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94. Psalm 94

¹ The LORD is a God who avenges.
   O God who avenges, shine forth.
² Rise up, Judge of the earth;
   pay back to the proud what they deserve.
³ How long, LORD, will the wicked,
   how long will the wicked be jubilant?

    ⁴ They pour out arrogant words;
   all the evildoers are full of boasting.
⁵ They crush your people, LORD;
   they oppress your inheritance.
⁶ They slay the widow and the foreigner;
   they murder the fatherless.
⁷ They say, “The LORD does not see;
   the God of Jacob takes no notice.”

    ⁸ Take notice, you senseless ones among the people;
   you fools, when will you become wise?
⁹ Does he who fashioned the ear not hear?
   Does he who formed the eye not see?
¹⁰ Does he who disciplines nations not punish?
   Does he who teaches mankind lack knowledge?
¹¹ The LORD knows all human plans;
   he knows that they are futile.

    ¹² Blessed is the one you discipline, LORD,
   the one you teach from your law;
¹³ you grant them relief from days of trouble,
   till a pit is dug for the wicked.
¹⁴ For the LORD will not reject his people;
   he will never forsake his inheritance.
¹⁵ Judgment will again be founded on righteousness,
   and all the upright in heart will follow it.

    ¹⁶ Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
   Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?
¹⁷ Unless the LORD had given me help,
   I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.
¹⁸ When I said, “My foot is slipping,”
   your unfailing love, LORD, supported me.
¹⁹ When anxiety was great within me,
   your consolation brought me joy.

    ²⁰ Can a corrupt throne be allied with you—
   a throne that brings on misery by its decrees?
²¹ The wicked band together against the righteous
   and condemn the innocent to death.
²² But the LORD has become my fortress,
   and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.
²³ He will repay them for their sins
   and destroy them for their wickedness;
   the LORD our God will destroy them.

4 They pour forth, they speak hard things ¹⁵¹⁵ In our English Bible this verse is put into the interrogative form, and the words “how long” are supplied: “How long shall they utter and speak hard things?” Calvin translates it as a simple statement, and without any supplemental words; which Archbishop Secker considers to be more correct. He shows in still clearer terms, how their fierceness in persecution was such that they did not scruple to glory in their guilt. The Hebrew verb נבע, nabang, means more than to speak. Literally it signifies to rush or boil forth, and comes to denote figuratively the uttering of reckless or rash words. We see how wicked men are instigated by pride and vain-glory, to demean and disgrace themselves so far as to boast vain-gloriously of their power, breathing forth threatenings of bloodshed, violence, and monstrous cruelty. It is to such ebullitions that the Psalmist refers, when men who are lost to all sense of shame and modesty boast of the wickedness which they can perpetrate at will. This is what he means by their speaking hard things, uttering discourse which is under no restraint of fear, or prudential consideration, but which launches into the most unbridled license. As the Lord’s people had formerly to endure the heavy trial of seeing the Church subjected to this wild tyranny and misrule, we should account it no strange thing to see the Church suffering still under miserable misgovernment, or positive oppression, but should pray for help from God, who, though he connives at wickedness for a time, eventually comes to the deliverance of his children.