God of Vengeance, Shine Forth
Study note
The psalmist calls on God, the judge of the earth, to rise up and give the proud what they deserve. The wicked crush God's people, harm widows, orphans, and foreigners, and say God does not see.
1 Lord, you are the God who makes things right. God who sets things right, let your glory shine! O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself.
2 Stand up, Judge of the whole world! Give proud people exactly what they have coming. Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.
3 Lord, how much longer will the wicked go on? How much longer will evil people have their party? LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
4 They spout off with arrogant talk. Every troublemaker brags about themselves. How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?
5 Lord, they trample your people. They beat down the ones who belong to you. They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage.
6 They kill widows and foreigners who have come to live among us. They murder children who have no parents. They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
7 And then they say, "The Lord is not watching. The God of Jacob does not even notice." Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
God Knows Everything
Study note
The psalmist tells the foolish to wake up. The God who made the ear can hear. The God who made the eye can see. Blessed is the person God disciplines and teaches from his word.
8 Wake up, you senseless people! When are you going to start thinking, you fools? Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?
9 The God who designed the ear -- do you think he cannot hear? The God who shaped the eye -- do you think he cannot see? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?
10 The God who corrects entire nations -- do you think he will not punish you? He is the one who gives all knowledge to people in the first place. He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?
11 The Lord sees right through people's thoughts. He knows they amount to nothing. The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
12 How fortunate is the person you correct, Lord -- the one you teach using your own instructions, Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;
13 giving them calm during difficult days while a trap is being dug for those who do evil. That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.
14 The Lord will never walk away from his people. He will not abandon the ones who belong to him. For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.
15 Justice will be fair again someday, and every person with an honest heart will stand behind it. But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
God Will Not Abandon His People
Study note
Who will stand up for me against the wicked? If the Lord had not helped me, I would have been silenced. When anxious thoughts filled my heart, God's comfort brought me joy. The Lord will destroy the wicked.
16 Who stepped up to defend me against those who do evil? Who stood beside me against those troublemakers? Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
17 If the Lord had not come to help me, I would have came to be in the silent grave before long. Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
18 The moment I thought, "I am about to fall," your loyal love, Lord, held me steady. When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
19 When worries pile up inside me, your comfort soothes my soul and makes me glad. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.
20 Can a crooked government ever be on your side -- one that uses the law itself to cause harm? Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?
21 They gang up to attack good people and sentence the innocent to death. They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.
22 But the Lord is the strong fortress where I am safe, and my God is the solid rock I hide behind. But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.
23 He will turn their own evil back on them. He will silence them with their own wickedness. The Lord our God will put an end to them. 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.