dost require; and if Thou doest so, Thou shalt not find wickedness in the earth, for if Thou shouldest break his arm, then those who remain will hear and fear. And רשע and רע (wickedness and evil) are synonyms (lit., is a double word).

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.