Psalms 94:4
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They pour out arrogant words; all workers of iniquity boast.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
The second strophe describes those over whom the first prays that the judgment of God may come. הבּיע (cf. הטּיף) is a tropical phrase used of that kind of speech that results from strong inward impulse and flows forth in rich abundance. The poet himself explains how it is here (cf. Psa 59:8) intended: they speak עתק, that which is unrestrained, unbridled, insolent (vid., Psa 31:19). The Hithpa. התאמּר Schultens interprets ut Emiri (Arab. 'mı̂r, a commander) se gerunt; but אמיר signifies in Hebrew the top of a tree (vid., on Isa 17:9); and from the primary signification to tower aloft, whence too אמר, to speak, prop. effere = effari, התאמּר, like התימּר in Isa 61:6, directly signifies to exalt one's self, to carry one's self high, to strut. On ודכּאוּ cf. Pro 22:22; Isa 3:15; and on their atheistical principle which ויּאמרוּ places in closest connection with their mode of action, cf. Psa 10:11; Psa 59:8 extrem. The Dagesh in יּהּ, distinct from the Dag. in the same word in Psa 94:12, Psa 118:5, Psa 118:18, is the Dag. forte conjunct. according to the rule of the so-called דחיק.
Open source ↗This psalm was penned when the church of God was under hatches, oppressed and persecuted; and it is an appeal to God, as the judge of heaven and earth, and an address to him, to appear for his people against his and their enemies. Two things this psalm speaks: - I. Conviction and terror to the persecutors (Psa 94:1-11), showing them their danger and folly, and arguing with them. II. Comfort and peace to the persecuted (Psa 94:12-23), assuring them, both from God's promise and from the psalmist's own experience, that their troubles would end well, and God would, in due time, appear to their joy and the confusion of those who set themselves against them. 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.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
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May lying lips be silenced— lips that speak with arrogance against the righteous, full of pride and contempt.
Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The loving devotion of God endures all day long.
They sharpen their tongues like snakes; the venom of vipers is on their lips. Selah
He will speak out against the Most High and oppress the saints of the Most High, intending to change the appointed times and laws; and the saints will be given into his hand for a time, and times, and half a time.
It magnified itself, even to the Prince of the host; it removed His daily sacrifice and overthrew the place of His sanctuary.
By the sins of their mouths and the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride, in the curses and lies they utter.
Then I kept watching because of the arrogant words the horn was speaking. As I continued to watch, the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire.
there is a generation whose teeth are swords and whose jaws are knives, devouring the oppressed from the earth and the needy from among men.
See what they spew from their mouths— sharp words from their lips: “For who can hear us?”
While I was contemplating the horns, suddenly another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like those of a man and a mouth that spoke words of arrogance.