Psalms 94:6
in Psalms 94They kill the widow and the foreigner; they murder the fatherless.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They slay the widow and the sojourner, And murder the fatherless.
KJV
They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
⋯
This verse in Psalms 94
Commentary
11 notes on this verseThey slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. They deal most arrogantly with those who are the most evident objects of compassion. The law of God especially commends these poor ones to the kindness of good men, and it is peculiar wickedness which singles them out to be the victims not only of fraud but of murder. Must not such inhuman conduct as this provoke the Lord? Shall the tears of widows, the groans of strangers, and the blood of orphans be poured forth in vain?
This site's exposition
They pour out arrogant words
on Psalms 94:4-7
The crimes are named one by one, crushing God's people, killing the widow and the foreigner, murdering the fatherless. Deuteronomy 10:18 names the same three as the ones God Himself defends. Verse 7 gives the wicked's reason, that the LORD does not see.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
..."They have humbled Thy people, O Lord; and have troubled Thine heritage" (ver. 5). "They have murdered the widow, and the fatherless: and slain the proselyte" (ver. 6); that is, the traveller, the pilgrim: the comer from far, as the Psalmist calleth himself. Each of these expressions is too clear in meaning to make it worth while to dwell upon them.
"The widow and the stranger they have slain." The plain sense is clear: but if we should wish to interpret according to the anagogy, every day the proud devil with his satellites oppresses and harasses the humble in the Church. "Saying, The God of Jacob will not see, nor understand." They took the Lord's patience for ignorance.
"They have slain the widow and the stranger, and murdered the orphans: and they said, The Lord shall not see." Although this is plain according to the literal history — for always whoever needs protection is easily oppressed, and the more lowly anyone is, the more does the one who oppresses him offend God — nevertheless let us also interpret it according to the tropology. For I had said that this is said of the heretics: "They have slain the widow and the stranger."
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The character of the enemies they complain against. They are wicked; they are workers of iniquity; they are bad, very bad, themselves, and therefore they hate and persecute those whose goodness shames and condemns them. Those are wicked indeed, and workers of the worst iniquity, lost to all honour and virtue, who are cruel to the innocent and hate the righteous.
); they not only oppress and impoverish, but they slay the widow and the stranger; not only neglect the fatherless, and make a prey of them, but murder them, because they are weak and exposed, and sometimes lie at their mercy. Those whom they should protect from injury they are most injurious to, perhaps because God has taken them into his particular care.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
They slay the widow and the stranger,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. They deal most arrogantly with those who are the most evident objects of compassion. The law of God especially commends these poor ones to the kindness of good men, and it is peculiar wickedness which singles them out to be the victims not only of fraud but of murder. Must not such inhuman conduct as this provoke the Lord? Shall the tears of widows, the groans of strangers, and the blood of orphans be poured forth in vain? As surely as there is a God in heaven, he will visit those who perpetrate such crimes; though he bear long with them, he will yet take vengeance, and that speedily.
They slay the widow - Nebuchadnezzar carried on his wars with great cruelty. He carried fire and sword every where; spared neither age, sex, nor condition. The widow, the orphan, and the stranger, persons in the most desolate condition of life, were not distinguished from others by his ruthless sword.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless - To do this is everywhere represented as a special crime, and as especially offensive to God from the fact that these classes are naturally feeble and unprotected. See the notes at Isa 1:17; Psa 68:5; Psa 82:3.
The words behind it
5 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַ֭לְמָנָה | ʾalmanah | [the] widow | H490 → | 56 times |
| וְגֵ֣ר | veger | and [the] sojourner | H1616 → | 92 times |
| יַהֲרֹ֑גוּ | yaharogu | they kill | H2026 → | 167 times |
| וִֽיתוֹמִ֣ים | vitomim | and fatherless ones | H3490 → | 42 times |
| יְרַצֵּֽחוּ׃ | yeratzechu | they murder | H7523 → |
אַ֭לְמָנָה[the] widow
ʾalmanahH490 →56 times
וְגֵ֣רand [the] sojourner
vegerH1616 →92 times
יַהֲרֹ֑גוּthey kill
yaharoguH2026 →167 times
וִֽיתוֹמִ֣יםand fatherless ones
vitomimH3490 →42 times
יְרַצֵּֽחוּ׃they murder
yeratzechuH7523 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Malachi 3:5“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud…
it leads to
- James 5:8–9
You, too, be patient and strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.
- Hebrews 13:4
Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
- Deuteronomy 5:11
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain.
- James 5:4
Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
- Deuteronomy 27:19
‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- James 5:8–9
Through
Jeremiah 22:3This is what the LORD says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow.…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 21:12
O house of David, this is what the LORD says: ‘Administer justice every morning, and rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor, or My wrath will go forth like fire…
- Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
- Jeremiah 21:12
Through
Jeremiah 7:6if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm,
it leads to
- Exodus 22:21–24
You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
- Exodus 22:21–24
About Psalms
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 94; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Jerome, Homily 71, on Psalm 93 (Alternate Series); Jerome, Homily 22, on Psalm 93; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.