Psalms 50:1–23

¹ A Psalm of Asaph. The Mighty One, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from where the sun rises to where it sets. ² From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth. ³ Our God approaches and will not be silent! Consuming fire precedes Him, and a tempest rages around Him. ⁴ He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that He may judge His people: ⁵ “Gather to Me My saints, who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” ⁶ And the heavens proclaim His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge. Selah ⁷ “Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, your God. ⁸ I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices, and your burnt offerings are ever before Me. ⁹ I have no need for a bull from your stall or goats from your pens, ¹⁰ for every beast of the forest is Mine— the cattle on a thousand hills. ¹¹ I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are Mine. ¹² If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and the fullness thereof. ¹³ Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? ¹⁴ Sacrifice a thank offering to God, and fulfill your vows to the Most High. ¹⁵ Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.” ¹⁶ To the wicked, however, God says, “What right have you to recite My statutes and to bear My covenant on your lips? ¹⁷ For you hate My instruction and cast My words behind you. ¹⁸ When you see a thief, you befriend him, and throw in your lot with adulterers. ¹⁹ You unleash your mouth for evil and unharness your tongue for deceit. ²⁰ You sit and malign your brother; you slander your own mother’s son. ²¹ You have done these things, and I kept silent; you thought I was just like you. But now I rebuke you and accuse you to your face. ²² Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you: ²³ He who sacrifices a thank offering honors Me, and to him who rights his way, I will show the salvation of God.”