Psalms 94
What Happens in This Chapter
This psalm asks God to act against people who hurt others and think God is not watching. It reminds the reader that the God who made ears and eyes can hear and see everything. The middle of the psalm speaks about the good that comes from God's correction and teaching. It ends with the writer saying God has kept him safe, and that wrongdoers will be brought down by their own wrongdoing.
Plain reading written for kids. Short sentences, everyday words, one idea at a time.
O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself.
1LORD, you are the God who pays back wrong. Show yourself now, God.
2Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.
2Stand up, Judge of all the earth. Give proud people what they have earned.
3LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
3LORD, how long will bad people keep winning? How long will they cheer?
4How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?
4They pour out proud, hurtful words. Everyone who does wrong keeps bragging.
5They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage.
5They crush your people, LORD. They hurt the people who belong to you.
6They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
6They kill widows and strangers from other lands. They murder children who have no father.
7Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
7They say, "The LORD does not see. The God of Jacob pays no attention."
8Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?
8Pay attention, you people with no sense. Fools, when will you become wise?
9He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?
9God made the ear. Can he not hear? God made the eye. Can he not 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, so he knows things himself.
11The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
11The LORD knows what people are thinking. He knows their thoughts are empty.
12Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;
12LORD, you make a person glad when you correct him and teach him your law.
13That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.
13You give him rest when hard days come. Meanwhile a pit is dug for bad people.
"Until the pit be digged" is a picture of a trap or a grave being made ready for people who do wrong.
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 never leave the people who are his.
15But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
15Judging will be fair again. Everyone with an honest heart will follow what is right.
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 help me against wrongdoers?
17Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
17If the LORD had not helped me, I would soon be lying silent among the dead.
"Dwelt in silence" means the place of the dead. The writer means he would have died.
18When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
18When I said, "My foot is slipping," your steady love held me up, LORD.
19In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.
19When worried thoughts fill me, your comfort makes me glad.
20Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?
20Can rulers who do wrong be your friends? They use laws to hurt people.
"The throne of iniquity" means a ruler or a court that uses the law itself to do harm.
21They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.
21They join together against people who do right. They say the innocent should die.
22But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.
22But the LORD keeps me safe. My God is my 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.
23God will turn their own evil back on them. Their own wrongdoing will destroy them. The LORD our God will destroy them.
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