Psalms 50

Psalm 50

God as Judge

A psalm of Asaph.

¹The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks; he summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.²

³From Zion, the perfection of beauty, God appears in radiance.⁴

⁵Our God is coming; he will not be silent! Devouring fire precedes him, and a storm rages around him.⁶

⁷On high, he summons heaven and earth in order to judge his people:⁸

⁹“Gather my faithful ones to me, those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”¹⁰

¹¹The heavens proclaim his righteousness, for God is the Judge.Selah¹²

¹³“Listen, my people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel. I am God, your God.¹⁴

¹⁵I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices or for your burnt offerings, which are continually before me.¹⁶

¹⁷I will not take a bull from your household or male goats from your pens,¹⁸

¹⁹for every animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.²⁰

²¹I know every bird of the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine.²²

²³If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and everything in it is mine.²⁴

²⁵Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?²⁶

²⁷Offer a thanksgiving sacrifice to God, and pay your vows to the Most High.²⁸

²⁹Call on me in a day of trouble; I will rescue you, and you will honor me.”³⁰

³¹But God says to the wicked: “What right do you have to recite my statutes and to take my covenant on your lips?³²

³³You hate instruction and fling my words behind you.³⁴

³⁵When you see a thief, you make friends with him, and you associate with adulterers.³⁶

³⁷You unleash your mouth for evil and harness your tongue for deceit.³⁸

³⁹You sit, maligning your brother, slandering your mother’s son.⁴⁰

⁴¹You have done these things, and I kept silent; you thought I was just like you. But I will rebuke you and lay out the case before you.⁴²

⁴³“Understand this, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to rescue you.⁴⁴

⁴⁵Whoever offers a thanksgiving sacrifice honors me, and whoever orders his conduct, I will show him the salvation of God.”⁴⁶