Psalms 94 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Temple period, fitting a time when corrupt officials held power in Judah, plausibly the seventh century BC
Location
Judah, with the courts and the seat of judgment in view alongside the widows and orphans being wronged
Audience
Israelites suffering under officials who used the legal system against them
Situation
A plea for God, called the God of retribution, to rise and judge the earth because arrogant rulers are crushing the vulnerable while assuming God neither sees nor cares. The middle turns to comfort, saying God will not abandon his people and is a stronghold for the one he disciplines.
Key Background
Widows, orphans, and resident foreigners had no family protector in Israelite society and depended entirely on the courts, so killing or defrauding them was the standard shorthand for a legal system gone rotten. The psalm's sharpest argument is a piece of plain logic used against the corrupt, that the God who made the ear must hear and the God who formed the eye must see. The phrase about a throne of destruction allied with God by statute points to officials writing unjust laws and then claiming divine backing for them, a charge the prophets also made.
God of payback, God of out.
Rise up, of the earth, give the what
How Yahweh? How will the
They out arrogant words, every one of them with cruelty.
Yahweh, they your people, they grind down the who to you.
They kill the and the immigrant, they murder the
And they say, "Yahweh doesn't see. The of doesn't even notice."
Wake up, you most of people. You — when will you ever understand?
The one who the ear — can he not hear? The one who the eye — can he not see?
The one who nations — can he not correct? The one who humanity — does he lack
Yahweh knows the of humans — they are nothing but a
is for the one you Yahweh, the one you teach from your —
giving them from the worst days, until a is dug for the wicked.
Because Yahweh will not his people, he will not walk away from those who to
Because will return to right, and everyone with an will follow it.
Who will up for me against those doing evil? Who will take my side against those working cruelty?
If Yahweh hadn't been my help, I would have quickly ended up in the of
When I said, "My foot is slipping," your held me up, Yahweh.
When multiplied inside me, your brought joy to my
Can a be your ally — one that and it
They up the of the just and the to death.
But Yahweh has become my fortress, my God, the where I
He will their on them and them out with their own evil. Yahweh our God will them out.