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1O Lord , the God who avenges!
O God who avenges, reveal your splendor!
2Rise up, O judge of the earth!
Pay back the proud!
3O Lord , how long will the wicked,
how long will the wicked celebrate?
4They spew out threats and speak defiantly;[#tn Heb “they gush forth [words].”]
all the evildoers boast.
5O Lord , they crush your people;
they oppress the nation that belongs to you.
6They kill the widow and the one residing outside his native land,
and they murder the fatherless.
7Then they say, “The Lord does not see this;
the God of Jacob does not take notice of it.”
8Take notice of this, you ignorant people![#tn Heb “understand.” The verb used in v. 7 is repeated here for rhetorical effect. The people referred to here claim God is ignorant of their actions, but the psalmist corrects their faulty viewpoint.; #tn Heb “[you] brutish among the people.”]
You fools, when will you ever understand?
9Does the one who makes the human ear not hear?
Does the one who forms the human eye not see?
10Does the one who disciplines the nations not punish?
He is the one who imparts knowledge to human beings!
11The Lord knows that
peoples’ thoughts are morally bankrupt.
12How blessed is the one whom you instruct, O Lord ,[#tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man.” Hebrew wisdom literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender and age specific “man” with the more neutral “one.” The generic masculine pronoun is used in v. 2.]
the one whom you teach from your law,
13in order to protect him from times of trouble,[#tn Heb “to give him rest from the days of trouble.”]
until the wicked are destroyed.
14Certainly the Lord does not forsake his people;[#tn Or “for.”]
he does not abandon the nation that belongs to him.
15For justice will prevail,[#tn Heb “for judgment will return to justice.”]
and all the morally upright will be vindicated.
16Who will rise up to defend me against the wicked?[#tn Heb “for me.”]
Who will stand up for me against the evildoers?
17If the Lord had not helped me,
I would have laid down in the silence of death.
18If I say, “My foot is slipping,”
your loyal love, O Lord , supports me.
19When worries threaten to overwhelm me,[#tn Heb “when my worries are many within me.”]
your soothing touch makes me happy.
20Cruel rulers are not your allies,[#tn Heb “a throne of destruction.” “Throne” stands here by metonymy for rulers who occupy thrones.]
those who make oppressive laws.
21They conspire against the blameless,[#tn Or “attack.”; #tn Heb “the life of the blameless.”]
and condemn to death the innocent.
22But the Lord will protect me,[#tn Heb “and the Lord has become my elevated place.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive is used in a rhetorical sense, describing an anticipated development as if it were already reality.]
and my God will shelter me.
23He will pay them back for their sin.[#tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive is used in a rhetorical sense, describing an anticipated development as if it were already reality.]
He will destroy them because of their evil;
the Lord our God will destroy them.