Psalms
Chapter 94
This psalm calls on God to act as the judge of the earth against people who crush the weak and think God does not notice. The middle of the psalm argues that the God who made ears and eyes can certainly hear and see. It then turns personal: the writer says God's help kept him from falling, and God is his safe place while the guilty are paid back for what they have done.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself.
1Lord God, punishment belongs to you. God, punishment belongs to you. Show yourself now.
2Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.
2Stand up, you who judge the whole earth. Give proud people what they have earned.
3LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
3Lord, how long will wicked people win? How long will they celebrate?
4How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?
4How long will they pour out proud, cruel words? How long will all these evildoers brag?
5They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage.
5Lord, they crush your people. They grind down the people who belong to you.
6They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
6They kill widows and foreigners living among us. They murder children who have no father.
7Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
7And still they say, "The Lord does not see it. The God of Jacob pays no attention."
8Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?
8Pay attention, you senseless people. You fools, when will you finally get some sense?
The KJV says "brutish," which in 1611 meant senseless or acting without thought, not violent.
9He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?
9God made the ear. Do you think he cannot hear? God made the eye. Do you think he cannot see?
10He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?
10God corrects whole nations. Will he not correct you? He teaches people everything they know. Does he not know?
11The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
11The Lord knows what people are thinking. He knows their thoughts are empty and go nowhere.
12Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;
12Lord, the person you correct is well off, because you also teach him from your law.
13That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.
13You give him calm through the hard days, while a pit is being dug for the wicked.
14For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.
14The Lord will not push his people away. He will not walk off and leave the people who are his.
15But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
15Judging will become fair again, and everyone with an honest heart will follow it.
16Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
16Who will stand up for me against evil people? Who will take my side against those who do wrong?
17Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
17If the Lord had not helped me, I would soon have been in the land of silence, among the dead.
"Dwelt in silence" is an old way of speaking about being dead and in the grave.
18When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
18When I said, "My foot is slipping," your faithful love, Lord, held me up.
19In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.
19When worries crowd my mind, your comfort makes me glad again.
"The multitude of my thoughts" here means anxious, crowding worries, not simply having many ideas.
20Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?
20Can a crooked ruler ever be your partner, one who uses the law itself to cause harm?
21They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.
21They team up against people who do right. They condemn the innocent to death.
22But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.
22But the Lord is my safe high place. My God is the rock where I hide.
23And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.
23He will turn their own evil back on them. He will destroy them for their own wrongdoing. The Lord our God will destroy them.
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