Psalms 94

1 Yahweh, you God to whom vengeance belongs, you God to whom vengeance belongs, shine out.

A Psalm of David himself. The Fourth Sabbath. The Lord is the God of retribution. The God of retribution acts in order to deliver.

2 Rise up, you judge of the earth. Pay back the proud what they deserve.

Lift yourself up, for you judge the earth. Repay the arrogant with retribution.

3 Yahweh, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph?

How long will sinners, O Lord, how long will sinners glory?

4 They pour out arrogant words. All the evildoers boast.

How long will they utter and speak iniquity? How long will all who work injustice speak out?

5 They break your people in pieces, Yahweh, and afflict your heritage.

They have humiliated your people, O Lord, and they have harassed your inheritance.

6 They kill the widow and the alien, and murder the fatherless.

They have executed the widow and the new arrival, and they have slaughtered the orphan.

7 They say, “Yah will not see, neither will Jacob’s God consider.”

And they have said, “The Lord will not see, nor will the God of Jacob understand.”

8 Consider, you senseless among the people; you fools, when will you be wise?

Understand, you senseless ones among the people. And be wise at last, you foolish ones.

9 He who implanted the ear, won’t he hear? He who formed the eye, won’t he see?

He who formed the ear, will he not hear? And he who forged the eye, does he not look closely?

10 He who disciplines the nations, won’t he punish? He who teaches man knows.

He who chastises nations, he who teaches man knowledge, will he not rebuke?

11 Yahweh knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile.

The Lord knows the thoughts of men: that these are in vain.

12 Blessed is the man whom you discipline, Yah, and teach out of your law,

Blessed is the man whom you will instruct, O Lord. And you will teach him from your law.

13 that you may give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit is dug for the wicked.

So may you soothe him from the evil days, until a pit may be dug for sinners.

14 For Yahweh won’t reject his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.

For the Lord will not drive away his people, and he will not abandon his inheritance,

15 For judgment will return to righteousness. All the upright in heart shall follow it.

even until the time when justice is being converted into judgment, and when those who are close to justice are all those who are upright of heart.

16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will stand up for me against the evildoers?

Who will rise up with me against the malignant? Or who will stand with me against the workers of iniquity?

17 Unless Yahweh had been my help, my soul would have soon lived in silence.

Except that the Lord assisted me, my soul almost would have dwelt in Hell. (questioned)

18 When I said, “My foot is slipping!” Your loving kindness, Yahweh, held me up.

If ever I said, “My foot is slipping,” then your mercy, O Lord, assisted me.

19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me, your comforts delight my soul.

According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, your consolations have given joy to my soul.

20 Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with you, which brings about mischief by statute?

Does the seat of iniquity adhere to you, you who contrive hardship within a commandment?

21 They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.

They will hunt down the soul of the just, and they will condemn innocent blood.

22 But Yahweh has been my high tower, my God, the rock of my refuge.

And the Lord has been made into a refuge for me, and my God into the assistance of my hope.

23 He has brought on them their own iniquity, and will cut them off in their own wickedness. Yahweh, our God, will cut them off.

And he will repay them their iniquity, and he will destroy them in their malice. The Lord our God will utterly destroy them.