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Psalm 94God the Avenger of the Righteous1 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. New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
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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. |