Psalm 94:1-3

New Catholic Bible

Footnotes

1. Psalm 94:1 Distressed at God’s delays in dispensing justice, the psalmist utters this cry of impatience. Why does God not intervene immediately against the wickedness that crushes the lowly? The reflection of this sage tells him that, despite appearances, the lot of the righteous is in the final analysis the only one that matters. Certainly God’s hour will come when the Lord will avenge his “heritage,” the true Israel, that is, the poor. He cannot remain indifferent to wrongs and evils that the innocent endure nor suffer the scorn of haughty spirits and wicked hearts. As “an avenging God,” he authorizes no one to launch individual reprisals; it is he himself who reestablishes a justice that is troubled by the arrogance of men to the plight of the poor. These comparative tableaus of the arrogant and the innocent have the astonishing power to challenge us: is our life marked by this sense of justice?
   Placed in a condition similar to that of the psalmist, we can pray this psalm to implore the divine intervention against those who exploit our brothers and sisters. At the same time, we can use it to proclaim that trials, far from crushing us, instruct us and enable us to discover true joy and happiness in the love of God (see Jn 15:9-11).
2. Psalm 94:1 An avenging God: i.e., one who redresses wrongs (see Deut 32:35, 41). It is God’s prerogative to avenge, as Paul declares in Rom 12:19.
3. Psalm 94:2 Repay: the central theme of the psalm: God is righteous and repays both the good and the bad as they deserve (see Pss 7:7; 28:4; 62:13; Lam 3:64; Joel 3:4).
4. Psalm 94:3 How long . . . ?: see note on Ps 6:4.