Psalm 94

God the Judge of All

94Lord, you are a God who punishes; reveal your anger!

²You are the judge of all;

rise and give the proud what they deserve!

³How much longer will the wicked be glad?

How much longer, Lord?

⁴How much longer will criminals be proud

and boast about their crimes?

⁵They crush your people, Lord;

they oppress those who belong to you.

⁶They kill widows and orphans,

and murder the strangers who live in our land.

⁷They say, “The Lord does not see us;

the God of Israel does not notice.”

⁸My people, how can you be such stupid fools?

When will you ever learn?

⁹God made our ears—can’t he hear?

He made our eyes—can’t he see?

¹⁰He scolds the nations—won’t he punish them?^s

He is the teacher of all—hasn’t he any knowledge?

^11*The Lord knows what they think;

he knows how senseless their reasoning is.

¹²Lord, how happy are those you instruct,

the ones to whom you teach your law!

¹³You give them rest from days of trouble

until a pit is dug to trap the wicked.

¹⁴The Lord will not abandon his people;

he will not desert those who belong to him.

¹⁵Justice will again be found in the courts,

and all righteous people will support it.

¹⁶Who stood up for me against the wicked?

Who took my side against the evildoers?

¹⁷If the Lord had not helped me,

I would have gone quickly to the land of silence.^t

¹⁸I said, “I am falling”;

but your constant love, O Lord, held me up.

¹⁹Whenever I am anxious and worried,

you comfort me and make me glad.

²⁰You have nothing to do with corrupt judges,

who make injustice legal,

²¹who plot against good people

and sentence the innocent to death.

²²But the Lord defends me;

my God protects me.

²³He will punish them for their wickedness

and destroy them for their sins;

the Lord our God will destroy them.