Psalm 94:1–96:13

¹O Lord, the God of vengeance,

O God of vengeance, let your glorious justice shine forth!

²Arise, O Judge of the earth.

Give the proud what they deserve.

³How long, O Lord?

How long will the wicked be allowed to gloat?

⁴How long will they speak with arrogance?

How long will these evil people boast?

⁵They crush your people, Lord,

hurting those you claim as your own.

⁶They kill widows and foreigners

and murder orphans.

⁷“The Lord isn’t looking,” they say,

“and besides, the God of Israel doesn’t care.”

⁸Think again, you fools!

When will you finally catch on?

⁹Is he deaf—the one who made your ears?

Is he blind—the one who formed your eyes?

¹⁰He punishes the nations—won’t he also punish you?

He knows everything—doesn’t he also know what you are doing?

¹¹The Lord knows people’s thoughts;

he knows they are worthless!

¹²Joyful are those you discipline, Lord,

those you teach with your instructions.

¹³You give them relief from troubled times

until a pit is dug to capture the wicked.

¹⁴The Lord will not reject his people;

he will not abandon his special possession.

¹⁵Judgment will again be founded on justice,

and those with virtuous hearts will pursue it.

¹⁶Who will protect me from the wicked?

Who will stand up for me against evildoers?

¹⁷Unless the Lord had helped me,

I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave.

¹⁸I cried out, “I am slipping!”

but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me.

¹⁹When doubts filled my mind,

your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.

²⁰Can unjust leaders claim that God is on their side—

leaders whose decrees permit injustice?

²¹They gang up against the righteous

and condemn the innocent to death.

²²But the Lord is my fortress;

my God is the mighty rock where I hide.

²³God will turn the sins of evil people back on them.

He will destroy them for their sins.

The Lord our God will destroy them.

Psalm 95

¹Come, let us sing to the Lord!

Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.

²Let us come to him with thanksgiving.

Let us sing psalms of praise to him.

³For the Lord is a great God,

a great King above all gods.

⁴He holds in his hands the depths of the earth

and the mightiest mountains.

⁵The sea belongs to him, for he made it.

His hands formed the dry land, too.

⁶Come, let us worship and bow down.

Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,

⁷for he is our God.

We are the people he watches over,

the flock under his care.

If only you would listen to his voice today!

⁸The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah,

as they did at Massah in the wilderness.

⁹For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience,

even though they saw everything I did.

¹⁰For forty years I was angry with them, and I said,

‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me.

They refuse to do what I tell them.’

¹¹So in my anger I took an oath:

‘They will never enter my place of rest.’ ”

Psalm 96

¹Sing a new song to the Lord!

Let the whole earth sing to the Lord!

²Sing to the Lord; praise his name.

Each day proclaim the good news that he saves.

³Publish his glorious deeds among the nations.

Tell everyone about the amazing things he does.

⁴Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise!

He is to be feared above all gods.

⁵The gods of other nations are mere idols,

but the Lord made the heavens!

⁶Honor and majesty surround him;

strength and beauty fill his sanctuary.

⁷O nations of the world, recognize the Lord;

recognize that the Lord is glorious and strong.

⁸Give to the Lord the glory he deserves!

Bring your offering and come into his courts.

⁹Worship the Lord in all his holy splendor.

Let all the earth tremble before him.

¹⁰Tell all the nations, “The Lord reigns!”

The world stands firm and cannot be shaken.

He will judge all peoples fairly.

¹¹Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice!

Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!

¹²Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy!

Let the trees of the forest sing for joy

¹³before the Lord, for he is coming!

He is coming to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with justice,

and the nations with his truth.