LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph?
- BSB How long will the wicked, O LORD, how long will the wicked exult?
- NKJV Lord, how long will the wicked, How long will the wicked triumph?
- NASB How long, Lord, shall the wicked— How long shall the wicked triumph?
- NLT How long, O Lord? How long will the wicked be allowed to gloat?
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 how long the wicked will go on triumphing. He voices the believer's honest anguish over delayed justice.
Overview
The repeated 'how long' expresses the painful tension of waiting for God to act while evil seems to win. Such laments are honest prayers that God invites and answers in His time. The cry is echoed by the martyrs awaiting vindication, assured that justice will come (Revelation 6:10; Habakkuk 1:2).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Rev 6:10And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
- Job 20:5That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
- Jer 12:1–2Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?
- Ps 74:9–10We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
- Ps 43:2For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
- Ps 73:8They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.
- Esth 7:6And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.
- Ps 80:4O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?
- Esth 5:11–12And Haman told them of the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.
- Esth 7:10So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.
- Ps 89:46How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?
- Acts 12:22–23And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.
- Ps 79:5How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
- Esth 6:6–10So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?
- Jer 47:6O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 94:3 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.