Bible Strands
Psalms 94:6
They kill the widow and the foreigner; they murder the fatherless.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist describes the actions of oppressive rulers who claim divine indifference, situated within a judicial appeal for God to intervene against those who crush His people.
The words — יַהֲרֹ֑גוּ (ya.ha.Ro.gu) = "they kill" and יְרַצֵּֽחוּ (ye.ra.Tze.chu) = "they murder" specify the violent acts against vulnerable groups.
The thread — The full triad of exploited vulnerable groups (widow, sojourner/foreigner, fatherless) reappears in Ezekiel 22:7 and Jeremiah 7:6.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that systemic violence against the defenseless is a concrete injustice, not a theological abstraction.
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 slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 10:2 to deprive the poor of fair treatment and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people, to make widows their prey and orphans their plunder.
- Ezekiel 22:7 Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.
- Jeremiah 7:6 if 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,
- 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 laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
- Isaiah 13:15 Whoever is caught will be stabbed, and whoever is captured will die by the sword.
- Jeremiah 22:3 This 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. Do not shed innocent blood in this place.