How Long Shall Evil Prevail?

Why do the unprincipled scoundrels in power act as they do? That is the question Psalm 94 tries to answer.

One of the characteristic literary features of the psalm is its threefold use of anadiplosis, the rhetorical repetition of selected words or phrases. These are: the opening divine epithet, “God of retribution”; the agonizing, searching question “how long?”; and the final, confident, unwavering declaration of faith that God “will annihilate” the evildoers. In each case, the reiteration gives prominence to a key element of the psalm: the nature of God, the intolerable suffering of human beings, and the certainty of the ultimate downfall of evil.

At the outset, the psalmist affirms his concept of an active God. This is necessary because, as he states later on, the wicked believe in an essentially inactive deity. The specific epithet used here, “God of retribution,” is paralleled in verse 2 by “Judge of the earth.” The understanding of “retribution” is thus clarified: It is not an arbitrary or vindictive act, but a judicial intervention against the guilty.

The Hebrew term here translated “retribution” is often misleadingly rendered “vengeance” in many English versions. But that word conveys a negative, primitive conception of religion. Vengeance is usually taken to be synonymous with revenge and implies action prompted by base emotions. The Hebrew root, however, means nothing of the kind, for in most instances it signifies an action worthily motivated, purposeful, intended to serve the ends of justice.