8 Be sensible, ye senseless among the people !
And ye fools, when will ye become wise ?
9 He who hath planted the ear, ought He not to hear ?
Or He who formed the eye, ought He not to see ?
10 He who chastiseth the nations, ought He not to reprove,
He who teacheth men knowledge ?
11 Jahve knoweth the thoughts of men
That they are vanity.
12 Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest, Jah,
And teachest out of Thy Law ;
13 To give him rest from the days of adversity,
Until the pit be digged for the evil-doer.
14 For Jahve doth not thrust away His people,
And He doth not forsake His inheritance.
15 But right must turn unto righteousness,
And all the upright in heart shall follow it.
16 Who would rise up for me against the evil-doers?
Who would stand up for me against the workers of
17 If Jahve had not been my help, [iniquity?
My soul would quickly have dwelt in the silence of death.
18 If I say : My foot tottereth,
Then, Jahve, thy loving-kindness npholdeth me.
19 In the multitude of my cares within me
Thy comforts delight my soul.
20 Hath the judgment-seat of corruption fellowship with Thee,
Which frameth trouble by decree ?
21 They press in upon the soul of the righteous,
And condemn innocent blood.
22 But Jahve is a fortress for me,
And my God is the high rock of my refuge.
23 He turneth back upon them their iniquity,
And for their wickedness He will destroy them,
Jahve our God will destroy them.
This Psalm, akin to Psa 92:1-15 and Psa 93:1-5 by the community of the anadiplosis, bears the inscription Ψαλμὸς ᾠδῆς τῷ Δαυίδ, τετράδι σαββάτου in the lxx. It is also a Talmudic tradition[1]
- ↑ According to B. Erachin 11a, at the time of the Chaldaean destruction of Jerusalem the Levites on their pulpits were singing this 94th Psalm, and as they came to the words “and He turneth back upon them their iniquity” (Psa 94:23), the enemies pressed into the Temple, so that they were not able to sing the closing words, “Jahve, our God, will destroy them.” To the scruple that Ps 94 is a Wednesday, not a Sunday, Psalm (that fatal day, however, was a Sunday, מוצאי שׁבת), it is replied, it may have been a lamentation song that had just been put into their mouths by the circumstances of that time (אלייא בעלמא דעלמא דנפל להו בפומייהו).
