Bible Strands
Psalms 94:10
He who admonishes the nations, does He not discipline? He who teaches man, does He lack knowledge?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the assembly with rhetorical questions about God’s governance, extending the pattern from verse 9 that links divine creation to divine awareness. The speaker asserts that the One who corrects nations and instructs humanity possesses complete knowledge.
The words — יֹסֵ֣ר (yo.Ser) translates to “the discipliner,” and מְלַמֵּ֖ד (m.la.Med) means “the one who teaches.” These terms anchor the verse’s argument that divine correction and instruction are inseparable from divine omniscience.
The thread — The theme of God as instructor appears in Job 35:11 and Isaiah 28:26. Both passages parallel this psalm by attributing wisdom and proper guidance directly to divine teaching.
Why it lands — The text demands the reader accept that human ignorance cannot excuse rebellion, since God’s instruction of nations and individuals originates from flawless knowledge. It calls for immediate submission to divine correction rather than presumption of oversight.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?
Cross-references
- Job 35:11 who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’
- Isaiah 28:26 For his God instructs and teaches him properly.
- Jeremiah 10:25 Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, and on the families that do not call on Your name. For they have devoured Jacob; they have consumed him and finished him off; they have devastated his homeland.
- Psalms 44:2 With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers there; You crushed the peoples and cast them out.
- Proverbs 2:6 For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
- Isaiah 2:3 And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
- John 6:45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me—
- Psalms 9:5 You have rebuked the nations; You have destroyed the wicked; You have erased their name forever and ever.
- Psalms 10:16 The LORD is King forever and ever; the nations perish from His land.
- Psalms 25:8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He shows sinners the way.