Psalms 94:13
in Psalms 94to grant him relief from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, Until the pit be digged for the wicked.
KJV
That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.
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This verse in Psalms 94
Commentary
15 notes on this verse"Blessed is the man whom you shall instruct, O Lord." Happy is he who has God as his teacher. "And whom you shall teach out of your law: that you may soften for him the evil days." See what he says. "Blessed is the man whom you shall instruct, O Lord, and whom you shall teach out of your law" — that is, out of your Scriptures. But of what use is this, that he should be taught out of your law? "That you may soften for him the evil days."
This site's exposition
Blessed is the man You discipline
on Psalms 94:12-15
The discipline of verse 12 comes with teaching from God's law. Verse 13 gives its purpose, relief from days of trouble while a pit is being dug for the wicked. The LORD keeps His people, and judgment will be righteous again.
This site's exposition
until a pit is dug for the wicked
The discipline gives the righteous man quiet while he waits. In the same season a pit is being dug for the wicked, the hunter's trap prepared for them. Both are under way, and neither is finished yet.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
For how great can be the power of mortals? Therefore let mortals cleave to righteousness; power will be given to immortals. And compared to this, the power, how great soever, of those men who are called powerful on earth, is found to be ridiculous weakness, and a pitfall is dug there for the sinner, where the wicked seem to be most powerful. And the righteous man says in his song, "Blessed is the man whom Thou chasteneth, O Lord, and teachest him out of Thy law: that Thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked. For the Lord will not cast off His people, neither will He forsake His inheritance, until righteousness return unto judgment, and all who follow it are upright in heart." At this present time, then, in which the might of the people of God is delayed, "the Lord will not cast off His people, neither will He forsake His inheritance," how bitter and unworthy things soever it may suffer in its humility and weakness; "until the righteousness," which the weakness of the pious now possesses, "shall return to judgment," that is, shall receive the power of judging; which is preserved in the end for the righteous when power in its due order shall have followed after righteousness going before.
"Blessed is the man whom you shall instruct, O Lord, and shall teach him out of your law." You see, then, that the law is to be learned, so that the things which are obscure may be more diligently understood. For the apostle says that "the law is spiritual." And David: "Reveal my eyes, and I will consider the wondrous things of your law." This, then, is what he says. "Blessed is the man whom you shall instruct, O Lord, and shall teach him out of your law." Why do you teach him? Render the reasons. "That you may soften it for him from the evil days." Therefore you teach him, so that in the future you may spare him: therefore in the present you rebuke him, so that in the future you may not condemn him. For the judge's sentence is an evil to the one who endures the evils: not that the sentence is evil, but that the one suffering it, while he feels the punishment, feels a just and good sentence as evil. "Until the pit be dug for the sinner." Who is it that digs the pit for the sinner? Let us see what the prophet says elsewhere. "He opened a pit and dug it out, and he fell into the trench which he made." God, therefore, does not make the pit, but the sinner, so that he may fall into it. "The blind," he says, "if he offers guidance to the blind, both fall into the pit."
"That You may give him patience in days of malice: until the pit be dug up for the ungodly" [Psalm 94:13]. Have patience therefore every one, if you are a Christian, in time of malice. Days of malice are those in which the ungodly appear to flourish, and the righteous to suffer; but the suffering of the righteous is the rod of the Father, and the prosperity of the ungodly is their own snare. For because God gives you patience in time of adversity, until the pit be dug up for the ungodly, do not think that the Angels are standing in some place with mattocks, and are digging that great pit which shall be able to contain the whole race of the ungodly; and because ye see that the wicked are many, and say unto yourselves carnally: Truly what pit can contain so great a multitude of the wicked, such a crowd of sinners? Where is a pit of such dimensions, as to contain all, dug? When finished? Therefore God spares them. This is not so: their very prosperity is the pit of the wicked: for into that shall they fall, as it were into a pitfall. Attend, brethren, for it is a great thing to know that prosperity is called a pitfall: "until the pit be dug up for the ungodly." For God spares him whom He knows to be ungodly and impious, in His own hidden justice: and this very sparing of God, causes him to be puffed up through his impunity....The proud man raises himself up against God: God sinks him: and he sinks by the very act of raising himself up against God. For in another Psalm he thus says, "You have cast them down, while they were being exalted." He said not, You have cast them down, because they were exalted; or, You have cast them down, after they were exalted; so that the period of their exaltation be one, of their casting down another: but in the very act of their exaltation were they cast down. […]
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
That they shall see the ruin of those that are the instruments of their sufferings, which is the matter of a promise, not as gratifying any passion of theirs, but as redounding to the glory of God: Until the pit is digged (or rather while the pit is digging) for the wicked, God is ordering peace for them at the same time that he is ordaining his arrows against the persecutors.
That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity,....
7 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
In singing this psalm we must look abroad upon the pride of oppressors with a holy indignation, and the tears of the oppressed with a holy compassion; but, at the same time, look upwards to the righteous Judge with an entire satisfaction, and look forward, to the end of all these things, with a pleasing hope.
The Nineteenth Century6 voices
That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked. The chastening hand and instructive book are sanctified to us, so that we learn to rest in the Lord. We see that his end is our everlasting benefit, and therefore abide quiet under all trying providences and bitter persecutions, waiting our time.
That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked. The chastening hand and instructive book are sanctified to us, so that we learn to rest in the Lord. We see that his end is our everlasting benefit, and therefore abide quiet under all trying providences and bitter persecutions, waiting our time. The Mighty Hunter is preparing the pit for the brutish ones; they are prowling about at this time, and tearing the sheep, but they will soon be captured and destroyed, therefore the people of the Lord learn to rest in days of adversity, and tarry the leisure of their God. Wicked men may not yet be ripe for punishment, nor punishment ready for them: hell is a prepared place for a prepared people; as days of grace ripen saints for glory, so days of wantonness help sinners to rot into the corruption of eternal destruction.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2374: “Blessed Discipline” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
THERE are times when the wicked seem to have things all their own way. This earth is not the realm of final justice—we are not yet standing before the Lord's great Judgement Seat. God permits many things to be, for a while, in confusion. They who are highest with Him are often lowest with men and, those for whom He has no regard seem to heap up the treasures of the world till their eyes stand out with fatness, and they have more than heart can wish! Let no child of God be astonished at this arrangement. It has often been so in the past and it has been the great enigma that has puzzled the world. The children of God have also sat down and looked into it, but it has been, even to them, a great deep which they could not fathom. They have sighed over it, but their sighs have not altered the facts. It is still true that often the wicked triumph and the servants of iniquity delight themselves in the high places of the earth. The righteous need not wonder that they suffer, now, for that has been the lot of God's people all along, and there have been certain times in human history when God has seemed to be altogether deaf to the cries of His suffering people. Remember the martyr age and the days of the Covenanters, who were hunted upon the mountains like the partridge. You must not wonder if the easy places of the earth are not yours and if the sentinel's stern duties should fall to your lot. It is so, and so it must be, for God has so ordained it. To comfort any of the Lord's children who have begun to worry themselves because things do not go with them as they desire, I have selected this text, and I pray the Lord to bless it to them. I. First, I shall ask you to notice that GOD'S CHILDREN ARE UNDER INSTRUCTION. Other children may run about and take holiday.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2374: “Blessed Discipline” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
THERE are times when the wicked seem to have things all their own way. This earth is not the realm of final justice—we are not yet standing before the Lord's great Judgement Seat. God permits many things to be, for a while, in confusion. They who are highest with Him are often lowest with men and, those for whom He has no regard seem to heap up the treasures of the world till their eyes stand out with fatness, and they have more than heart can wish! Let no child of God be astonished at this arrangement.
That thou mayest give him rest - He whom God instructs is made wise unto salvation; and he who is thus taught has rest in his soul, and peace and confidence in adversity.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
That thou mayest give him rest - Mayest make his mind quiet and calm; mayest save him from murmuring, from despondency, from impatience, by just confidence in thee, and in thy government. From the days of adversity - Or, in the days of evil; the time of calamity and trouble. That his mind may then be composed and calm. Until the pit be digged for the wicked - Until the wicked be punished; that is, while the preparations are going on, or while God seems to delay punishment, and the wicked are suffered to live as if God did not notice them, or would not punish them. The idea is, that the mind should not be impatient as if their punishment would not come, or as if God were unconcerned; and that just views of the divine administration would tend to make the mind calm even when the wicked “seemed” to prosper and triumph. See the notes at Psa 73:16-22. The phrase “until the pit be digged” is derived from the method of hunting wild beasts by digging a pit into which they might fall and be taken. See the notes at Psa 7:15.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
To grant him peace from days of evil For the chastisements cause him to have peace from the days of the judgment of Gehinnom. while he sees that a pit is dug for the wicked man.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Fortunate is the man Fortunate are the righteous who are afflicted under Your hands, provided that they engage in Torah and mitzvoth.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לְהַשְׁקִ֣יט | lehashkit | to give quiet | H8252 → | 41 times |
| ל֭וֹ | lo | to him | ||
| מִ֣ימֵי | mimei | from days of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| רָ֑ע | ra' | trouble | H7451 → | 662 times |
| עַ֤ד | ʾad | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| יִכָּרֶ֖ה | yikareh | it will be dug | H3738 → | 14 times |
| לָרָשָׁ֣ע | larasha' | for the wicked | H7563 → | 263 times |
| שָֽׁחַת׃ | shachat | a pit | H7845 → | 23 times |
לְהַשְׁקִ֣יטto give quiet
lehashkitH8252 →41 times
ל֭וֹto him
lo
מִ֣ימֵיfrom days of
mimeiH3117 →2304 times
רָ֑עtrouble
ra'H7451 →662 times
עַ֤דuntil
ʾadH5704 →1261 times
יִכָּרֶ֖הit will be dug
yikarehH3738 →14 times
לָרָשָׁ֣עfor the wicked
larasha'H7563 →263 times
שָֽׁחַת׃a pit
shachatH7845 →23 times
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
2 Peter 2:9if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.
it leads to
- Psalms 34:15–19
The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their cry.
- 1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will…
- Revelation 3:10
Because you have kept My command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the…
- 2 Timothy 3:12
Indeed, all who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
- Jude 1:14–15
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about them: “Behold, the Lord is coming with myriads of His holy ones
- Psalms 34:15–19
Through
Psalms 9:15The nations have fallen into a pit of their making; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
it leads to
- Psalms 7:15–16
He has dug a hole and hollowed it out; he has fallen into a pit of his own making.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 7:15–16
Through
Psalms 55:23But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.
it leads to
- Proverbs 10:27
The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be cut short.
- Psalms 5:6
You destroy those who tell lies; the LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.
- Proverbs 10:27
About Psalms
This page draws on 12 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, ON THE TRINITY 13:13.17; Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 94; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2374: “Blessed Discipline” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jerome, Homily 22, on Psalm 93; Jerome, Homily 71, on Psalm 93 (Alternate Series); John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of Psalms; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.