Psalms 94:1-10

1 God is Lord of vengeances; God of vengeance did freely. (God is the Lord of vengeance; O God of vengeance, show thyself!)

2 Be thou enhanced that deemest the earth; yield thou (a) yielding to proud men. (Be thou raised up, who judgest the earth; and punish thou those, who be proud.)

3 Lord, how long sinners; how long shall sinners have glory? (Lord, how long shall the sinners, yea, how long shall the sinners have glory?)

4 They shall tell out, and shall speak wickedness; all men shall speak that work unrightfulness. (They boast, and they all speak wickedness; yea, all who work unrighteousness have glory in themselves.)

5 Lord, they have made low thy people; and they have dis-eased thine heritage. (Lord, they have beaten down thy people; and they have distressed thy inheritance.)

6 They killed a widow and a comeling; and they have slain fatherless children and motherless. (They have killed widows and newcomers, or strangers; and they have slain the fatherless and the motherless, or the orphans.)

7 And they said, The Lord shall not see (it); and, (The) God of Jacob shall not understand.

8 Ye unwise men in the people, understand; and, ye fools, learn sometime. (Understand this, ye ignorant among the people; and learn something, ye fools.)

9 Shall not he hear, that planted the ear; either beholdeth not he, that made the eye? (Shall he not hear, who formed the ear? shall he not see, who made the eye?)

10 Shall not he reprove, that chastiseth folks; (shall he not know,) which teacheth man knowing? (Shall he not rebuke, who chastiseth the nations? shall he not know, who teacheth the people knowledge?)

Psalms 94:1-10 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.