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Psalm 94

God the Avenger of the Righteous

1

O L ord, you God of vengeance,

you God of vengeance, shine forth!

2

Rise up, O judge of the earth;

give to the proud what they deserve!

3

O L ord, how long shall the wicked,

how long shall the wicked exult?

 

4

They pour out their arrogant words;

all the evildoers boast.

5

They crush your people, O L ord,

and afflict your heritage.

6

They kill the widow and the stranger,

they murder the orphan,

7

and they say, “The L ord does not see;

the God of Jacob does not perceive.”

 

8

Understand, O dullest of the people;

fools, when will you be wise?

9

He who planted the ear, does he not hear?

He who formed the eye, does he not see?

10

He who disciplines the nations,

he who teaches knowledge to humankind,

does he not chastise?

11

The L ord knows our thoughts,

that they are but an empty breath.

 

12

Happy are those whom you discipline, O L ord,

and whom you teach out of your law,

13

giving them respite from days of trouble,

until a pit is dug for the wicked.

14

For the L ord will not forsake his people;

he will not abandon his heritage;

15

for justice will return to the righteous,

and all the upright in heart will follow it.

 

16

Who rises up for me against the wicked?

Who stands up for me against evildoers?

17

If the L ord had not been my help,

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

18

When I thought, “My foot is slipping,”

your steadfast love, O L ord, held me up.

19

When the cares of my heart are many,

your consolations cheer my soul.

20

Can wicked rulers be allied with you,

those who contrive mischief by statute?

21

They band together against the life of the righteous,

and condemn the innocent to death.

22

But the L ord has become my stronghold,

and my God the rock of my refuge.

23

He will repay them for their iniquity

and wipe them out for their wickedness;

the L ord our God will wipe them out.


15. But judgment will return unto righteousness In the dark season of affliction, it is not easy to recognize the secret love which God even then bears to his own children, and the Psalmist adduces another ground of comfort, in the consideration that God will eventually put an end to the confusions which perplex them, and reduce matters to order. The form of expression used by the Psalmist is a little obscure, and this has led some to read the first part of the verse, as if it contained two distinct clauses — justice will return at the end, and then, judgment will return This is a violent wresting of the context. I have no doubt the Psalmist meant to say that judgment would be fitted or conformed to justice. And by judgment here is meant, as in many other places, the government or public state of matters. The confusion which prevails in the world, seems to argue some defect or unrighteousness of administration; and he holds out to us that it shall be well in the issue. More is said than merely that men who indulged in reckless oppression would be brought back to equitable dealing. A deeper meaning is intended, That God, when he interposed to restore the condition of his people, would bring forth openly to the light his justice which had lain concealed; by which we are not to understand that he ever deviates the least in his providence from the strictest rectitude, only there is not always that harmony and arrangement which might make his righteousness apparent to man’s view, and the correction of this inequality is here called justice of government. 3030     “Mais pource qu’au regard des hommes ou ne voit pas tousjours une telle moderation ou temperature que sa justice soit apparente; laquelle est nommee Gouvernement juste, apres que l’inequalite est corrigee.” — Fr. As the sun’s light is hid from view at night, or at a cloudy season, so when the wicked persecute the righteous, and are allowed to indulge in iniquity without restraint, the Divine justice is obscured by the clouds which are thus interposed between us and the providence of God, and judgment is in a manner separated from justice. But when things are brought back again to their proper state, justice and government are seen to harmonize perfectly together in the equality which prevails. 3131     “On voit un tresbon accord entre la domination et justice en une equalite bien moderee.” — Fr. Faith no doubt, should enable us to discern the justice of God even when things are most dark and disordered; but the passage speaks of what would be obvious to sense and actual observation, and asserts that the justice of God would shine as the sky when all is calm and serene.

And all that are upright in heart after him Some read, after it, that is, after righteousness; but as by righteousness here we are to understand the equal and harmonious government which prevails when God takes vengeance upon the wicked and delivers his own people, this rendering will scarcely suit. It would rather seem that God himself is to be understood, so that the relative is here without an antecedent. In the Hebrew, when mention is made of God, the relative is not unfrequently put instead of the name. The words then mean, that upon God’s restoring order in the world, his people would be encouraged to follow him with greater alacrity. Even when called to bear the cross, they sigh after him under their troubles and distresses, but it binds them more closely to his service when they see his hand stretched forth in this visible manner, and sensibly experience his deliverance.


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