The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
Psalm 94 is a psalm of appeal unto Jehovah against the proud, wicked, and oppressive. The wicked boast, afflict God’s people, slay the widow and stranger, murder the fatherless, and then speak as if God does not see or regard their evil (vv.3-7). The Spirit answers their brutish unbelief with searching questions: “He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?” (v.9). Verse 11 then presses the matter deeper. God not only hears the words and sees the works of men; He knows their thoughts.
“The LORD.” This is Jehovah, the living and true God, the God Who is, Who sees, Who hears, Who judges, and Who teaches man knowledge (vv.9-10). LORD in all capital letters is the King James Bible’s usual way of representing the divine name Jehovah. The verse does not speak of a blind idol, a distant force, or the imagination of men. It speaks of the God Who planted the ear, formed the eye, chastens the heathen, teaches knowledge, and searches the inward parts of man (vv.9-10). The wicked may say, “The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it” (v.7), but the Spirit answers that Jehovah knows even the thoughts they never speak.
“Knoweth.” God’s knowledge is perfect, immediate, complete, and inescapable. He does not learn as men learn. He does not gather information by inquiry. He does not wait for men to reveal themselves. He already knows. David confessed this truth: “Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off” (Psalm 139:2). Again, “For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether” (Psalm 139:4). God knows the thought before the word, the motive before the act, the counsel before the attempt, and the end from the beginning.
This knowledge should terrify the wicked. They may hide crimes from men, cover intentions with fair words, disguise pride with religion, and conceal malice behind outward civility, but Jehovah knows. He knows the counsel of rulers against His Christ (Psalm 2:1-3). He knows the imagination of man’s heart, which was evil from his youth (Genesis 8:21). He knows the inward devices that men dare not confess aloud. No creature is hidden from Him, “but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13).
“The thoughts.” The verse does not stop at outward conduct. Men judge words, actions, appearances, and results. God judges thoughts. Thoughts include imaginations, counsels, reasonings, intentions, purposes, schemes, desires, and inward conclusions. Wicked men may never carry out every evil they imagine, but God knows the fountain within. Christ taught that evil proceeds from the heart before it appears in outward sin: “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19).
This is why the verse is so humbling. Men like to be judged by what they choose to show. God knows what they hide. Men may restrain speech for reputation, restrain action for fear, or appear righteous before others, while their thoughts remain proud, lustful, bitter, unbelieving, covetous, or cruel. Jehovah knows them all. This destroys hypocrisy and calls every soul to fear God in the inward man.
“Of man.” The word “man” lowers the creature to his proper place. This is not God considering the thoughts of one ignorant fool only, but of man as man. The thoughts of kings, philosophers, judges, warriors, scholars, merchants, and common men are included. Men exalt human reason, celebrate human wisdom, and trust human plans, but God knows the thoughts of man. Paul quotes this verse against worldly wisdom: “And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain” (1 Corinthians 3:20). If the thoughts of the wise are vain, how much more the thoughts of the foolish.
The verse therefore condemns confidence in man’s wisdom. “The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations (Psalm 33:10-11). Men may assemble committees, write philosophies, build systems, make policies, form armies, and boast in progress, but their thoughts remain creaturely, limited, fallen, and vain when set against God.
“That they are vanity.” This is God’s judgment of man’s thoughts. They are vanity: empty, breathlike, profitless, unstable, passing, and unable to stand before God. The word exposes the hollowness of man’s reasoning apart from divine truth. Men imagine their thoughts profound, useful, modern, powerful, and wise. God says they are vanity.
This does not mean man cannot think, count, build, invent, govern, or plan in an earthly sense. It means that his thoughts, as man before God, are vain when measured by divine truth and eternal judgment. Without the fear of the LORD, his wisdom becomes foolishness. Paul wrote, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (1 Corinthians 3:19). Again, “The world by wisdom knew not God” (1 Corinthians 1:21). Man’s thoughts cannot find God, save the soul, defeat death, remove guilt, escape judgment, or overturn the counsel of Jehovah.
This phrase also rebukes proud imagination. The wicked in this psalm thought God did not see and would not regard their evil (v.7). That thought was vanity. Men today think sin can be hidden, judgment delayed forever, death avoided, God ignored, Scripture improved, Christ rejected without consequence, and eternity escaped. All such thoughts are vanity. The LORD knows them and will bring them into judgment.
This verse also comforts the righteous. God knows the thoughts of oppressors, persecutors, deceivers, and proud men. He is not fooled by their speeches. He is not moved by their boasts. He is not blind to their schemes. The saints may be unable to answer every slander or expose every hidden motive, but Jehovah knows. The Judge of all the earth will do right (Genesis 18:25).
The verse also teaches believers to distrust their own thoughts when they depart from the word of God. Man’s thoughts are vanity, but God’s thoughts are not. Jehovah said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8). Therefore, the wise man submits his thoughts to Scripture, prays for a clean heart, and asks God to search him: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts” (Psalm 139:23).
Here the Spirit humbles all flesh before the LORD. Men boast, reason, scheme, and imagine; God knows their thoughts and declares them vanity. Let no man trust his own wisdom against the word of God. Let no sinner think his secret counsels are hidden. Let no saint fear the devices of the proud as though Jehovah were ignorant of them. The LORD knows the thoughts of man, and His own counsel shall stand when every vain thought of man has perished.
The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
Psalm 94 is a psalm of appeal unto Jehovah against the proud, wicked, and oppressive. The wicked boast, afflict God’s people, slay the widow and stranger, murder the fatherless, and then speak as if God does not see or regard their evil (vv.3-7). The Spirit answers their brutish unbelief with searching questions: “He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?” (v.9). Verse 11 then presses the matter deeper. God not only hears the words and sees the works of men; He knows their thoughts.
“The LORD.” This is Jehovah, the living and true God, the God Who is, Who sees, Who hears, Who judges, and Who teaches man knowledge (vv.9-10). LORD in all capital letters is the King James Bible’s usual way of representing the divine name Jehovah. The verse does not speak of a blind idol, a distant force, or the imagination of men. It speaks of the God Who planted the ear, formed the eye, chastens the heathen, teaches knowledge, and searches the inward parts of man (vv.9-10). The wicked may say, “The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it” (v.7), but the Spirit answers that Jehovah knows even the thoughts they never speak.
“Knoweth.” God’s knowledge is perfect, immediate, complete, and inescapable. He does not learn as men learn. He does not gather information by inquiry. He does not wait for men to reveal themselves. He already knows. David confessed this truth: “Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off” (Psalm 139:2). Again, “For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether” (Psalm 139:4). God knows the thought before the word, the motive before the act, the counsel before the attempt, and the end from the beginning.
This knowledge should terrify the wicked. They may hide crimes from men, cover intentions with fair words, disguise pride with religion, and conceal malice behind outward civility, but Jehovah knows. He knows the counsel of rulers against His Christ (Psalm 2:1-3). He knows the imagination of man’s heart, which was evil from his youth (Genesis 8:21). He knows the inward devices that men dare not confess aloud. No creature is hidden from Him, “but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13).
“The thoughts.” The verse does not stop at outward conduct. Men judge words, actions, appearances, and results. God judges thoughts. Thoughts include imaginations, counsels, reasonings, intentions, purposes, schemes, desires, and inward conclusions. Wicked men may never carry out every evil they imagine, but God knows the fountain within. Christ taught that evil proceeds from the heart before it appears in outward sin: “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19).
This is why the verse is so humbling. Men like to be judged by what they choose to show. God knows what they hide. Men may restrain speech for reputation, restrain action for fear, or appear righteous before others, while their thoughts remain proud, lustful, bitter, unbelieving, covetous, or cruel. Jehovah knows them all. This destroys hypocrisy and calls every soul to fear God in the inward man.
“Of man.” The word “man” lowers the creature to his proper place. This is not God considering the thoughts of one ignorant fool only, but of man as man. The thoughts of kings, philosophers, judges, warriors, scholars, merchants, and common men are included. Men exalt human reason, celebrate human wisdom, and trust human plans, but God knows the thoughts of man. Paul quotes this verse against worldly wisdom: “And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain” (1 Corinthians 3:20). If the thoughts of the wise are vain, how much more the thoughts of the foolish.
The verse therefore condemns confidence in man’s wisdom. “The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations (Psalm 33:10-11). Men may assemble committees, write philosophies, build systems, make policies, form armies, and boast in progress, but their thoughts remain creaturely, limited, fallen, and vain when set against God.
“That they are vanity.” This is God’s judgment of man’s thoughts. They are vanity: empty, breathlike, profitless, unstable, passing, and unable to stand before God. The word exposes the hollowness of man’s reasoning apart from divine truth. Men imagine their thoughts profound, useful, modern, powerful, and wise. God says they are vanity.
This does not mean man cannot think, count, build, invent, govern, or plan in an earthly sense. It means that his thoughts, as man before God, are vain when measured by divine truth and eternal judgment. Without the fear of the LORD, his wisdom becomes foolishness. Paul wrote, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (1 Corinthians 3:19). Again, “The world by wisdom knew not God” (1 Corinthians 1:21). Man’s thoughts cannot find God, save the soul, defeat death, remove guilt, escape judgment, or overturn the counsel of Jehovah.
This phrase also rebukes proud imagination. The wicked in this psalm thought God did not see and would not regard their evil (v.7). That thought was vanity. Men today think sin can be hidden, judgment delayed forever, death avoided, God ignored, Scripture improved, Christ rejected without consequence, and eternity escaped. All such thoughts are vanity. The LORD knows them and will bring them into judgment.
This verse also comforts the righteous. God knows the thoughts of oppressors, persecutors, deceivers, and proud men. He is not fooled by their speeches. He is not moved by their boasts. He is not blind to their schemes. The saints may be unable to answer every slander or expose every hidden motive, but Jehovah knows. The Judge of all the earth will do right (Genesis 18:25).
The verse also teaches believers to distrust their own thoughts when they depart from the word of God. Man’s thoughts are vanity, but God’s thoughts are not. Jehovah said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8). Therefore, the wise man submits his thoughts to Scripture, prays for a clean heart, and asks God to search him: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts” (Psalm 139:23).
Here the Spirit humbles all flesh before the LORD. Men boast, reason, scheme, and imagine; God knows their thoughts and declares them vanity. Let no man trust his own wisdom against the word of God. Let no sinner think his secret counsels are hidden. Let no saint fear the devices of the proud as though Jehovah were ignorant of them. The LORD knows the thoughts of man, and His own counsel shall stand when every vain thought of man has perished.