Psalm 94-96

The Message

^3-4 God, the wicked get away with murder—
    how long will you let this go on?
They brag and boast
    and crow about their crimes!

^5-7 They walk all over your people, God,
    exploit and abuse your precious people.
They take out anyone who gets in their way;
    if they can’t use them, they kill them.
They think, “God isn’t looking,
    Jacob’s God is out to lunch.”

^8-11 Well, think again, you idiots,
    fools—how long before you get smart?
Do you think Ear-Maker doesn’t hear,
    Eye-Shaper doesn’t see?
Do you think the trainer of nations doesn’t correct,
    the teacher of Adam doesn’t know?
God knows, all right—
    knows your stupidity,
    sees your shallowness.

^12-15 How blessed the man you train, God,
    the woman you instruct in your Word,
Providing a circle of quiet within the clamor of evil,
    while a jail is being built for the wicked.
God will never walk away from his people,
    never desert his precious people.
Rest assured that justice is on its way
    and every good heart put right.

^16-19 Who stood up for me against the wicked?
    Who took my side against evil workers?
If God hadn’t been there for me,
    I never would have made it.
The minute I said, “I’m slipping, I’m falling,”
    your love, God, took hold and held me fast.
When I was upset and beside myself,
    you calmed me down and cheered me up.

^20-23 Can Misrule have anything in common with you?
    Can Troublemaker pretend to be on your side?
They ganged up on good people,
    plotted behind the backs of the innocent.
But God became my hideout,
    God was my high mountain retreat,
Then boomeranged their evil back on them:
    for their evil ways he wiped them out,
    our God cleaned them out for good.
95 ^1-2 Come, let’s shout praises to God,
    raise the roof for the Rock who saved us!
Let’s march into his presence singing praises,
    lifting the rafters with our hymns!

^3-5 And why? Because God is the best,
    High King over all the gods.
In one hand he holds deep caves and caverns,
    in the other hand grasps the high mountains.
He made Ocean—he owns it!
    His hands sculpted Earth!

^6-7 So come, let us worship: bow before him,
    on your knees before God, who made us!
Oh yes, he’s our God,
    and we’re the people he pastures, the flock he feeds.

^7-11 Drop everything and listen, listen as he speaks:
    “Don’t turn a deaf ear as in the Bitter Uprising,
As on the day of the Wilderness Test,
    when your ancestors turned and put me to the test.
For forty years they watched me at work among them,
    as over and over they tried my patience.
And I was provoked—oh, was I provoked!
    ‘Can’t they keep their minds on God for five minutes?
    Do they simply refuse to walk down my road?’
Exasperated, I exploded,
    ‘They’ll never get where they’re headed,
    never be able to sit down and rest.’”
96 ^1-2 Sing God a brand-new song!
Earth and everyone in it, sing!
Sing to God—worship God!

^2-3 Shout the news of his victory from sea to sea,
Take the news of his glory to the lost,
News of his wonders to one and all!

^4-5 For God is great, and worth a thousand Hallelujahs.
His furious beauty puts the other gods to shame;
Pagan gods are mere tatters and rags.

^5-6 God made the heavens—
Royal splendor radiates from him,
A powerful beauty sets him apart.

⁷ Bravo, God, Bravo!
Everyone join in the great shout: Encore!
In awe before the beauty, in awe before the might.

^8-9 Bring gifts and celebrate,
Bow before the beauty of God,
Then to your knees—everyone worship!

¹⁰ Get out the message—God Rules!
He put the world on a firm foundation;
He treats everyone fair and square.

¹¹ Let’s hear it from Sky,
With Earth joining in,
And a huge round of applause from Sea.

¹² Let Wilderness turn cartwheels,
Animals, come dance,
Put every tree of the forest in the choir—

¹³ An extravaganza before God as he comes,
As he comes to set everything right on earth,
Set everything right, treat everyone fair.