Psalms 94:8
in Psalms 94Take notice, O senseless among the people! O fools, when will you be wise?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Consider, ye brutish among the people; And ye fools, when will ye be wise?
KJV
Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?
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This verse in Psalms 94
Commentary
3 notes on this verseon Psalms 94:8-9
"Understand, you who are foolish among the people, and be wise at last, you fools. He who planted the ear, shall he not hear?" He who is a potter, is he ignorant of his own vessel? He who makes another hear, shall he then himself not hear? He who gave me eyes, shall he then himself not see? He who is the author of my understanding, shall he himself not understand? This passage tells especially against those who are Anthropomorphites, who say that God has the members that we too have.
This site's exposition
Understand, ye brutish among the people
on Psalms 94:8-11
The psalmist turns and answers the wicked's own claim with an argument from creation: he that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see? The maker of a faculty cannot lack it himself, a piece of reasoning the older commentators treat as settled logic rather than poetry alone. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity closes the argument by turning the same scrutiny the wicked denied back onto their own reasoning.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Understand, ye brutish among the people. They said that God did not note, and now, using the same word in the original, the psalmist calls on the wicked to note, and have regard to the truth. He designates them as boors, boarish, swinish men, and well was the term deserved; and he bids them understand or consider, if they can. They thought themselves to be wise, and indeed the only men of wit in the world, but he calls them "boars among the people": wicked men are fools, and the more they know, the more foolish they become.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בִּ֭ינוּ | binu | understand | H995 → | 170 times |
| בֹּעֲרִ֣ים | boarim | O stupid [ones] | H1197 → | 94 times |
| בָּעָ֑ם | baam | among the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| וּ֝כְסִילִ֗ים | ukhesilim | and O fools | H3684 → | 70 times |
| מָתַ֥י | matai | when? | H4970 → | 43 times |
| תַּשְׂכִּֽילוּ׃ | taskilu | will you have insight | H7919 → | 62 times |
בִּ֭ינוּunderstand
binuH995 →170 times
בֹּעֲרִ֣יםO stupid [ones]
boarimH1197 →94 times
בָּעָ֑םamong the people
baamH5971 →1873 times
וּ֝כְסִילִ֗יםand O fools
ukhesilimH3684 →70 times
מָתַ֥יwhen?
mataiH4970 →43 times
תַּשְׂכִּֽילוּ׃will you have insight
taskiluH7919 →62 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
Proverbs 12:1Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.
it leads to
- Proverbs 15:10
Discipline is harsh for him who leaves the path; he who hates correction will die.
- Proverbs 9:7–8
He who corrects a mocker brings shame on himself; he who rebukes a wicked man taints himself.
- Psalms 119:97–100
Oh, how I love Your law! All day long it is my meditation.
- Proverbs 15:10
Through
Titus 3:3For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
it leads to
- Ephesians 2:1–3
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
- Colossians 1:21
Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds.
- Romans 6:17
But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed.
- Colossians 3:7
When you lived among them, you also used to walk in these ways.
- 1 Corinthians 6:9–11
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual…
- Ephesians 2:1–3
About Psalms
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4 and Jerome, Homily 22, on Psalm 93.