Psalms 94:8

Old Testament Poetry/Hymns ASV (1901)

What does Psalms 94:8 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “Consider, ye brutish among the people; And ye fools, when will ye be wise?” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

Consider, ye brutish among the people; And ye fools, when will ye be wise?
Psalms 94:8 — American Standard Version

Context — Psalms 94

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
8Consider, ye brutish among the people; And ye fools, when will ye be wise?

What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“Understand, ye brutish among the people, etc.] Or the most brutish and stupid of all people; especially that profess themselves to be the people of God, or Christians, as the Papists do; and who seem to be the persons here addressed: “brutish”; to murder the servants of the Lord, and drink their blood, till inebriated with it; stupid to the last degree to think that hereby they did God good service: hence the pope, the head of them, is represented both in his secular and ecclesiastical power by two beasts; the one rising out of the sea with seven heads and ten horns, a monster in nature, most like a leopard, his feet as a bear’s, and his mouth as a lion’s, having the fierceness and cruelty…”
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Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“Understand, ye brutish among the people - See Psalms 73:22. The meaning here is, “You who are like the brutes; you who see and understand no more of the character and plans of God than the wild beasts of the desert.” The meaning is, that they did not employ their reason in the case; they acted like beasts, regardless of the consequences of their conduct - as if God would treat people as he does the beasts; as if there were no retribution in the future world. And ye fools, when will ye be wise? - How long is this stupidity to continue? When will you attend to the truth; when will you act as immortal beings; when will you suffer your rational nature to lead you up to just views of God? It is…”
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Tyndale Open Study Notes
Tyndale House Publishers · Tyndale Open Study Notes · Modern study notes
“94:8-11 The psalmist rebukes human folly.”
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Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge
R. A. Torrey and contributors · The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · Cross-reference reference work
“brutish: Psa 49:10, Psa 73:22, Psa 92:6; Pro 12:1; Isa 27:11; Jer 8:6-8, Jer 10:8; Rom 3:11 fools: Deu 32:29; Pro 1:22, Pro 8:5; Tit 3:3 Psalms 94:9”
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Keil & Delitzsch
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch · Commentary on the Old Testament · 19th-century historical commentary
“The third strophe now turns from those bloodthirsty, blasphemous oppressors of the people of God whose conduct calls forth the vengeance of Jahve, to those among the people themselves, who have been puzzled about the omniscience and indirectly about the righteousness of God by the fact that this vengeance is delayed. They are called בערים and כסילים in the sense of Psa 73:21. Those hitherto described against whom God's vengeance is supplicated are this also; but this appellation would be too one-sided for them, and בּעם refers the address expressly to a class of men among the people whom those oppress and slay. It is absurd that God, the planter of the ear (הנּטע, like שׁסע in Lev 11:7, with…”
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Related study paths

Sources and verification