Bible Strands
Psalms 94:5
They crush Your people, O LORD; they oppress Your heritage.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist speaks to Yahweh, contrasting the arrogant boasting of wicked oppressors with their violent treatment of God's people. This occurs within a corporate lament accusing the wicked of escalating persecution against Israel.
The words — The Hebrew יְדַכְּאוּ (ye.da.khe'u) translates literally as "they crush," paired with יְעַנּוּ (ye.'a.nu) meaning "they afflict." These verbs describe the physical and systemic violence inflicted upon the community.
The thread — This pattern of oppressing God's inheritance appears in Isaiah 3:15, where the Lord condemns those who crush His people and grind the faces of the poor. The psalm also echoes the groaning of Israel under Egyptian slavery recorded in Exodus 2:23.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that systemic violence against the vulnerable is a direct affront to God's sovereignty. It calls the reader to align with divine justice rather than normalize the oppression of the marginalized.
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
They break in pieces thy people, O Lord, and afflict thine heritage.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 3:15 Why do you crush My people and grind the faces of the poor?” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
- Psalms 79:2 They have given the corpses of Your servants as food to the birds of the air, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.
- Exodus 2:23 After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.
- Psalms 7:2 or they will shred my soul like a lion and tear me to pieces with no one to rescue me.
- Psalms 14:4 Will the workers of iniquity never learn? They devour my people like bread; they refuse to call upon the LORD.
- Psalms 44:22 Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
- Psalms 74:8 They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely.” They burned down every place where God met us in the land.
- Psalms 74:19 Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever.
- Psalms 79:7 for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.
- Psalms 129:2 many a time they have persecuted me from my youth, but they have not prevailed against me.