Psalms 73:10 Meaning: When Good People Follow the Wicked
Therefore their people return to them, and they drink up waters of abundance.
Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.
Therefore his people return hither: And waters of a fullcupare drained by them.
Therefore do His people return hither, And waters of fulness are wrung out to them.
Therefore his people turn hither, and waters in fulness are wrung out to them.
Meaning in one sentence
Why does Psalm 73:10 say 'his people return to them'? Understand this difficult verse about the wicked's prosperity and the psalmist's crisis of faith.
Context
Psalm 73 opens with a firm statement, God is good to Israel, but the psalmist Asaph immediately admits he nearly stumbled. He watched the wicked thrive: they were healthy, proud, violent, and arrogant. They seemed to get away with everything while the righteous suffered. Verse 10 sits right in the middle of this complaint. It describes people turning toward the prosperous wicked and drinking deeply of what they have. The verse is famously hard to translate, and scholars still disagree about who exactly these people are. But the psalmist's struggle is one every believer knows: what do we do when wrongdoers seem to have everything, and following God seems to cost us everything?
Key Words
The word for 'return' here is shuv, a Hebrew word that can mean turning back physically, or turning away from God in apostasy. It is the same word used when Israel turned to worship idols. So when people 'return' to the wicked, it may describe more than walking in their direction. It suggests a pull on the heart, a drift from faithfulness because success looks so attractive.
'Waters of abundance' uses mayim, the ordinary word for water. But in the Psalms, water often carries a double edge. It can mean refreshment, God leading you beside still waters. Or it can mean overwhelming trouble, deep waters that drown you. Here, the context leans toward the second. These waters look good, but they are not from God's hand. They are a cup the wicked drink, and their followers drink too, without knowing what is in the cup.
The verb 'drained' (matsah) means to suck out, to drink greedily until the cup is empty. Think of someone drinking poison as if it were life. That is what the psalmist sees: people eagerly swallowing the lifestyle of the wicked, mistaking indulgence for blessing.
How Christians Read This Verse
Christians across the centuries have read this verse differently. Some see it as describing God's own people being drawn into the wicked's orbit. Matthew Henry and others worry that sincere believers, confused by suffering, might start questioning God's goodness. Others, like Gill, suggest these are only professing believers, hypocrites who fall away when they see which way the wind blows.
The Cambridge Bible suggests the verse shows the wicked's popularity. Their success attracts a crowd of imitators who drink up their sinful pleasures. Barnes takes a different angle: 'his people' are the pious, who keep returning to this painful question, unable to solve it, and their confusion becomes a bitter cup they must drink to the dregs. All these readings agree on one thing, the psalmist is describing a temptation, not a truth to rest in.
A common misunderstanding
A common mistake is reading this verse as a statement of fact, that God's people should return to the wicked and drink their abundance. In fact, the verse describes the psalmist's temptation. He is reporting what he observed: people drawn to the prosperity of wrongdoers. The whole psalm is a confession that this observation nearly caused him to stumble. The true resolution comes in verse 17, when he enters God's sanctuary and sees the wicked's end.
Living This Out
This week you will probably see someone you know cut a corner and get ahead. You will watch a colleague take credit for your work, or a family member who ignores God seem perfectly happy. Before you act on that frustration, do what the psalmist did, name the temptation out loud. Say to God, 'This looks good to me right now, and I am struggling.' That honesty is not a lack of faith. It is the first step toward the sanctuary.
Main takeaway: The success of the wicked can pull at our faith, but it is a pull we must bring to God, not a truth we must accept.
For Families
For ages 5, 8
Sometimes it looks like the people who do wrong things have more fun and more toys. That can make you want to follow them. But God sees the whole story, not just what we see now.
For ages 9, 12
The psalmist almost gave up on God because he saw bad people getting everything they wanted. He felt like following God was pointless because it was so hard. But he did something smart, he took his frustration to God instead of walking away. When you see cheaters win or mean kids get popular, you can do the same. Tell God exactly how you feel. He can handle your honest questions.
Questions People Ask
Who are 'his people' in Psalm 73:10?
Commentators disagree. Some say it refers to God's own people being tempted to follow the wicked. Others say it describes the followers of the wicked themselves, who flock to them because of their prosperity. A third view says it is the psalmist speaking about his own people, the Israelites, who are confused by what they see.
What does 'waters of abundance' mean in this verse?
It is a metaphor for enjoying the prosperity and pleasures of the wicked. The image is of drinking deeply from a cup. Some commentators see it as literal abundance that attracts people. Others see it as a bitter cup, like drinking poison, because the enjoyment comes at a spiritual cost.
Why is Psalm 73:10 so hard to translate?
The Hebrew grammar is unusually ambiguous. The pronoun 'his' could refer to God or to the wicked. The word for 'people' could mean God's people or the wicked's followers. The verb 'return' can mean physical movement or spiritual turning. Ancient translations also differ, the Septuagint reads 'my people' while the Hebrew text reads 'his people.'
Is Psalm 73:10 teaching that God blesses the wicked?
No. The verse is describing what the psalmist observed, not what God ordains. The whole psalm is about the temptation to believe that the wicked are blessed. By verse 17, the psalmist gains perspective: he sees that their prosperity is temporary and that their end is destruction.
For pastors & researchers
Hebrew interlinear, 8 commentaries & word study