Psalms 50

Psalm 50

The Acceptable Sacrifice

1The mighty one, God the Lord ,[#Josh 22.22]

speaks and summons the earth

from the rising of the sun to its setting.

2Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,[#Deut 33.2; Ps 48.2]

God shines forth.

3Our God comes and does not keep silent;[#Ps 96.13; 97.3; Dan 7.10]

before him is a devouring fire

and a mighty tempest all around him.

4He calls to the heavens above[#Deut 4.26; Isa 1.2]

and to the earth, that he may judge his people:

5“Gather to me my faithful ones,[#v 8 ; Ex 24.7]

who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”

6The heavens declare his righteousness,[#Ps 75.7; 89.5]

for God himself is judge. Selah

7“Hear, O my people, and I will speak,[#Ps 81.8]

O Israel, I will testify against you.

I am God, your God.

8Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;[#Ps 40.6; Hos 6.6]

your burnt offerings are continually before me.

9I will not accept a bull from your house[#Ps 69.31]

or goats from your folds.

10For every wild animal of the forest is mine,[#Ps 104.24]

the cattle on a thousand hills.

11I know all the birds of the air,[#50.11 Gk Syr Tg: Heb mountains]

and all that moves in the field is mine.

12“If I were hungry, I would not tell you,[#Ex 19.5]

for the world and all that is in it is mine.

13Do I eat the flesh of bulls

or drink the blood of goats?

14Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,[#Deut 23.21; Heb 13.15; #50.14 Or make thanksgiving your sacrifice to God]

and pay your vows to the Most High.

15Call on me in the day of trouble;[#Ps 81.7; 91.15]

I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

16But to the wicked God says,[#Isa 29.13]

“What right have you to recite my statutes

or take my covenant on your lips?

17For you hate discipline,[#Neh 9.26; Rom 2.21, 22]

and you cast my words behind you.

18You make friends with a thief when you see one,[#1 Tim 5.22]

and you keep company with adulterers.

19“You give your mouth free rein for evil,

and your tongue frames deceit.

20You sit and speak against your kin;[#Mt 10.21]

you slander your own mother’s child.

21These things you have done, and I have been silent;[#Eccl 8.11]

you thought that I was one just like yourself.

But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.

22“Mark this, then, you who forget God,[#Job 8.13; Ps 7.2; 9.17]

or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.

23Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me;

to those who go the right way,

I will show the salvation of God.”

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, copyright © 2021 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Published by: National Council of the Churches of Christ