Psalm 94
The Message
94 1-2 God, put an end to evil;
avenging God, show your colors!
Judge of the earth, take your stand;
throw the book at the arrogant.
3-4 God, the wicked get away with murder—
how long will you let this go on?
They brag and boast
and crow about their crimes!
5-7 They walk all over your people, God,
exploit and abuse your precious people.
They take out anyone who gets in their way;
if they can’t use them, they kill them.
They think, “God isn’t looking,
Jacob’s God is out to lunch.”
8-11 Well, think again, you idiots,
fools—how long before you get smart?
Do you think Ear-Maker doesn’t hear,
Eye-Shaper doesn’t see?
Do you think the trainer of nations doesn’t correct,
the teacher of Adam doesn’t know?
God knows, all right—
knows your stupidity,
sees your shallowness.
12-15 How blessed the man you train, God,
the woman you instruct in your Word,
Providing a circle of quiet within the clamor of evil,
while a jail is being built for the wicked.
God will never walk away from his people,
never desert his precious people.
Rest assured that justice is on its way
and every good heart put right.
16-19 Who stood up for me against the wicked?
Who took my side against evil workers?
If God hadn’t been there for me,
I never would have made it.
The minute I said, “I’m slipping, I’m falling,”
your love, God, took hold and held me fast.
When I was upset and beside myself,
you calmed me down and cheered me up.
20-23 Can Misrule have anything in common with you?
Can Troublemaker pretend to be on your side?
They ganged up on good people,
plotted behind the backs of the innocent.
But God became my hideout,
God was my high mountain retreat,
Then boomeranged their evil back on them:
for their evil ways he wiped them out,
our God cleaned them out for good.
Psalm 94
New Living Translation
Psalm 94
1 O Lord, the God of vengeance,
O God of vengeance, let your glorious justice shine forth!
2 Arise, O Judge of the earth.
Give the proud what they deserve.
3 How long, O Lord?
How long will the wicked be allowed to gloat?
4 How long will they speak with arrogance?
How long will these evil people boast?
5 They crush your people, Lord,
hurting those you claim as your own.
6 They kill widows and foreigners
and murder orphans.
7 “The Lord isn’t looking,” they say,
“and besides, the God of Israel[a] doesn’t care.”
8 Think again, you fools!
When will you finally catch on?
9 Is he deaf—the one who made your ears?
Is he blind—the one who formed your eyes?
10 He punishes the nations—won’t he also punish you?
He knows everything—doesn’t he also know what you are doing?
11 The Lord knows people’s thoughts;
he knows they are worthless!
12 Joyful are those you discipline, Lord,
those you teach with your instructions.
13 You give them relief from troubled times
until a pit is dug to capture the wicked.
14 The Lord will not reject his people;
he will not abandon his special possession.
15 Judgment will again be founded on justice,
and those with virtuous hearts will pursue it.
16 Who will protect me from the wicked?
Who will stand up for me against evildoers?
17 Unless the Lord had helped me,
I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave.
18 I cried out, “I am slipping!”
but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me.
19 When doubts filled my mind,
your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.
20 Can unjust leaders claim that God is on their side—
leaders whose decrees permit injustice?
21 They gang up against the righteous
and condemn the innocent to death.
22 But the Lord is my fortress;
my God is the mighty rock where I hide.
23 God will turn the sins of evil people back on them.
He will destroy them for their sins.
The Lord our God will destroy them.
Psalm 94
Young's Literal Translation
94 God of vengeance -- Jehovah! God of vengeance, shine forth.
2 Be lifted up, O Judge of the earth, Send back a recompence on the proud.
3 Till when [do] the wicked, O Jehovah? Till when do the wicked exult?
4 They utter -- they speak an old saw, All working iniquity do boast themselves.
5 Thy people, O Jehovah, they bruise, And Thine inheritance they afflict.
6 Widow and sojourner they slay, And fatherless ones they murder.
7 And they say, `Jehovah doth not see, And the God of Jacob doth not consider.'
8 Consider, ye brutish among the people, And ye foolish, when do ye act wisely?
9 He who planteth the ear doth He not hear? He who formeth the eye doth He not see?
10 He who is instructing nations, Doth He not reprove? He who is teaching man knowledge [is] Jehovah.
11 He knoweth the thoughts of man, that they [are] vanity.
12 O the happiness of the man Whom Thou instructest, O Jah, And out of Thy law teachest him,
13 To give rest to him from days of evil, While a pit is digged for the wicked.
14 For Jehovah leaveth not His people, And His inheritance forsaketh not.
15 For to righteousness judgment turneth back, And after it all the upright of heart,
16 Who riseth up for me with evil doers? Who stationeth himself for me with workers of iniquity?
17 Unless Jehovah [were] a help to me, My soul had almost inhabited silence.
18 If I have said, `My foot hath slipped,' Thy kindness, O Jehovah, supporteth me.
19 In the abundance of my thoughts within me, Thy comforts delight my soul.
20 Is a throne of mischief joined [with] Thee? A framer of perverseness by statute?
21 They decree against the soul of the righteous, And innocent blood declare wicked.
22 And Jehovah is for a high place to me, And my God [is] for a rock -- my refuge,
23 And turneth back on them their iniquity, And in their wickedness cutteth them off; Jehovah our God doth cut them off!
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
