Psalms 50
God the Judge of the Righteous and the Wicked.
1The mighty One, God, the Lord, has spoken,
And summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting [from east to west].
2Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God has shone forth.
3May our God come and not keep silent;
Fire devours before Him,
And around Him a mighty tempest rages.
4He summons the heavens above,
And the earth, to judge His people:
5“Gather My godly ones to Me,
Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”
6And the heavens declare His righteousness,
For God Himself is judge. Selah.
7“Hear, O My people, and I will speak;
O Israel, I will testify against you:
I am God, your God.
8I do not reprove you for your sacrifices;
Your burnt offerings are continually before Me.
9I will accept no young bull from your house
Nor male goat from your folds.
10For every beast of the forest is Mine,
And the cattle on a thousand hills.
11I know every bird of the mountains,
And everything that moves in the field is Mine.
12If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
For the world and all it contains are Mine.
13Shall I eat the flesh of bulls
Or drink the blood of male goats?
14Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving
And pay your vows to the Most High;
15Call on Me in the day of trouble;
I will rescue you, and you shall honor and glorify Me.”
16But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to recite My statutes
Or to take My covenant on your lips?
17For you hate instruction and discipline
And cast My words behind you [discarding them].
18When you see a thief, you are pleased with him and condone his behavior,
And you associate with adulterers.
19You give your mouth to evil
And your tongue frames deceit.
20You sit and speak against your brother;
You slander your own mother’s son.
21These things you have done and I kept silent;
You thought that I was just like you.
Now I will reprimand and denounce you and state the case in order before your eyes.
22“Now consider this, you who forget God,
Or I will tear you in pieces, and there will be no one to rescue [you].
23He who offers a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving honors Me;
And to him who orders his way rightly [who follows the way that I show him],
I shall show the salvation of God.”