Psalm 62:10 warns you not to put your trust in oppression or in stolen gain, and not to fix your heart on wealth even when it grows. The verse teaches that money and power are unreliable foundations, so your security must rest somewhere else. King David wrote this psalm, and he spoke it to himself and to the people of Israel who lived among rulers and wealthy neighbors who used their position to take what did not belong to them.
Don’t trust in oppression. Don’t become vain in robbery. If riches increase, don’t set your heart on them.
Psalm 62:10 (WEB)
What Psalm 62:10 Means
The verse begins with a warning against trusting in oppression. The word points to gains won by crushing others, whether through unfair taxes, forced labor, or cheating the poor in court. David says that anyone who builds their hopes on such profit is leaning on something that will give way. The second line widens the warning to robbery, and it calls the pursuit of such gain empty, because it looks like progress but leaves a person hollow.
The final line shifts from getting to keeping. When wealth increases, the danger is not only in getting it but in letting your heart cling to it. The verse does not say that money is evil or that having it is sinful. It says that your heart should not be set on riches, which means you should not treat them as your source of safety, identity, or happiness. The verse makes no promise that honest people will become rich, and it does not say that wealth always signals God’s blessing. It describes what happens to the heart when money becomes the center of life.
The Context of Psalm 62:10
Psalm 62 belongs to the Psalms, the collection of Hebrew songs and prayers that Israel used in worship. Its opening lines are traditionally attributed to David, and its tone is one of quiet confidence in God as a refuge. The psalm is addressed to the worshiper and to the wider community, and it moves between trust in God and warnings about the people who lean on power and gain.
Just before verse 10, David says that men of high and low standing alike are only a breath, and that in the scales they weigh less than a breath. That image strips away any reason to envy the powerful or to admire the rich, since both are fragile. Verse 10 follows naturally from this, because if human status is so light, then chasing oppressive profit or fixing the heart on riches is a foolish investment. Verse 11 then turns to God’s power, and verse 12 to his steadfast love, so the warning is set within a larger picture of where real strength and kindness are found.
Key Phrases in Psalm 62:10
1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
(WEB)
Paul explains that the love of money is a root of many harmful things, and he warns that some people have wandered from the faith by chasing it. This verse deepens Psalm 62:10 by naming the heart’s attachment to money as the real problem, not wealth itself.
Proverbs 11:28
He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous shall flourish as the green leaf.
(WEB)
This proverb contrasts trusting in riches with flourishing like a green leaf. It sharpens the psalm’s warning by showing that trust in wealth leads to a fall, while trust in God brings life and steadiness.
A Short Prayer From Psalm 62:10
Lord, you see the places in my life where I have leaned on money, status, or the wish for more. Keep me honest in how I earn and spend, and free me from any gain that costs someone else their dignity. When my resources grow, help me hold them with open hands and a grateful heart. Teach me to find my security in you alone, the rock and refuge who does not change. Amen.
