Psalm 94

1. LORD, God of vengeance, our Defender,
   in righteousness your judgment render!
   Rise up, O Judge of all the earth;
   reveal your justice and shine forth!
   Give to the proud their just reward.
   How long must we still wait, O LORD?
   
   
2. How long yet will the evildoer
   exult and revel in his power?
   Hear how the wicked boast aloud;
   of all their misdeeds they are proud.
   They crush your people in their rage
   and they oppress your heritage.
   
   
3. When will you come as our avenger?
   They slay the widow and the stranger
   and put to death the fatherless;
   the poor and helpless they oppress.
   They say, “The LORD, he does not see.
   The God of Jacob, where is he?”
   
   
4. You fools who lack all comprehension,
   mark these my words and pay attention.
   When will you senseless ones be wise?
   Does he who fashioned ears and eyes
   not have the pow’r to see and hear?
   Is he not one whom you should fear?
   
   
5. Does he who disciplines the nations
   not see your sins and provocations?
   Does he who teaches all mankind
   not probe the depths of every mind?
   The LORD well knows that in the end
   your thoughts are but a puff of wind.
   
   
6. Blest is the man by you instructed
   and by your discipline corrected –
   the one to whom you teach your ways
   to grant relief in troubled days,
   till for the wicked, one and all,
   a pit is dug in which they fall.
   
   
7. God will not leave his own forsaken;
   his love is steadfast, never shaken.
   His people he again will bless
   with judgment based on righteousness,
   and all who have an upright heart
   will give his justice their support.
   
   
8. Who will, when wicked men attack me,
   be on my side, stand up and back me?
   Who will defend me in the strife
   when foes conspire to seek my life?
   Without God’s help I soon would have
   my dwelling in the silent grave.
   
   
9. When I cried out, “My foot is slipping,”
   you were at hand for my safekeeping,
   and in my great anxiety
   your steadfast love supported me.
   Whenever I on you would call,
   your consolation cheered my soul.
   
   
10. O LORD, can wicked rulers ever
    serve you as allies, gain your favour?
    They frame their mischief by decree
    and make of laws a mockery.
    They band together and consent
    to put to death the innocent.
    
    
11. The Lord is my defence and shelter,
    my God the rock that will not falter.
    Our enemies he will requite
    for what was wicked in his sight.
    All evildoers he will rout;
    the LORD our God will wipe them out.