Psalm 94–96

PSALM 94

¹O Lord, thou God of vengeance,

thou God of vengeance, shine forth!

²Rise up, O judge of the earth;

render to the proud their deserts!

³O Lord, how long shall the wicked,

how long shall the wicked exult?

⁴They pour out their arrogant words,

they boast, all the evildoers.

⁵They crush thy people, O Lord,

and afflict thy heritage.

⁶They slay the widow and the sojourner,

and murder the fatherless;

⁷and they say, “The Lord does not see;

the God of Jacob does not perceive.”

⁸Understand, O dullest of the people!

Fools, when will you be wise?

⁹He who planted the ear, does he not hear?

He who formed the eye, does he not see?

¹⁰He who chastens the nations, does he not chastise?

He who teaches men knowledge,

¹¹the Lord, knows the thoughts of man,

that they are but a breath.

¹²Blessed is the man whom thou dost chasten, O Lord,

and whom thou dost teach out of thy law

¹³to give him respite from days of trouble,

until a pit is dug for the wicked.

¹⁴For the Lord will not forsake his people;

he will not abandon his heritage;

¹⁵for justice will return to the righteous,

and all the upright in heart will follow it.

¹⁶Who rises up for me against the wicked?

Who stands up for me against evildoers?

¹⁷If the Lord had not been my help,

my soul would soon have dwelt in the land of silence.

¹⁸When I thought, “My foot slips,”

thy steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.

¹⁹When the cares of my heart are many,

thy consolations cheer my soul.

²⁰Can wicked rulers be allied with thee,

who frame mischief by statute?

²¹They band together against the life of the righteous,

and condemn the innocent to death.

²²But the Lord has become my stronghold,

and my God the rock of my refuge.

²³He will bring back on them their iniquity

and wipe them out for their wickedness;

the Lord our God will wipe them out.

PSALM 95

¹O come, let us sing to the Lord;

let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

²Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;

let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

³For the Lord is a great God,

and a great King above all gods.

⁴In his hand are the depths of the earth;

the heights of the mountains are his also.

⁵The sea is his, for he made it;

for his hands formed the dry land.

⁶O come, let us worship and bow down,

let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

⁷For he is our God,

and we are the people of his pasture,

and the sheep of his hand.

O that today you would hearken to his voice!

⁸Harden not your hearts, as at Meribah,

as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,

⁹when your fathers tested me,

and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.

¹⁰For forty years I loathed that generation

and said, “They are a people who err in heart,

and they do not regard my ways.”

¹¹Therefore I swore in my anger

that they should not enter my rest.

PSALM 96

¹O sing to the Lord a new song;

sing to the Lord, all the earth!

²Sing to the Lord, bless his name;

tell of his salvation from day to day.

³Declare his glory among the nations,

his marvelous works among all the peoples!

⁴For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

he is to be feared above all gods.

⁵For all the gods of the peoples are idols;

but the Lord made the heavens.

⁶Honor and majesty are before him;

strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

⁷Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,

ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!

⁸Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;

bring an offering, and come into his courts!

⁹Worship the Lord in holy array;

tremble before him, all the earth!

¹⁰Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!

Yea, the world is established, it shall never be moved;

he will judge the peoples with equity.”

¹¹Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;

let the sea roar, and all that fills it;

¹²let the field exult, and everything in it!

Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy

¹³before the Lord, for he comes,

for he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with righteousness,

and the peoples with his truth.