Psalm 94

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Around Psalm 94

Book context

PsalmsEditorial draft

Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers used in Israel’s worship, written by several people over a long period. Headings name David most often, along with Asaph, the sons of Korah and others. The collection falls into five books, each ending with a short blessing of the LORD (41:13, 72:19, 89:52, 106:48), and it closes with a call for everything that has breath to praise the LORD (150:6). The psalms hold praise, lament, thanksgiving, confession and trust, so readers find words for nearly every season of life.

Why we say this

HisFullGlory editorial · broad consensus · not yet reviewed by a theological reader

From the text itself

Sources

Notes summarise their sources in our own words. Where Christians or scholars disagree, the note says so. Notes are not original-language evidence and do not replace the text.

AI explanation

About Psalms as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

“How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?” A prayer can begin like that, and in the Psalms it does. Four times the poet asks how long, and then, in the same short song, comes the turn: “But I trust in your loving kindness.”

That honesty runs through the whole book. Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers, and it holds praise, thanksgiving, lament, confession, songs for the king, and reflections on wisdom and on God's law. It is arranged in five books and moves, on the whole, from many laments at the start to pure praise at the end.

Joy, fear, anger, guilt and doubt are all spoken to God directly.

Background

The psalms were written and gathered over several centuries. Their headings link about half of them with David and others with Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon and Moses. They were sung in the worship of the temple and later in synagogues and churches.

How Christians read it

Jews and Christians have prayed the Psalms daily for well over two thousand years. The New Testament quotes them more than any other book and reads many as speaking of Christ, among them Psalms 2, 22 and 110. The psalms that call for judgment on enemies are hard to read. Many understand them as handing vengeance over to God instead of taking it oneself.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 19 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

Report a mistake