He who admonishes the nations, does He not discipline? He who teaches man, does He lack knowledge?
Parallel translations
- WEB He who disciplines the nations, won’t he punish? He who teaches man knows.
- KJV He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?
- NKJV He who instructs the nations, shall He not correct, He who teaches man knowledge?
- NASB He who disciplines the nations, will He not rebuke, He who teaches mankind knowledge?
- NLT He punishes the nations—won’t he also punish you? He knows everything—doesn’t he also know what you are doing?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The God who disciplines nations and teaches mankind surely knows and will punish. The God who corrects and instructs is fully aware of human deeds.
Overview
Continuing the argument, the psalmist reasons that the One who governs and instructs all peoples is not ignorant of their sin. God who teaches knowledge certainly possesses it perfectly. He will therefore call every nation and person to account, as the just Judge of all (Psalm 9:8; Romans 2:6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Job 35:11who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’
- Isa 28:26For his God instructs and teaches him properly.
- Ps 44:2With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers there; You crushed the peoples and cast them out.
- Jer 10:25Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, and on the families that do not call on Your name. For they have devoured Jacob; they have consumed him and finished him off; they have devastated his homeland.
- Ps 119:66Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in Your commandments.
- Hab 1:12Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O LORD, You have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, You have established them for correction.
- Prov 2:6For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
- Isa 10:5–6Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.
- Ps 10:16The LORD is King forever and ever; the nations perish from His land.
- Isa 37:36Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!
- Ps 135:8–12He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, of both man and beast.
- Amos 3:2“Only you have I known from all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
- Isa 54:13Then all your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their prosperity.
- Ps 9:5You have rebuked the nations; You have destroyed the wicked; You have erased their name forever and ever.
- Ps 25:8–9Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He shows sinners the way.
- John 6:45It is written in the Prophets: ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me—
- Hab 3:12You marched across the earth with fury; You threshed the nations in wrath.
- Isa 2:3And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
- Isa 10:12So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud look in his eyes.
- Ezek 39:21I will display My glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the judgment that I execute and the hand that I lay upon them.
- Ps 149:7to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples,
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 94:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.