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.
2From Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God appears in radiance.
3Our God is coming; he will not be silent!
Devouring fire precedes him,
and a storm rages around him.
4On high, he summons heaven and earth
in order to judge his people:
5“Gather my faithful ones to me,
those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
6The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
for God is the Judge.Selah
7“Listen, my people, and I will speak;
I will testify against you, Israel.
I am God, your God.
8I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices
or for your burnt offerings,
which are continually before me.
9I will not take a bull from your household
or male goats from your pens,
10for every animal of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
11I know every bird of the mountains,
and the creatures of the field are mine.
12If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and everything in it is mine.
13Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14Offer a thanksgiving sacrifice to God,
and pay your vows to the Most High.
15Call on me in a day of trouble;
I will rescue you, and you will honor me.”
16But God says to the wicked:
“What right do you have to recite my statutes
and to take my covenant on your lips?
17You hate instruction
and fling my words behind you.
18When you see a thief,
you make friends with him,
and you associate with adulterers.
19You unleash your mouth for evil
and harness your tongue for deceit.
20You sit, maligning your brother,
slandering your mother’s son.
21You 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.
22“Understand this, you who forget God,
or I will tear you apart,
and there will be no one to rescue you.
23Whoever offers a thanksgiving sacrifice honors me,
and whoever orders his conduct,
I will show him the salvation of God.”