Psalm 9411

94:1 O Lord, the God who avenges!

O God who avenges, reveal your splendor!1

94:2 Rise up, O judge of the earth!

Pay back the proud!

94:3 O Lord, how long will the wicked,

how long will the wicked celebrate?2

94:4 They spew out threats3 and speak defiantly;

all the evildoers boast.4

94:5 O Lord, they crush your people;

they oppress the nation that belongs to you.5

94:6 They kill the widow and the one residing outside his native land,

and they murder the fatherless.6

94:7 Then they say, “The Lord does not see this;

the God of Jacob does not take notice of it.”7

94:8 Take notice of this,8 you ignorant people!9

You fools, when will you ever understand?

94:9 Does the one who makes the human ear not hear?

Does the one who forms the human eye not see?10

94:10 Does the one who disciplines the nations not punish?

He is the one who imparts knowledge to human beings!

94:11 The Lord knows that

peoples’ thoughts are morally bankrupt.11

94:12 How blessed is the one12 whom you instruct, O Lord,

the one whom you teach from your law,

94:13 in order to protect him from times of trouble,13

until the wicked are destroyed.14

94:14 Certainly15 the Lord does not forsake his people;

he does not abandon the nation that belongs to him.16

94:15 For justice will prevail,17

and all the morally upright18 will be vindicated.19

94:16 Who will rise up to defend me20 against the wicked?

Who will stand up for me against the evildoers?21

94:17 If the Lord had not helped me,

I would have laid down in the silence of death.22

94:18 If I say, “My foot is slipping,”

your loyal love, O Lord, supports me.

94:19 When worries threaten to overwhelm me,23

your soothing touch makes me happy.24

94:20 Cruel rulers25 are not your allies,

those who make oppressive laws.26

94:21 They conspire against27 the blameless,28

and condemn to death the innocent.29

94:22 But the Lord will protect me,30

and my God will shelter me.31

94:23 He will pay them back for their sin.32

He will destroy them because of33 their evil;

the Lord our God will destroy them.