Rise up, you judge of the earth. Pay back the proud what they deserve.
Parallel Translations
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Rise up, you judge of the earth. Pay back the proud what they deserve.
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Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.
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Lift up Thyself, Thou Judge of the earth; render to the proud their recompense.
Cross-references (21)
Passages linked to Psalms 94:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 7:6 Arise, Yahweh, in your anger. Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries. Awake for me. You have commanded judgment.
- Psalms 31:23 Oh love Yahweh, all you his saints! Yahweh preserves the faithful, and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly.
- 2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
- Genesis 18:25 May it be far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?”
- Micah 5:9 Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries, and let all of your enemies be cut off.
- John 5:22-23 For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.
- 1 Peter 5:5 Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another; for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Job 40:11-12 Pour out the fury of your anger. Look at everyone who is proud, and bring him low. Look at everyone who is proud, and humble him. Crush the wicked in their place.
- Psalms 50:6 The heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge.
- Psalms 68:1 Let God arise! Let his enemies be scattered! Let them who hate him also flee before him.
- Psalms 74:22 Arise, God! Plead your own cause. Remember how the foolish man mocks you all day.
- Isaiah 2:11-12 The lofty looks of man will be brought low, the arrogance of men will be bowed down, and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day. For there will be a day of Yahweh of Armies for all that is proud and arrogant, and for all that is lifted up; and it shall be brought low:
- Isaiah 2:17 The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the arrogance of men shall be brought low; and Yahweh alone shall be exalted in that day.
- Isaiah 10:12 Therefore it will happen that when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his arrogant looks.
- Isaiah 37:23 Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.
- Isaiah 37:29 Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.
- Isaiah 37:36-38 Then Yahweh’s angel went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, went away, returned to Nineveh, and stayed there. As he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.
- Jeremiah 50:31-32 “Behold, I am against you, you proud one,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies; “for your day has come, the time that I will visit you. The proud one will stumble and fall, and no one will raise him up. I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour all who are around him.”
- Daniel 4:37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven; for all his works are truth, and his ways justice; and those who walk in pride he is able to abase.
- Daniel 5:22-24 “You, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, but have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. You have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which don’t see, or hear, or know; and you have not glorified the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways. Then the part of the hand was sent from before him, and this writing was inscribed.
- Revelation 18:6-8 Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix to her double. However much she glorified herself, and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.’ Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is strong.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 94:2 Lift up thyself, thou judge of the…
Psa 94:2 Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.
Ver. 2. Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth] Judges, as they ascend the tribunal, so when to pass sentence they usually stand up. See Isa 33:10. And hereunto the psalmist alludeth.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Lift up thyself; either,
Lift up thyself; either,
1. Ascend thy tribunal to pronounce the sentence. Or,
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2. Arise from thy seat, and bestir thyself to punish thy proud enemies, as it here follows.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Lift up thyself, thou, O Judge of the earth,....…
Lift up thyself, thou, O Judge of the earth,.... A title very proper to Christ, and which is given him by Abraham, Gen 18:25, who then appeared to him in an human form, and with whom he was conversing; he judges his own people on earth, all judgment being committed to him by the Father; he judges and chastises them, that they may not be condemned with the world; he judges and distinguishes between them and the world; he protects and defends them, he pleads their cause, and avenges them on their enemies: and for this purpose he is requested to "lift up" himself; being in the apprehension of his people as one laid down and asleep, quite negligent and careless of them; and therefore they desire that he would awake and arise, and exert his power, and show himself higher than their enemies; that he would mount his throne, and execute justice and judgment on the wicked, agreeably to his character and office:
render a reward to the proud; an evil reward, as the Targum; to proud persecutors of the church, who through their pride persecute the poor saints; and to render tribulation to them is but just with the Lord; to antichrist, that exalts himself above all that is called God, and to all his haughty and ambitious dependents and followers, cardinals, bishops, priests, &c.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. Lift up thyself] Exert thy power.
Verse 2. Lift up thyself] Exert thy power.
Render a reward to the proud.] To the Babylonians, who oppress and insult us.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Lift up thyself - Be exalted or lifted up…
Lift up thyself - Be exalted or lifted up so as to be manifest in thy true character. The idea is that God was, as it were, sitting at his ease, or as if he were indifferent to what was occurring in the world. See the notes at Psa 3:7.
Thou Judge of the earth - Ruler of the world; to whom it pertains to exercise judgment over all classes of people, and in all circumstances. The meaning here is, that as he was the Ruler of the whole earth, this matter came without doubt under his jurisdiction. It was a case for his interposition.
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Render a reward to the proud - A just recompence to the people who are confident in their own strength, and who are manifesting their pride in depriving others of their rights.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 2. Reward to the proud—Recompense upon the arrogant. The…
2. Reward to the proud—Recompense upon the arrogant. The upon specifies the visitation of personal desert. God will avenge his elect and requite innocent blood. See Deu_32:35
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. Lift up thyself] Shew Thyself to be the…
2. Lift up thyself] Shew Thyself to be the supremely exalted Ruler. Cp. Isa_6:1; Isa_33:10; Psa_7:6.
judge of the earth] Cp. Gen_18:25; Psa_58:11; Psa_82:8. The universal Judge is needed to call the subordinate ‘judges of the earth’ to account.
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render a reward to the proud] R.V. Render to the proud (their) desert; assimilating the rendering to that of Psa_28:4. Cp. Lam_3:64.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) Lift up thyself—i.e., either be exalted, or rise…
(2) Lift up thyself—i.e., either be exalted, or rise to give sentence.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Lift up thyself. (comp. Psa_7:6 Isa_33:10) "Rouse thyself," that…
Lift up thyself. (comp. Psa_7:6 Isa_33:10) "Rouse thyself," that is, "from thy state of inaction come and visit the earth as Judge. Thou Judge of the earth. (comp. Gen_18:25 Psa_58:11) Render a reward to the proud; rather, render a recompense as the same phrase is translated in Lam_3:64.
"The Judge of all the earth.
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The older Scriptures constantly set God forth as the actual, living Judge, concerned now in his Divine magistracy, deciding causes, vindicating the oppressed, punishing the wrong doer. The idea of some one single judgment day, in the far future, when all earth complications are to be put straight, and all earth evils are to be rectified, does not appear to have been in the minds of Old Testament saints. It may be that the New Testament figure of the "judgment seat of Christ" has unduly limited the Christian idea of the present and ever-continuous judging of God. It may be that this present judging needs to be set more clearly before the Christian mind. Our notion of the Judge is of one who, at a fixed time, holds a grand assize; and this notion helps to shape our figure of a single final judgment. But the Israelite thought of judging, magistracy, as the most important continuous function of his king, which every faithful king would exercise daily, sitting in the gate to hear and decide all causes that might be presented, and so coming into constant judicial relation to the life of the people. Shifting God"s judgment on to a future great assize should not be allowed to loosen our Christian sense of God"s present rule as involving a present magistracy, and present punishments and rewards. Read life aright, and the signs of a present Divine magistracy will abundantly appear.
I GOD THE JUDGE IS DISTINGUISHING IN DIFFICULT CASES. Illustrate from the nisi prius courts. Constantly in life we find ourselves bewildered. We do not know what to think, or what to do, or where to go. We are in danger of being carried away by the merely attractive. If we will but wait, God will surely decide for us, and make the right for us quite unquestionable.
II GOD THE JUDGE IS RECOGNIZING AND REWARDING THE RIGHTEOUS. We never have any doubt of this until we become impatient, and want the recognition at once. Because the Judge is also the Sanctifier, he may delay the reward which he decides to be due. But he is keen to notice everything that is good.
III GOD THE JUDGE IS THE PUNISHER OF ALL THE WICKED. We need never be deceived by the apparent prosperity of the unjust. It is part of their judgment. It is making them top-heavy in preparation for some irremediable fall. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 2. Lift up thyself, thou judge of the…
Ver. 2. Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth. Ascend thy judgment seat and be acknowledged as the ruler of men: and, moreover, raise thyself as men do who are about to strike with all their might; for the abounding sin of mankind requires a heavy blow from thy hand.
Render a reward to the proud, give them measure for measure, a fair retaliation, blow for blow. The proud look down upon the gracious poor and strike them from above, as a giant might hurl down blows upon his adversary; after the same manner, O Lord, lift up thyself, and "return a recompense upon the proud, "and let them know that thou art far more above them than they can be above the meanest of their fellow men. The psalmist thus invokes the retribution of justice in plain speech, and his request is precisely that which patient innocence puts up in silence, when her looks of anguish appeal to heaven.
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Ver. 2. The peculiar provocation of the sin of pride and its kindred vices. Its influence on the proud, on their follow men, and upon God himself.
Psalms 94:3*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 94:2 Just as the Lord’s enemies rise up against…
94:2 Just as the Lord’s enemies rise up against him and his people (3:7; 93:3), he must arise and make retribution against the enemy (see 79:12; Isa 65:6).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.