What Does Psalm 94:3 Mean in the King James?

LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?

Psalm 94:3 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The repeated “how long” places the wicked’s exulting within a question addressed to the LORD, rather than making it the final word.

THE MEANING

You can name the length of injustice before the LORD while it is still happening. The verse holds the ache of waiting alongside the expectation that the wicked’s exulting does not define the whole story.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie this undoes is that wrongdoing’s visible success means it has lasting approval or the final word. The verse brings that apparent triumph into the LORD’s hearing.

THE ROOT

יַעֲלֹזוּ

ya'alzu

GROWS FROM

עלז

ʿ-l-z

To exult or rejoice.

“triumph” in this verse is ya'alzu. This root describes an active outpouring of jubilation, so the verse names the wicked’s exulting, not only their apparent success. The same root describes the saints’ rejoicing elsewhere: the seed names the exulting, while the verse’s moral force comes from who is doing it.

ALSO GROWS

ya'alzu: They exult or rejoice.

יַעֲלֹזוּ

The same verb appears of the saints in Psalm 149:5, showing that this root names rejoicing without itself deciding whether its source is just.

allizah: Joyous, exultant.

עַלִּיזָה

This related form describes a city as joyous in Isaiah 23:7, extending the root’s sense of exulting from people to a shared public mood.

THE PATTERN

Scripture gives the cry over ongoing suffering a voice before God, making its apparent continuation answerable to divine hearing and judgment.

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

Psalm 13:1 · KJVThe repeated question gives the pain of waiting direct voice before the LORD.

O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!

Habakkuk 1:2 · KJVThe cry names violence and apparent silence in the same breath, bringing both before God.

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

Revelation 6:10 · KJVThe question presses the continuation of injustice toward the expectation of judgment.

THE THREAD

Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.

Psalm 149:5 · KJV

The Hebrew verb for “be joyful” in this verse comes from the same root, ⁨עלז⁩, as the wicked’s “triumph” in Psalm 94:3. The root names exulting itself; who is rejoicing and why give the sound its different meaning.

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