Psalms 94

1 Lord, you are a God who punishes; reveal your anger!

2 You are the judge of us all; rise and give the proud what they deserve!

3 How much longer will the wicked be glad? How much longer, Lord?

4 How much longer will criminals be proud and boast about their crimes?

5 They crush your people, Lord; they oppress those who belong to you.

6 They kill widows and orphans, and murder the strangers who live in our land.

7 They say, "The Lord does not see us; the God of Israel does not notice."

8 My people, how can you be such stupid fools? When will you ever learn?

9 God made our ears - can't he hear? He made our eyes - can't he see?

10 He scolds the nations - won't he punish them? He is the teacher of us all - hasn't he any knowledge?

11 The Lord knows what we think; ¹ he knows how senseless our reasoning is.

12 Lord, how happy are those you instruct, the ones to whom you teach your law!

13 You give them rest from days of trouble until a pit is dug to trap the wicked.

14 The Lord will not abandon his people; he will not desert those who belong to him.

15 Justice will again be found in the courts, and all righteous people will support it.

16 Who stood up for me against the wicked? Who took my side against the evildoers?

17 If the Lord had not helped me, I would have gone quickly to the land of silence.

18 I said, "I am falling"; but your constant love, O Lord, held me up.

19 Whenever I am anxious and worried, you comfort me and make me glad.

20 You have nothing to do with corrupt judges, who make injustice legal,

21 who plot against good people and sentence the innocent to death.

22 But the Lord defends me; my God protects me.

23 He will punish them for their wickedness and destroy them for their sins; the Lord our God will destroy them.

Psalms 94 Commentary

Chapter 94

The danger and folly of persecutors. (1-11) Comfort and peace to the persecuted. (12-23)

Verses 1-11 We may with boldness appeal to God; for he is the almighty Judge by whom every man is judged. Let this encourage those who suffer wrong, to bear it with silence, committing themselves to Him who judges righteously. These prayers are prophecies, which speak terror to the sons of violence. There will come a day of reckoning for all the hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against God, his truths, and ways, and people. It would hardly be believed, if we did not witness it, that millions of rational creatures should live, move, speak, hear, understand, and do what they purpose, yet act as if they believed that God would not punish the abuse of his gifts. As all knowledge is from God, no doubt he knows all the thoughts of the children of men, and knows that the imaginations of the thoughts of men's hearts are only evil, and that continually. Even in good thoughts there is a want of being fixed, which may be called vanity. It concerns us to keep a strict watch over our thoughts, because God takes particular notice of them. Thoughts are words to God.

Verses 12-23 That man is blessed, who, under the chastening of the Lord, is taught his will and his truths, from his holy word, and by the Holy Spirit. He should see mercy through his sufferings. There is a rest remaining for the people of God after the days of their adversity, which shall not last always. He that sends the trouble, will send the rest. The psalmist found succour and relief only in the Lord, when all earthly friends failed. We are beholden, not only to God's power, but to his pity, for spiritual supports; and if we have been kept from falling into sin, or shrinking from our duty, we should give him the glory, and encourage our brethren. The psalmist had many troubled thoughts concerning the case he was in, concerning the course he should take, and what was likely to be the end of it. The indulgence of such contrivances and fears, adds to care and distrust, and renders our views more gloomy and confused. Good men sometimes have perplexed and distressed thoughts concerning God. But let them look to the great and precious promises of the gospel. The world's comforts give little delight to the soul, when hurried with melancholy thoughts; but God's comforts bring that peace and pleasure which the smiles of the world cannot give, and which the frowns of the world cannot take away. God is his people's Refuge, to whom they may flee, in whom they are safe, and may be secure. And he will reckon with the wicked. A man cannot be more miserable than his own wickedness will make him, if the Lord visit it upon him.

Cross References

• 1. 94.111 Corinthians 3.20.

Footnotes

• [a]. them?; [or] our wicked leaders?
• [b]. land of silence: [The world of the dead (see 6.5).]

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 94

Some, as Jarchi and others, think this psalm was written by Moses; others, with greater probability, assign it to David; as do the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions; and which all but the Syriac version say it was composed to be sung on the fourth day of the week, on which day the Talmudists say it was sung; see the argument of the preceding psalm. This psalm and others, that go before and follow, are without any title in the Hebrew Bible: the title of it in the Syriac version is,

``a Psalm of David, concerning the company of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; but spiritually, concerning the persecution against the church;''

not of the oppression of the Israelites in Egypt, as some; nor of the Jews in their present exile, as Kimchi; but rather of the people of God under the tyranny of antichrist; who are represented as complaining of his insults and cruelty, and as comforting themselves in the hopes of deliverance, and in the view of his destruction.