Psalms 94:1-23

Psalms 90:106

Gordon Churchyard

God, Show that You Are a Great *Judge!

Psalms 94

Jesus said, "I am a good *judge. I do not do what I want to do. I obey the words of (God) that sent me". (John 5:30)

Psalms 94

v1 *LORD, God, you are a great *judge.
So, God, show people that you are a great *judge!

v2 *Judge of the earth, do something!
Give to *proud people what they ought to get.

v3 How long will bad people, *LORD,
how long will bad people laugh (at good people)?

v4 (The bad people) speak many *proud words.
All the bad people are always saying that they are great.

v5 (The bad people) are as a heavy weight on your people, *LORD.
They are cruel to the people that belong to you.

v6 They kill *widows and foreign people that live here.
They *murder children that have no fathers.

v7 They say, "The *LORD is not looking (at us).
The God of Jacob will not see (what we are doing)".

v8 Be careful, all you fools among the people!
Fools... learn to do the right thing!

v9 Does (God) that made the ear not hear?
Does he that made the eye not see?

v10 Will he that rules the world not *punish (our bad leaders)?
He teaches people what they know.

v11 The *LORD knows people’s thoughts.
(Their thoughts) are worth nothing.

v12 The man that the *LORD rules is very happy.
(The *LORD) teaches him (God’s) *laws.

v13 You (*LORD) give him rest from days of trouble,
until someone digs a *pit for bad men.

v14 For the *LORD will not leave his people;
he will not forget people that belong to him.

v15 Rulers will do what is fair
and people with good in their hearts will do the same.

v16 Who fought for me against the bad people?
Who kept me safe from the people that did wrong things?

v17 Unless the *LORD had given me help,
I would soon have gone to live in the quiet (place of death).

v18 When I thought that my feet were nearly falling,
your kind love, *LORD, kept me safe.

v19 When I was not happy in my mind,
you made me strong and happy again.

v20 Can you (ever) agree with bad rulers?
(No! Because) their rules make people sad.

v21 They join together against good people.
They say that people that have done nothing wrong must die.

v22 But the *LORD is my strong place.
And my God is a rock where I can hide and be safe.

v23 He will *punish the bad (leaders).
He will destroy them because they are so bad.
The *LORD our God will destroy them.

The Story of Psalms 94

Bible students are not sure who wrote Psalms 94 or when. Maybe David wrote it. Maybe the psalmist (person who wrote the psalm) lived just before the exile. The exile was when the army from Babylon took the *Jews (people that were born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children) away from Judah. They made them live in Babylon. 70 years later, they came home again. Perhaps the *psalmist wrote it then.

Psalms 93 - 99 are "*royal psalms". Royal describes someone who is a king. Bible students call these psalms "*royal" because they call God "king". He is the ruler (or king) of everything! But Psalms 94 is not a *royal psalm. It is between two psalms that are *royal psalms. Why is it here? Because it tells us that God will destroy kings and rulers that do not obey him. Then everyone will see that God is king!

What Psalms 94 means

Study the psalm in 4 parts:

• verses 1 - 7: the *psalmist asks God to do something about bad leaders.

• verses 8 - 11: the *psalmist tells the bad rulers this. God does see what you are doing.

• verses 12 - 15: the *psalmist describes life when rulers are good.

• verses 16 - 23: the *psalmist tells us what God has done for him.

In many verses in this psalm, you will read the word *LORD, with 4 capital letters. This translates the *Hebrew word Yahweh (or Jehovah). The *psalmist wrote Psalms 94 in the *Hebrew language. Hebrew was the language that the *Jews used. The word does not mean "master", as the English word "*lord" does. It means "always alive". It is a special word. People that have agreed to love and obey God call him "*LORD". It is the covenant name of God. People make a covenant with God when they agree to love and obey him.

In verses 1-7, the *psalmist is *complaining. Complaining means "saying that something is wrong". He is *complaining about the "bad people", verse 3. Who are these bad people? The bad people before the exile, when the *Jews went to Babylon, were foreign leaders. After the exile, the *Jewish leaders were the bad people. Because we do not know the date of the psalm, we say that they are all bad leaders, foreign or *Jewish. What is the *psalmist *complaining about? That God is doing nothing about it!

In verse 1 the *psalmist says, "You are a great *judge". A judge is someone that decides who is good and who is bad. Because God does nothing, the *psalmist says, "show people that you are a great *judge", verse 1. The *Hebrew word for "great *judge" really means "*punish bad people". Because God is *judge of all the earth, the *psalmist says: "Give to *proud people what they ought to receive", verse 2. Proud people think that they are great (when often they are not). These *proud people do bad things, verses 4-7. They are as a heavy weight on God's people, verse 5. This means that God’s people have hurt and pain. The bad people kill widows and *murder children, verse 6. Widows are married women, but their husbands are dead. Murder is another word for kill. The worst thing is in verse 7. They say that God is not looking. God will not see what they are doing. So the *psalmist says to God "Do something!" (verse 2). He means "*punish these bad people". Punish means "hurt them because they have been bad people". This is what "they ought to receive", (verse 2).

In verses 8-11, the *psalmist speaks to the bad leaders. He tells them that they are fools. This does not mean that they are silly, or cannot think. It means that they are fools to think that God does not see what they are doing. In verses 8-9, the *psalmist asks three questions. The answer to them all is "yes"! Yes, God can hear. Yes, God can see. And yes, God will *punish bad leaders. The *LORD God knows that what these people think is worth nothing. The *Hebrew word "nothing" is "abel". It means "air". We often translate it "foolish" or "silly".

Then, in verses 12-15, the *psalmist talks about good people. They have "good in their hearts", (verse 15). The *Jews said that you thought in your heart. So, these people think good things. The *LORD rules them, (verse 12). This means that God is their king. Remember, the psalms before and after Psalms 94 are *royal psalms. "Laws", in verse 12, is another word for "rules". But God's laws are special rules. We find them in the Bible. The *Hebrew word for "law" is "torah". They called the first 5 books of the Bible the Torah, also Isaiah, Jeremiah and other prophets. (Prophets were people that spoke God’s words. Some prophets wrote books in the Bible.)

In verse 13, we read about "the pit". The *Jews thought that when you died you went to Sheol. Sheol was a dark place under the ground. In it was a big hole. They called it "the pit". It was where very bad people went. So, some people translate "until someone digs a pit" as "until they die". When that happens God promises good things for his people in verses 14 and 15.

There is a change in verses 16-23. The *psalmist is now writing about himself. Some Bible students say that this is a separate psalm. Other students do not agree. It does not matter. God speaks to us through both parts of the psalm. Maybe the *psalmist was the king! That would make Psalms 94 a *royal psalm also.

The *psalmist had trouble. He does not say what it was. Who fought for him and kept him safe, (verse 16)? It was the *LORD, (verse 17), so the *psalmist did not die. When the *psalmist nearly fell, God made him safe, (verse 18). When he was not happy, God made him happy again, (verse 19). A better word for happy here is "confident". It means that you know everything will be OK. The psalm ends where it began. In verse 2, the *psalmist asks God to *punish bad leaders. Now he is confident that God will do that, (verse 23).

Something to do

1. Ask God to be your king. Tell him that you will love him and obey him. Then he will be your *LORD.

2. Psalms 94:22 says, "God is my strong place (or fortress), and a rock". Read Psalms 18 and look for these words. How can God be a rock?

Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke when they wrote the Psalms of David.
Jew ~ someone who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
judge ~ say who is right and who is wrong; or, the person that says who is right and who is wrong.
judge ~ say who is right and who is wrong; or, the person that says who is right and who is wrong.
Lord ~ a name for God; it means he has authority, or "master"; Adonai in Hebrew. Look also at LORD below.
LORD ~ a special name for God that his people use. It is the covenant name of God. In Hebrew it is Yahweh or Jehovah. Look after Psalm 25 in Book 1 of the Psalms of David for more about the names of God.
Adonai ~ Lord or master (or better, my Lord or my master) in Hebrew.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke when they wrote the Psalms of David.
covenant ~ what God and his people agreed.
Yahweh ~ the covenant name for God. Most Bibles translate it LORD with 4 capital letters. It means something like "I am" or "always alive".
Jehovah ~ how some languages say Yahweh, one of the names of God in Hebrew.
Jew ~ someone who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
like ~ as.
proud ~ when someone thinks that he is better than other people.
widow ~ woman whose husband is dead.
murder ~ kill.
punish ~ hurt someone because they have not obeyed the rules.
laws ~ the rules in a country. God’s law(s) (Psalm 94,105) are in the Bible.
Pit ~ the worst bit of Sheol. (A pit is a hole in the ground.)
Sheol ~ where Jews said that you went when you died.
Jew ~ someone who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
Jew ~ someone who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
psalmist ~ the person that wrote a psalm (or psalms).
royal ~ a word that describes a king.
Lord ~ a name for God; it means he has authority, or "master"; Adonai in Hebrew. Look also at LORD below.
LORD ~ a special name for God that his people use. It is the covenant name of God. In Hebrew it is Yahweh or Jehovah. Look after Psalm 25 in Book 1 of the Psalms of David for more about the names of God.
Adonai ~ Lord or master (or better, my Lord or my master) in Hebrew.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke when they wrote the Psalms of David.
covenant ~ what God and his people agreed.
Yahweh ~ the covenant name for God. Most Bibles translate it LORD with 4 capital letters. It means something like "I am" or "always alive".
Jehovah ~ how some languages say Yahweh, one of the names of God in Hebrew.
Jew ~ someone who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
like ~ as.
complaining ~ saying that something is wrong.
Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything to do with a Jew.
Jew ~ someone who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.