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Psalm 94
Legacy Standard Bible

God of Vengeance, Shine Forth

94 O Yahweh, God of [a](A)vengeance,
God of [b]vengeance, [c](B)shine forth!
2 (C)Be lifted up, O (D)Judge of the earth,
Render recompense (E)to the proud.
3 How long shall the wicked, O Yahweh,
How long shall the (F)wicked exult?
4 They pour forth words, they (G)speak arrogantly;
All workers of iniquity (H)vaunt themselves.
5 They (I)crush Your people, O Yahweh,
And (J)afflict Your inheritance.
6 They (K)slay the widow and the sojourner
And murder the orphans.
7 (L)They have said, “Yah does not see,
Nor does the God of Jacob discern.”

8 Discern, you (M)senseless among the people;
And when will you have insight, (N)you fools?
9 He who (O)planted the ear, [d]does He not hear?
He who formed the eye, [e]does He not see?
10 He who [f](P)disciplines the nations, will He not rebuke,
Even He who (Q)teaches man knowledge?
11 Yahweh (R)knows the thoughts of man,
[g]That they are vanity.

12 Blessed is the man whom (S)You discipline, O Yah,
And (T)whom You teach out of Your law;
13 That You may grant him (U)calm from the (V)days of calamity,
Until (W)a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For (X)Yahweh will not abandon His people,
Nor will He (Y)forsake His inheritance.
15 For [h](Z)judgment will [i]again be righteous,
And all the upright in heart will [j]follow it.
16 Who will (AA)arise for me against evildoers?
Who will take his stand for me (AB)against workers of iniquity?

17 If (AC)Yahweh had not been my help,
My soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence.
18 If I should say, “(AD)My foot has stumbled,”
Your lovingkindness, O Yahweh, will hold me up.
19 When my anxious thoughts [k]multiply within me,
Your (AE)consolations delight my soul.
20 Can a [l](AF)throne of destruction be allied with You,
One (AG)which forms [m]trouble by statute?
21 They (AH)band themselves together against the [n]life of the righteous
And (AI)condemn [o]the innocent to death.
22 But Yahweh has been my (AJ)stronghold,
And my God the (AK)rock of my refuge.
23 He has (AL)brought back their [p]iniquity upon them
And will [q](AM)destroy them in their evil;
Yahweh our God will [r]destroy them.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 94:1 Or avenging acts
  2. Psalm 94:1 Or avenging acts
  3. Psalm 94:1 Or has shone forth
  4. Psalm 94:9 Or can
  5. Psalm 94:9 Or can
  6. Psalm 94:10 Or instructs
  7. Psalm 94:11 Or For
  8. Psalm 94:15 Administration of justice
  9. Psalm 94:15 Lit return to righteousness
  10. Psalm 94:15 Lit be after it
  11. Psalm 94:19 Or are many
  12. Psalm 94:20 Or tribunal
  13. Psalm 94:20 Or misfortune
  14. Psalm 94:21 Or soul
  15. Psalm 94:21 Lit innocent blood
  16. Psalm 94:23 Or wickedness
  17. Psalm 94:23 Or silence
  18. Psalm 94:23 Or silence
Close NET

Psalm 94
New English Translation

Psalm 94[a]

94 O Lord, the God who avenges!
O God who avenges, reveal your splendor.[b]
2 Rise up, O judge of the earth.
Pay back the proud.
3 O Lord, how long will the wicked,
how long will the wicked celebrate?[c]
4 They spew out threats[d] and speak defiantly;
all the evildoers boast.[e]
5 O Lord, they crush your people;
they oppress the nation that belongs to you.[f]
6 They kill the widow and the resident foreigner,
and they murder the fatherless.[g]
7 Then they say, “The Lord does not see this;
the God of Jacob does not take notice of it.”[h]
8 Take notice of this,[i] you ignorant people.[j]
You fools, when will you ever understand?
9 Does the one who makes the human ear not hear?
Does the one who forms the human eye not see?[k]
10 Does the one who disciplines the nations not punish?
He is the one who imparts knowledge to human beings!
11 The Lord knows that peoples’ thoughts
are morally bankrupt.[l]
12 How blessed is the one[m] whom you instruct, O Lord,
the one whom you teach from your law,
13 in order to protect him from times of trouble,[n]
until the wicked are destroyed.[o]
14 Certainly[p] the Lord does not forsake his people;
he does not abandon the nation that belongs to him.[q]
15 For justice will prevail,[r]
and all the morally upright[s] will be vindicated.[t]
16 Who will rise up to defend me[u] against the wicked?
Who will stand up for me against the evildoers?[v]
17 If the Lord had not helped me,
I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.[w]
18 If I say, “My foot is slipping,”
your loyal love, O Lord, supports me.
19 When worries threaten to overwhelm me,[x]
your soothing touch makes me happy.[y]
20 Cruel rulers[z] are not your allies,
those who make oppressive laws.[aa]
21 They conspire against[ab] the blameless,[ac]
and condemn to death the innocent.[ad]
22 But the Lord will protect me,[ae]
and my God will shelter me.[af]
23 He will pay them back for their sin.[ag]
He will destroy them because of[ah] their evil;
the Lord our God will destroy them.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 94:1 sn Psalm 94. The psalmist asks God to judge the wicked and affirms his confidence in God’s justice.
  2. Psalm 94:1 tn Heb “shine forth” (see Pss 50:2; 80:1).
  3. Psalm 94:3 tn Or “exult.”
  4. Psalm 94:4 tn Heb “they gush forth [words].”
  5. Psalm 94:4 tn The Hitpael of אָמַר (ʾamar) occurs only here (and perhaps in Isa 61:6).
  6. Psalm 94:5 tn Or “your inheritance.”
  7. Psalm 94:6 tn The Hebrew noun יָתוֹם (yatom) refers to one who has lost his father (not necessarily his mother, see Ps 109:9). Because they were so vulnerable and were frequently exploited, fatherless children are often mentioned as epitomizing the oppressed (see Pss 10:14; 68:5; 82:3; 146:9; as well as Job 6:27; 22:9; 24:3, 9; 29:12; 31:17, 21).
  8. Psalm 94:7 tn Heb “does not understand.”
  9. Psalm 94:8 tn Heb “understand.” The verb used in v. 7 is repeated here for rhetorical effect. The people referred to here claim God is ignorant of their actions, but the psalmist corrects their faulty viewpoint.
  10. Psalm 94:8 tn Heb “[you] brutish among the people.”
  11. Psalm 94:9 tn Heb “The one who plants an ear, does he not hear? The one who forms an eye, does he not see?”
  12. Psalm 94:11 tn Heb “the Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are emptiness.” The psalmist thinks specifically of the “thoughts” expressed in v. 7.
  13. Psalm 94:12 tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man.” Hebrew wisdom literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender and age specific “man” with the more neutral “one.” The generic masculine pronoun is used in v. 2.
  14. Psalm 94:13 tn Heb “to give him rest from the days of trouble.”
  15. Psalm 94:13 tn Heb “until a pit is dug for the wicked.”
  16. Psalm 94:14 tn Or “for.”
  17. Psalm 94:14 tn Or “his inheritance.”
  18. Psalm 94:15 tn Heb “for judgment will return to justice.”
  19. Psalm 94:15 tn Heb “all the pure of heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of one’s moral character and motives. The “pure of heart” are God’s faithful followers who trust in and love the Lord and, as a result, experience his deliverance (see Pss 7:10; 11:2; 32:11; 36:10; 64:10; 97:11).
  20. Psalm 94:15 tn Heb “and after it [are] the pure of heart.”
  21. Psalm 94:16 tn Heb “for me.”
  22. Psalm 94:16 sn Who will stand up for me…? The questions anticipate the answer, “No one except God” (see v. 17).
  23. Psalm 94:17 tn Heb “If the Lord [were] not my help, quickly my life would have dwelt in silence.” The psalmist, perhaps speaking as the nation’s representative, recalls God’s past intervention. For other examples of conditional sentences with the term לוּלֵי (lule, “if not”) in the protasis and a perfect verbal form in the apodosis, see Pss 119:92 and 124:2-5.
  24. Psalm 94:19 tn Heb “when my worries are many within me.”
  25. Psalm 94:19 tn Heb “your comforts cause my soul to delight.”
  26. Psalm 94:20 tn Heb “a throne of destruction.” “Throne” stands here by metonymy for rulers who occupy thrones.
  27. Psalm 94:20 tn Heb “Is a throne of destruction united to you, one that forms trouble upon a statute?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “Of course not!” The translation, while not preserving the interrogative form of the statement, reflects its rhetorical force.
  28. Psalm 94:21 tn Or “attack.”
  29. Psalm 94:21 tn Heb “the life of the blameless.”
  30. Psalm 94:21 tn Heb “and the blood of the innocent they declare guilty.”
  31. Psalm 94:22 tn Heb “and the Lord has become my elevated place.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive is used in a rhetorical sense, describing an anticipated development as if it were already reality.
  32. Psalm 94:22 tn Heb “and my God [has become] a rocky summit of my safety.”
  33. Psalm 94:23 tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive is used in a rhetorical sense, describing an anticipated development as if it were already reality.
  34. Psalm 94:23 tn Or “in.”
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