God Himself Is Judge (PSA 50:1-23)

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

[50:1] The Mighty One, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

[50:2] Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.

[50:3] Our God comes; he does not keep silence; before him is a devouring fire, around him a mighty tempest.

[50:4] He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:

[50:5] “Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”

[50:6] The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge! Selah

[50:7] “Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.

[50:8] Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.

[50:9] I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds.

[50:10] For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.

[50:11] I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.

[50:12] “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.

[50:13] Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?

[50:14] Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High,

[50:15] and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

[50:16] But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips?

[50:17] For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.

[50:18] If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers.

[50:19] “You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.

[50:20] You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son.

[50:21] These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.

[50:22] “Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!

[50:23] The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”