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Rise up, Judge of the earth, Pay back retribution to the proud.
Psalms 94:2 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Rise up, you judge of the earth. Pay back the proud what they deserve.
  • KJV Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.
  • BSB Rise up, O Judge of the earth; render a reward to the proud.
  • NKJV Rise up, O Judge of the earth; Render punishment to the proud.
  • NLT Arise, O Judge of the earth. Give the proud what they deserve.

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 psalmist asks the Judge of all the earth to rise up and repay the proud. He longs for God to bring deserved justice on the arrogant.

Overview

Appealing to God as universal Judge, the psalmist asks Him to act against the proud who oppress the weak. This is a plea grounded in God's righteous character, not personal spite. The prayer anticipates the day when Christ, appointed Judge of all, will render to each according to his deeds (Acts 17:31; Genesis 18:25).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 21

  • Ps 7:6Arise, Yahweh, in your anger. Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries. Awake for me. You have commanded judgment.
  • 2 Cor 5:10For 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.
  • Ps 31:23Oh love Yahweh, all you his saints! Yahweh preserves the faithful, and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly.
  • Gen 18:25Be it 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?”
  • Mic 5:9Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries, and let all of your enemies be cut off.
  • John 5:22–23For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son,
  • 1 Pet 5:5Likewise, 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.”
  • Rev 18:6–8Return 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.
  • Dan 4:37Now 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.
  • Job 40:11–12Pour out the fury of your anger. Look at everyone who is proud, and bring him low.
  • Dan 5:22–24You, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this,
  • Isa 10:12Therefore 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 haughty looks.
  • Isa 2:17The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; and Yahweh alone shall be exalted in that day.
  • Isa 37:23Whom 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.
  • Isa 37:36–38Yahweh’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.
  • Isa 37:29Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore will I 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.
  • Ps 68:1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. A song. Let God arise! Let his enemies be scattered! Let them who hate him also flee before him.
  • Jer 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.
  • Isa 2:11–12The lofty looks of man will be brought low, the haughtiness of men will be bowed down, and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day.
  • Ps 74:22Arise, God! Plead your own cause. Remember how the foolish man mocks you all day.
  • Ps 50:6The heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 94:2YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 94:2 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.