Psalm 94
The Message
94 1-2 God, put an end to evil;
avenging God, show your colors!
Judge of the earth, take your stand;
throw the book at the arrogant.
3-4 God, the wicked get away with murder—
how long will you let this go on?
They brag and boast
and crow about their crimes!
5-7 They walk all over your people, God,
exploit and abuse your precious people.
They take out anyone who gets in their way;
if they can’t use them, they kill them.
They think, “God isn’t looking,
Jacob’s God is out to lunch.”
8-11 Well, think again, you idiots,
fools—how long before you get smart?
Do you think Ear-Maker doesn’t hear,
Eye-Shaper doesn’t see?
Do you think the trainer of nations doesn’t correct,
the teacher of Adam doesn’t know?
God knows, all right—
knows your stupidity,
sees your shallowness.
12-15 How blessed the man you train, God,
the woman you instruct in your Word,
Providing a circle of quiet within the clamor of evil,
while a jail is being built for the wicked.
God will never walk away from his people,
never desert his precious people.
Rest assured that justice is on its way
and every good heart put right.
16-19 Who stood up for me against the wicked?
Who took my side against evil workers?
If God hadn’t been there for me,
I never would have made it.
The minute I said, “I’m slipping, I’m falling,”
your love, God, took hold and held me fast.
When I was upset and beside myself,
you calmed me down and cheered me up.
20-23 Can Misrule have anything in common with you?
Can Troublemaker pretend to be on your side?
They ganged up on good people,
plotted behind the backs of the innocent.
But God became my hideout,
God was my high mountain retreat,
Then boomeranged their evil back on them:
for their evil ways he wiped them out,
our God cleaned them out for good.
Tehillim 94
Orthodox Jewish Bible
94 Hashem G-d, to whom vengeance belongeth; O G-d, to whom vengeance belongeth, show Thyself.
2 Rise up, Thou Shofet HaAretz; render gemul (recompense, desert) to the ge’im (proud ones).
3 Ad mosai, Hashem, shall the resha’im, how long shall the resha’im triumph?
4 How long shall they utter and speak malicious lies? And all the po’alei aven (workers of iniquity) glorify themselves?
5 They crush Thy people, Hashem, and afflict Thine nachalah.
6 They slay the almanah and the ger, and murder the yetomim (fatherless, orphans).
7 Yet they say, Hashem shall not see, neither shall the Elohei Ya’akov regard it.
8 Understand, ye brutish among the people; and ye kesilim (fools), when will ye get seichel?
9 He that planted the ozen (ear), shall He not hear? He that formed the ayin (eye), shall He not see?
10 He that chastiseth the Goyim, shall not He reprove? He that is the melamed (teacher) of da’as to adam?
11 Hashem knoweth the machshevot (thoughts) of adam, that they are hevel (vanity, futile).
12 Ashrei (blessed) is the gever whom Thou chastenest, Hashem, and teachest him out of Thy torah;
13 That Thou mayest grant him relief from the days of rah, until a shachat (pit) is dug for the rasha.
14 For Hashem will not cast off His people, neither will He forsake His nachalah.
15 But mishpat shall revert unto tzedek; and all the yishrei lev (upright in heart) shall follow after it.
16 Who will rise up for Me against the evildoers? Or who will take a stand for Me against the po’alei aven (workers of iniquity)?
17 Unless Hashem had been my help, my nefesh had almost dwelt in dumah (silence).
18 When I said, My regel (foot) slippeth, Thy chesed, Hashem, held me up.
19 In the multitude of my anxieties within me Thy comforts delight my nefesh.
20 Shall the kisse of corruption have chavurah (fellowship) with Thee, those, which deviseth evil by a chok (statute)?
21 They band together against the nefesh of the tzaddik, and condemn dahm naki (innocent blood).
22 But Hashem is my stronghold; and Elohai is the Tzur of my refuge.
23 And He shall turn back upon them their own iniquity, and shall destroy them for their own wickedness; Hashem Eloheinu shall destroy them.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International