Old Testament

Psalms 94

Appeal to the Divine Judge

7 passages

Overview

Psalm 94 opens with a bold invocation of Yahweh as sovereign Judge, moves through lament over the arrogance and violence of the wicked who believe God does not see, issues a sharp philosophical rebuke of creaturely foolishness grounded in God's omniscience, affirms the paradoxical blessedness of divine discipline, records a personal testimony of near-collapse met by divine rescue, and concludes with the confident declaration that Yahweh is an unassailable refuge who turns the iniquity of evildoers back upon their own heads.

Passages

1–2Invocation of the God of Justice 3–7How Long, O Lord? The Cry Against the Arrogant Oppressor 8–11God Sees All: The Rebuke of Creaturely Foolishness 12–15The Blessedness of Divine Discipline and the Faithfulness of God 16–19My Foot Is Slipping: Yahweh Alone as the Psalmist's Refuge 20–21Rejection of Corrupt Authority 22–23Confident Conclusion: Yahweh Defends and Vindicates

Study Resources

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Psalms 94

¹Yahweh, you God to whom vengeance belongs, you God to whom vengeance belongs, shine out.

²Rise up, you judge of the earth. Pay back the proud what they deserve.

³Yahweh, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph?

⁴They pour out arrogant words. All the evildoers boast.

⁵They break your people in pieces, Yahweh, and afflict your heritage.

⁶They kill the widow and the alien, and murder the fatherless.

⁷They say, “Yah will not see, neither will Jacob’s God consider.”

⁸Consider, you senseless among the people; you fools, when will you be wise?

⁹He who implanted the ear, won’t he hear? He who formed the eye, won’t he see?

¹⁰He who disciplines the nations, won’t he punish? He who teaches man knows.

¹¹Yahweh knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile.

¹²Blessed is the man whom you discipline, Yah, and teach out of your law,

¹³that you may give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit is dug for the wicked.

¹⁴For Yahweh won’t reject his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.

¹⁵For judgment will return to righteousness. All the upright in heart shall follow it.

¹⁶Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will stand up for me against the evildoers?

¹⁷Unless Yahweh had been my help, my soul would have soon lived in silence.

¹⁸When I said, “My foot is slipping!” Your loving kindness, Yahweh, held me up.

¹⁹In the multitude of my thoughts within me, your comforts delight my soul.

²⁰Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with you, which brings about mischief by statute?

²¹They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.

²²But Yahweh has been my high tower, my God, the rock of my refuge.

²³He has brought on them their own iniquity, and will cut them off in their own wickedness. Yahweh, our God, will cut them off.

Psalms 93 Psalms 95