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Psalm 94:5
They break your people in pieces, LORD, and afflict your heritage.
3LORD, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph?
4They pour out arrogant words. All the evildoers boast.
5They break your people in pieces, LORD, and afflict your heritage.
6They kill the widow and the alien, and murder the fatherless.
7They say, “The LORD will not see, neither will Jacob’s God consider.”
Notice
The words “your heritage” make the violence more terrible: the people being crushed belong to YHWH, yet their suffering continues before him.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What happens to your prayer when you call those suffering violence God’s people and heritage?
Write on thisWhat harm would you want to name before God with this verse’s bluntness?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Isaiah 3:15What do you mean that you crush my people, and grind the face of the poor?” says the Lord, GOD of Armies.Both passages describe God’s people being crushed, with Isaiah naming the poor as those suffering this abuse.
Job 34:24He breaks mighty men in pieces in ways past finding out, and sets others in their place.Both describe people being broken in pieces; Psalm 94 names afflicted people, while Job describes mighty men being displaced.
Psalm 72:4He will judge the poor of the people. He will save the children of the needy, and will break the oppressor in pieces.Both use the language of breaking in pieces, though Psalm 94 describes victims and Psalm 72 describes the oppressor’s defeat.
Psalm 79:2–3They have given the dead bodies of your servants to be food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your saints to the animals of the earth.Both prayers tell God about violence against those who belong to him; Psalm 79 describes their bodies after death.
Exodus 2:23–24In the course of those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to …Both texts bring the suffering of God’s people before him, through the psalm’s direct address and Israel’s cry from bondage.
Jeremiah 51:34“Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me. He has crushed me. He has made me an empty vessel. He has, like a monster, swallowed me up. He has filled …Both describe crushing harm, with Jeremiah naming Nebuchadnezzar as the one who has devoured and emptied the speaker.
Revelation 17:6I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered with great amazement.Both texts depict violence against people who belong to God; Revelation names the saints and martyrs of Jesus.
Jeremiah 50:11“Because you are glad, because you rejoice, O you who plunder my heritage, because you are wanton as a heifer that treads out the grain, and neigh as strong …Both passages call the afflicted people God’s heritage, while Jeremiah also names the plunderers’ delight in what they do.
Jeremiah 22:17But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.”Both passages expose harm done to others; Jeremiah names oppression and violence alongside the shedding of innocent blood.
Jeremiah 51:20–23“You are my battle ax and weapons of war. With you I will break the nations into pieces. With you I will destroy kingdoms.Both use breaking into pieces as language for destruction, though Jeremiah describes a weapon against nations rather than afflicted people.
Micah 3:2–3You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones;Both describe brutal harm to people, with Micah using the graphic language of skin and flesh torn from bodies.
Psalm 74:19–20Don’t deliver the soul of your dove to wild beasts. Don’t forget the life of your poor forever.Both prayers address God about people who belong to him and face harm; Psalm 74 asks him not to forget them.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. grief.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The prayer names the harm without explaining it away. Those being crushed are still called God’s people; their affliction has not erased their belonging.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).