Psalm 94:12-23

12 Lord, happy is the man You discipline and teach from Your law^[a]

13 to give him relief from troubled times until a pit is dug for the wicked.^[b]

14 The Lord will not forsake His people or abandon His heritage,^[c]

15 for justice will again be righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow^[d] it.^[e]

16 Who stands up for me against the wicked? Who takes a stand for me against evildoers?

17 If the Lord had not been my help, I would soon rest in the silence [of death].

18 If I say, "My foot is slipping," Your faithful love will support me, Lord.^[f]

19 When I am filled with cares,^[g] Your comfort brings me joy.

20 Can a corrupt throne- one that creates trouble by law- become Your ally?

21 They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.^[h]

22 But the Lord is my refuge; my God is the rock of my protection.^[i]

23 He will pay them back for their sins and destroy them for their evil. The Lord our God will destroy them.^[j]

Psalm 94:12-23 Meaning and Commentary

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.

Footnotes

• [a] Ps 25:5,9; 71:17; Isa 48:17
• [b] Ps 7:15; 9:15; Pr 26:27
• [c] 1 Sm 12:22
• [d] Or heart will support; lit heart after
• [e] Ps 36:10; 64:10; 97:11
• [f] Ps 18:35; 66:9; 121:3
• [g] Ps 139:23
• [h] Ps 106:38; 2 Kg 21:16; Jr 26:15
• [i] Ps 46:1,7; 62:2,6; 2 Sm 22:3
• [j] Ps 73:27; 94:23; 101:5,8