Psalm 50
A Psalm by Asaph.
[50:1] The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, speaks, and calls the earth from sunrise to sunset. [50:2] Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth. [50:3] Our God comes, and does not keep silent. A fire devours before him. It is very stormy around him. [50:4] He calls to the heavens above, to the earth, that he may judge his people: [50:5] "Gather my saints together to me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." [50:6] The heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah. [50:7] "Hear, my people, and I will speak; Israel, and I will testify against you. I am God, your God. [50:8] I don't rebuke you for your sacrifices. Your burnt offerings are continually before me. [50:9] I have no need for a bull from your stall, nor male goats from your pens. [50:10] For every animal of the forest is mine, and the livestock on a thousand hills. [50:11] I know all the birds of the mountains. The wild animals of the field 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] Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? [50:14] Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving. Pay your vows to the Most High. [50:15] Call on me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you will honor me." [50:16] But to the wicked God says, "What right do you have to declare my statutes, that you have taken my covenant on your lips, [50:17] seeing you hate instruction, and throw my words behind you? [50:18] When you saw a thief, you consented with him, and have participated with adulterers. [50:19] "You give your mouth to evil. Your tongue frames deceit. [50:20] You sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother's son. [50:21] You have done these things, and I kept silent. You thought that the I was just like you. I will rebuke you, and accuse you in front of your eyes. [50:22] "Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you into pieces, and there be none to deliver. [50:23] Whoever offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me, and prepares his way so that I will show God's salvation to him."