Psalm 94:1–96:13

A Prayer for Retribution against Oppressors

94O Yahweh, God of vengeance,

God of vengeance, shine forth.

²Rise up, O Judge of the earth.

Repay upon the proud what is their rightful due.

³How long will the wicked, O Yahweh,

how long will the wicked exult?

⁴They gush words^a unrestrained.

All the evildoers boast.

⁵They crush your people, O Yahweh;

they oppress your inheritance.

⁶They kill widow and stranger,

and they murder orphans,

⁷while^b they say, “Yah^c does not see,”

and “The God of Jacob does not pay attention.”

⁸You pay attention, O brutes among the people.

And you fools, when will you show insight?

⁹Will the one who planted the ear not hear?

Will the one who formed the eye not see?

¹⁰Will the one who instructs nations not rebuke,

the one who teaches humankind knowledge?

¹¹Yahweh knows the thoughts of humankind,

that they are to no purpose.^d

¹²Blessed is the man, O Yah, whom you instruct

and teach from your law,

¹³to give him rest from days of trouble,

until a pit is dug for the wicked.

¹⁴For Yahweh will not abandon his people,

nor forsake his inheritance.

¹⁵For judgment will return to righteousness,^e

and all the upright in heart will follow after it.

¹⁶Who rose up for me against the wicked?

Who stood up for me against the workers of iniquity?

¹⁷If Yahweh had not been my help,

my soul would soon have dwelt in silence.

¹⁸When I thought,^f “My foot is slipping,”

your loyal love, O Yahweh, supported me.

¹⁹When my troubled thoughts were many within me,^g

your consolations cheered my soul.

²⁰Can there be allied with you a throne of destruction,

one that forms trouble based on statute?

²¹They band together against the life of the righteous,

and declare the blameless guilty of blood.^h

²²But Yahweh has become my high stronghold,

and my God has become my rock of refuge.

²³And he will repay on them their iniquity,

and byⁱ their evil he will destroy them.

Yahweh our God will destroy them.

A Call to Worship and Obey

95Come, let us sing for joy to Yahweh;

let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.

²Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving;

with songs let us shout joyfully to him.

³For Yahweh is the^a great God,

and the great king over all gods,

⁴in whose hand are the unexplored places^b of the earth,

and the heights of the mountains are his,

⁵to whom belongs the sea that he made, ^c

and the dry land that his hands formed.

⁶Come in, let us worship and bow down;

let us kneel before Yahweh, our maker.

⁷For he is our God,

and we are the people of his pasture

and the sheep of his hand.

Today^d if you will hear his voice:^e

⁸“Do not harden your heart as at Meribah,

as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,

⁹when your ancestors^f tried me.

They put me to the test,

even though they had seen my work.

¹⁰For forty years I loathed that generation,

and said, ‘They are a people whose heart wanders.

And my ways they do not know.’

¹¹Therefore I swore in my anger,

‘They shall surely not enter into my rest.’ ”

Yahweh the King Comes in Judgment

96Sing to^a Yahweh a new song;

sing to^b Yahweh, all the earth.

²Sing to^c Yahweh; bless his name.

Announce^d his salvation from day to day.

³Tell his glory among the nations,

his marvelous works among all the peoples.

⁴For Yahweh is great and very worthy of praise;

he is to be feared above all gods.

⁵For all the gods of the peoples are idols,^e

but Yahweh made the heavens.

⁶Splendor and majesty are before him;

strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

⁷Ascribe to Yahweh, you families of the peoples,

ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength.

⁸Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due his name;

bring an offering and come into his courts.

⁹Worship Yahweh in holy array;

tremble before him, all the earth.

¹⁰Say among the nations, “Yahweh is king!

Yes, the world is established so that it will not be moved.

He will judge the peoples fairly.”

¹¹Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice.

Let the sea with^f its fullness roar.

¹²Let the field with^g all that is in it exult.

Then all the trees of the forests will sing for joy

¹³before Yahweh, for he is coming;

for he is coming to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with righteousness,

and the peoples with his faithfulness.