Psalm 94

Abraham Coles

3 How long, O Lord, how long
Shall wicked men exult?
4 In saucy triumph speak hard words,
And cruelly insult?

5 They grind the people, they
Thy heritage oppress;
6 The widow and the stranger kill,
Murder the fatherless.

7 They say: "Jah will not see,
The God of Jacob know" —
8 Reflect, ye brutish ones; ye fools,
When will ye wiser grow?

9 Who made the ear and eye,
Shall He not hear and see?
10 From Him who gives the power to know,
Shall knowledge hidden be?

11 He knows men's thoughts are vain.
And like the breath they draw:
12 Happy is he whom Thou dost warn,
And teach. Lord, from Thy law.

13 Thy chastisements are meant
To profit not to grieve,
Against the time the pit is dug
The wicked shall receive.

14 The Lord will not cast off
His people, nor forsake:
15 For banished Justice shall return,
And righteous judgment make.

16 Who will for me against
The evil-doers rise?
For me stand up against those who
Iniquity devise?

17 Unless Jehovah were
A present help for me.
My soul would soon in Silence dwell —
My struggles ended be.

18 When I said, My foot slips,
Thy mercy, Lord, was near;
19 Mid whirling thoughts Thy comforts did
My troubled spirit cheer.

20 Shall Crime beside Thee sit,
High seated on a throne,
To frame iniquity by law
And right be overthrown?

21 They haste to congregate,
They rush in crowds, they hem
Souls of the righteous in, the blood
Of innocence condemn.

22 But God has been my Tower,
My Rock, my sure Defence;
23 He in their sins will cut them off,
Their evil recompense.