50:1 [A psalm of Asaph.] The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to where it sets.
50:2 From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.
50:3 Our God comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before him, and around him a tempest rages.
50:4 He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that he may judge his people:
50:5 “Gather to me this consecrated people, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
50:6 And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for he is a God of justice.* ** / *With a different word division of the Hebrew; Masoretic Text for God himself is judge / **The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.
50:7 “Listen, my people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel: I am God, your God.
50:8 I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.
50:9 I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens,
50:10 for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.
50:11 I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine.
50:12 If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
50:13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?
50:14 “Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High,
50:15 and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
50:16 But to the wicked person, God says: “What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips?
50:17 You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you.
50:18 When you see a thief, you join with him; you throw in your lot with adulterers.
50:19 You use your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit.
50:20 You sit and testify against your brother and slander your own mother’s son.
50:21 When you did these things and I kept silent, you thought I was exactly* like you. But I now arraign you and set my accusations before you. / *Or thought the ‘I am’ was
50:22 “Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:
50:23 Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me, and to the blameless* I will show my salvation.” / *Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; the meaning of the Masoretic Text for this phrase is uncertain.