Psalms

The fourth book of Psalms, song 94, New English Translation and King James Version

Psalm 94

New English Translation

   1 O LORD, the God who avenges! O God who avenges, reveal your splendor!
   2 Rise up, O judge of the earth! Pay back the proud!
   3 O LORD, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked celebrate?
   4 They spew out threats and speak defiantly; all the evildoers boast.
   5 O LORD, they crush your people; they oppress the nation that belongs to you.
   6 They kill the widow and the one residing outside his native land, and they murder the fatherless.
   7 Then they say, "The LORD does not see this; the God of Jacob does not take notice of it."
   8 Take notice of this, you ignorant people! You fools, when will you ever understand?
   9 Does the one who makes the human ear not hear? Does the one who forms the human eye not see?
   10 Does the one who disciplines the nations not punish? He is the one who imparts knowledge to human beings!
   11 The LORD knows that peoples' thoughts are morally bankrupt.
   12 How blessed is the one whom you instruct, O LORD, the one whom you teach from your law,
   13 in order to protect him from times of trouble, until the wicked are destroyed.
   14 Certainly the LORD does not forsake his people; he does not abandon the nation that belongs to him.
   15 For justice will prevail, and all the morally upright will be vindicated.
   16 Who will rise up to defend me against the wicked? Who will stand up for me against the evildoers?
   17 If the LORD had not helped me, I would have laid down in the silence of death.
   18 If I say, "My foot is slipping," your loyal love, O LORD, supports me.
   19 When worries threaten to overwhelm me, your soothing touch makes me happy.
   20 Cruel rulers are not your allies, those who make oppressive laws.
   21 They conspire against the blameless, and condemn to death the innocent.
   22 But the LORD will protect me, and my God will shelter me.
   23 He will pay them back for their sin. He will destroy them because of their evil; the LORD our God will destroy them.

King James Version

   1 O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself.
   2 Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.
   3 LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
   4 How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?
   5 They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage.
   6 They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
   7 Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
   8 Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?
   9 He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?
   10 He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?
   11 The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
   12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;
   13 That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.
   14 For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.
   15 But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
   16 Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
   17 Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
   18 When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
   19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.
   20 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?
   21 They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.
   22 But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.
   23 And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.