Psalms 50

KJV · Chapter 50/150

1The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.

2Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.

3Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.

4He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.

5Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

6And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.

7Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.

8I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.

9I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.

10For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

11I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

12If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.

13Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

14Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:

15And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

16But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?

17Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.

18When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.

19Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.

20Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.

21These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.

22Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

23Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God presents Himself as judge, summoning heaven and earth, declaring that He has no need of animal sacrifices because everything already belongs to Him, and calling for a sacrifice of sincere gratitude, while rebuking the hypocrites who recite His law but live in sin.

Explanation

Attributed to Asaph, a worship leader in David's time, this psalm presents God speaking directly (a rare poetic device in the Psalter) to correct an empty religious practice: performing sacrificial rituals without genuine inner devotion. The statement 'every beast of the forest is mine' (v. 10) makes clear that God does not need sacrifices as though He were hungry, but requested them as a means of expressing gratitude and covenant, not as payment. The second half of the psalm directly confronts the hypocrisy of those who recite God's law in public yet tolerate theft, adultery, and slander. Today's application: religious rituals without a consistent life and sincere gratitude lose their value before God.

Chapters