< Psalms 50 >
1 A Psalm of Asaph. The Mighty One, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from where the sun rises to where it sets.
A Psalm for Asaph. The God of gods, the Lord, has spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down [thereof].
2 From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.
Out of Sion [comes] the excellence of his beauty.
3 Our God approaches and will not be silent! Consuming fire precedes Him, and a tempest rages around Him.
God, our God, shall come manifestly, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall be kindled before him, and round about him there shall be a very great tempest.
4 He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that He may judge His people:
He shall summon the heaven above, and the earth, that he may judge his people.
5 “Gather to Me My saints, who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”
Assemble ye his saints to him, those that have engaged in a covenant with him upon sacrifices.
6 And the heavens proclaim His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge.
And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge. (Pause)
7 “Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, your God.
Hear, my people, and I will speak to thee, O Israel: and I will testify to thee: I am God, thy God.
8 I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices, and your burnt offerings are ever before Me.
I will not reprove thee on account of thy sacrifices; for thy whole-burnt-offerings are before me continually.
9 I have no need for a bull from your stall or goats from your pens,
I will take no bullocks out of thine house, nor he-goats out of thy flocks.
10 for every beast of the forest is Mine— the cattle on a thousand hills.
For all the wild beasts of the thicket are mine, the cattle on the mountains, and oxen.
11 I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are Mine.
I know all the birds of the sky; and the beauty of the field is mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and the fullness thereof.
If I should be hungry, I will not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fullness of it.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Sacrifice a thank offering to God, and fulfill your vows to the Most High.
Offer to God the sacrifice of praise; and pay thy vows to the Most High.
15 Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”
And call upon me in the day of affliction; and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. (Pause)
16 To the wicked, however, God says, “What right have you to recite My statutes and to bear My covenant on your lips?
But to the sinner God has said, Why dost thou declare my ordinances, and take up my covenant in thy mouth?
17 For you hate My instruction and cast My words behind you.
Whereas thou hast hated instruction, and hast cast my words behind [thee].
18 When you see a thief, you befriend him, and throw in your lot with adulterers.
If thou sawest a thief, thou rannest along with him, and hast cast in thy lot with adulterers.
19 You unleash your mouth for evil and unharness your tongue for deceit.
Thy mouth has multiplied wickedness, and thy tongue has framed deceit.
20 You sit and malign your brother; you slander your own mother’s son.
Thou didst sit and speak against thy brother, and didst scandalize thy mother's son.
21 You have done these things, and I kept silent; you thought I was just like you. But now I rebuke you and accuse you to your face.
These things thou didst, and I kept silence: thou thoughtest wickedly that I should be like thee, [but] I will reprove thee, and set [thine offences] before thee.
22 Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:
Now consider these things, ye that forget God, lest he rend [you], and there is no deliverer.
23 He who sacrifices a thank offering honors Me, and to him who rights his way, I will show the salvation of God.”
The sacrifice of praise will glorify me: and that is the way wherein I will shew to him the salvation of God.