Psalms 94 · ESV Study Bible

The LORD Will Not Forsake His People

PSALM 94 [†] O LORD, God of p vengeance,

O God of vengeance, q shine forth!

2[^][†] r Rise up, O s judge of the earth;

repay to the t proud what they deserve!

3[^] O LORD, u how long shall the wicked,

how long shall v the wicked exult?

4[†] They pour out their w arrogant words;

all x the evildoers boast.

5 They y crush your people, O LORD,

and afflict your heritage.

6 They kill z the widow and the sojourner,

and murder z the fatherless;

7[†] a and they say, “The LORD does not see;

the God of Jacob does not perceive.”

8[†] b Understand, O dullest of the people!

Fools, when will you be wise?

9 c He who planted the ear, does he not hear?

He who formed the eye, does he not see?

10 He who d disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?

He who e teaches man knowledge—

11[^][†] f the LORD—knows the thoughts of man,

that they are g but a breath. [1]

12[†] h Blessed is the man whom you i discipline, O LORD,

and whom you teach out of your law,

13 to give him j rest from k days of trouble,

until l a pit is dug for the wicked.

14[†] m For the LORD will not forsake his n people;

he will not abandon his n heritage;

15[^] for o justice will return to the righteous,

and all the upright in heart will p follow it.

16[†] q Who rises up for me against the wicked?

Who stands up for me against evildoers?

17 r If the LORD had not been my help,

my soul would soon have lived in the land of s silence.

18 When I thought, t “My foot slips,”

your steadfast love, O LORD, u held me up.

19[†] When the cares of my heart are many,

your consolations cheer my soul.

20[†] Can w wicked rulers be allied with you,

those who frame injustice by x statute?

21 They y band together against the life of the righteous

and condemn z the innocent to death. [2]

22[†] But the LORD has become my a stronghold,

and my God b the rock of my c refuge.

23[†] He will bring back on them d their iniquity

and e wipe them out for their wickedness;

the LORD our God will wipe them out.

PSALM—NOTE ON 94:22 stronghold, rock. Cf. 9:9; 18:2; 59:16–17; 62:2, 6; 144:2.

PSALM—NOTE ON 94:14 It is striking that even though the wicked in this psalm are members of “the people” (v. 8), they are nevertheless distinct from God’s people and heritage; this implies that the faithful are God’s people in the truest sense, while the faithless among them are not. For God’s people as his heritage or inheritance, cf. 28:9; 33:12; 74:2; 78:62, 71; Deut. 4:20; 9:26; 32:9.

PSALM—NOTE ON 94:23 bring back on them. It is common to expect the iniquity of the unfaithful to recoil upon their own heads; cf. 7:15; 57:6; Prov. 26:27.

PSALM—NOTE ON 94:1–3 O Lord, Pay the Proud as They Deserve. The psalm opens by addressing the Lord as God of vengeance, asking him to repay to the proud what they deserve. As the song develops, it will be clear who these “proud” are and why it is right to pray that God will “pay them back.”

PSALM—NOTE ON 94:11 In 1 Cor. 3:20, Paul adapts the Greek Septuagint of this verse to remind his readers not to set human wisdom against God’s wisdom. (Breath commonly conveys “futility” [the lxx rendering], e.g., Ps. 62:9.)

PSALM—NOTE ON 94:19 The specific cares are those expressed in the psalm, e.g., v. 3. The consolations are the assurances that God knows (vv. 9–11), that he has shown his support already (vv. 17–18), and that he will surely judge (v. 23).

PSALM—NOTE ON 94:2–3 The people called proud here are not simply those among the faithful who commit the sin of pride; rather, in their unbelief they exalt themselves against God, defying him to punish them (v. 7), and they use their power to exploit the weak (vv. 5–6, 21). God’s people feel that it is wrong for anyone to do that, and it is hideous for members of his own people to exult, i.e., to be jubilant over this, their apparent triumph. The right response is to pray to the judge of the earth.

PSALM—NOTE ON Psalm 94. This is a community lament, for a time when the wicked not only exult (v. 3) but also oppress the faithful (many of whom are socially weak, vv. 5–6), doing so with no fear of God. The song asks God to take action to protect the faithful. At the same time, it strengthens the pious to endure this oppression without losing heart or going over to join the wicked; it does this by recounting God’s exhaustive knowledge of all that people think, do, and say (vv. 8–11); by remembering God’s steadfast love for his own (v. 18); and by rejoicing in God’s righteous commitment to bring justice by caring for the weak and putting down the wicked. Thus the godly can view their current circumstances as God’s discipline (v. 12), even while they pray for deliverance (v. 16). The “wicked” in this psalm are members of God’s people (v. 8) who in their hearts do not believe in the God of the covenant (v. 7). They seem to have political power, or at least influence with the ruling authorities (cf. v. 20, “wicked rulers”), which enables them to crush the faithful. Though such wicked persons are in one sense “members” of the covenant people, they are distinguished from God’s true “people” or “heritage” (vv. 5, 14) and will suffer the full force of God’s judgment. It puzzles scholars why this psalm is placed here, interrupting the sequence of divine kingship psalms (Psalms 93; 95–99). Perhaps the simplest explanation is that God’s powerful kingship guarantees his final victory over all who oppose him, even if they are members of his own people (who ought to have acknowledged his rule!). It is always worth being on God’s side.

PSALM—NOTE ON 94:7 This denial that God takes notice of such misdeeds is the height of arrogance and folly, flowing from an unbelieving heart (cf. 10:11; 59:7; 64:5; 73:11; Isa. 29:15; Ezek. 8:12; 9:9).

PSALM—NOTE ON 94:4–7 They Are Arrogant Oppressors. The next section lists the activities of these evildoers: they pour out their arrogant words and boast (the quoted words of v. 7 provide a sample of their speech), they crush God’s people, and they kill the helpless (such as the widow, sojourner, and fatherless), in direct defiance of God’s attitude (cf. Deut. 10:18; 14:29; 24:17, 19; 27:19).

PSALM—NOTE ON 94:1 The notion of vengeance here is founded on God’s justice: he brings his righteous judgment on those who oppose him and harm his people (cf. Deut. 32:35, 41, 43; Ps. 18:47). It is forbidden for individuals to take personal vengeance (Lev. 19:18; cf. Rom. 12:19), but one function of the civil government is to ensure just vengeance against wrongdoers (Ex. 21:20; cf. Rom. 13:4)—a function not being carried out in the context of this psalm. God will carry out vengeance against those who despise him (2 Thess. 1:8), and the faithful will rejoice because God’s justice has been vindicated (Ps. 58:10; 79:10; Rev. 6:10). There is no double standard: God will judge the unfaithful among his own people as well as the Gentiles (cf. Ps. 99:8).

PSALM—NOTE ON 94:20–21 wicked rulers. The ungodly here have power, and they use it to frame injustice and to condemn the innocent to death (which God hates; Ex. 23:7). Cf. Ps. 94:5–6. This verse denies that such rulers could possibly be allied with God, under his favor.