Psalm 94:4-11
New English Translation
4 They spew out threats[a] and speak defiantly;
all the evildoers boast.[b]
5 O Lord, they crush your people;
they oppress the nation that belongs to you.[c]
6 They kill the widow and the resident foreigner,
and they murder the fatherless.[d]
7 Then they say, “The Lord does not see this;
the God of Jacob does not take notice of it.”[e]
8 Take notice of this,[f] you ignorant people.[g]
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?[h]
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.[i]
Footnotes
- Psalm 94:4 tn Heb “they gush forth [words].”
- Psalm 94:4 tn The Hitpael of אָמַר (ʾamar) occurs only here (and perhaps in Isa 61:6).
- Psalm 94:5 tn Or “your inheritance.”
- Psalm 94:6 tn The Hebrew noun יָתוֹם (yatom) refers to one who has lost his father (not necessarily his mother, see Ps 109:9). Because they were so vulnerable and were frequently exploited, fatherless children are often mentioned as epitomizing the oppressed (see Pss 10:14; 68:5; 82:3; 146:9; as well as Job 6:27; 22:9; 24:3, 9; 29:12; 31:17, 21).
- Psalm 94:7 tn Heb “does not understand.”
- Psalm 94:8 tn Heb “understand.” The verb used in v. 7 is repeated here for rhetorical effect. The people referred to here claim God is ignorant of their actions, but the psalmist corrects their faulty viewpoint.
- Psalm 94:8 tn Heb “[you] brutish among the people.”
- Psalm 94:9 tn Heb “The one who plants an ear, does he not hear? The one who forms an eye, does he not see?”
- Psalm 94:11 tn Heb “the Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are emptiness.” The psalmist thinks specifically of the “thoughts” expressed in v. 7.
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