Psalms 94:13-23

13 That thou assuage him from evil days; till a ditch be digged to the sinner. (That thou assuage him from the evil days; until a ditch be dug for the sinners.)

14 For the Lord shall not put away his people; and he shall not forsake his heritage. (For the Lord shall not reject his people; and he shall not abandon his inheritance.)

15 Till rightfulness be turned (again) into doom; and who be nigh it, all that be of rightful heart. (For judgement shall return unto righteousness; and all who have an upright heart shall follow it.)

16 Who shall rise with me against mis-doers; either who shall stand with me against them that work wickedness? (Who shall rise up for me against the evil-doers? and who shall stand up for me against those who do evil?)

17 No but for the Lord helped me; almost my soul had dwelled in hell. (If the Lord had not helped me; soon I would have slept in Sheol, or in the land of the dead/soon I would have slept in the grave.)

18 If I said, My foot was stirred; Lord, thy mercy helped me. (But when I said, My foot is slipping! Lord, thy love held me up.)

19 After the multitude of my sorrows in mine heart; thy comforts made glad my soul. (And after a multitude of sorrows gathered together in my heart; once again thy comfort gladdened my soul.)

20 Whether the seat of wickedness cleaveth to thee; that makest travail in commandment? (Shall the throne of wickedness cleave to thee; thou who makest trespass within the commandments?/thou who makest trespass by the commandments?)

21 They shall take (hold) against the soul of a just man; and they shall condemn innocent blood. (For they gather themselves together against the life of the righteous; and they condemn the innocent to death.)

22 And the Lord was made to me into refuge (But the Lord was made my refuge); and my God was made into the help of mine hope.

23 And he shall yield to them the wickedness of them; and in the malice of them he shall lose them, our Lord God shall lose them. (And he shall punish them for their wickedness; he shall destroy them for their malice, yea, the Lord our God shall destroy them.)

Psalms 94:13-23 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.