Psalms50
New International Version
1 The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to where it sets.
2 From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.
3 Our God comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before him, and around him a tempest rages.
4 He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that he may judge his people:
5 “Gather to me this consecrated people, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
6 And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for he is a God of justice.
7 “Listen, my people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel: I am God, your God.
8 I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.
9 I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens,
10 for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine.
12 If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?
14 “Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High,
15 and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
16 But to the wicked person, God says: “What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips?
17 You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you.
18 When you see a thief, you join with him; you throw in your lot with adulterers.
19 You use your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit.
20 You sit and testify against your brother and slander your own mother’s son.
21 When you did these things and I kept silent, you thought I was exactly like you. But I now arraign you and set my accusations before you.
22 “Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:
23 Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me, and to the blameless I will show my salvation.”
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Psalms 50Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Psalms 50. The full AI study guide (summary, themes, context) has its own page.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The glory of God. (1–6). Sacrifices to be changed for prayers. (7–15). Sincere obedience required. (16–23).
vv1-6
This psalm is a psalm of instruction. It tells of the coming of Christ and the day of judgment, in which God will call men to account; and the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of judgement. All the children of men are concerned to know the right way of worshipping the Lord, in spirit and in truth. In the great day, our God shall come, and make those hear his judgement who would not hearken to his law. Happy are those who come into the covenant of grace, by faith in the Redeemer's atoning sacrifice, and show the sincerity of their love by fruits of righteousness. When God rejects the services of those who rest in outside performances, he will graciously accept those who seek him aright. It is only by sacrifice, by Christ, the great Sacrifice, from whom the sacrifices of the law derived what value they had, that we can be accepted of God. True and righteous are his judgments; even sinners' own consciences will be forced to acknowledge the righteousness of God.
vv7-15
To obey is better than sacrifice, and to love God and our neighbour better than all burnt-offerings. We are here warned not to rest in these performances. And let us beware of resting in any form. God demands the heart, and how can human inventions please him, when repentance, faith, and holiness are neglected? In the day of distress we must apply to the Lord by fervent prayer. Our troubles, though we see them coming from God's hand, must drive us to him, not drive us from him. We must acknowledge him in all our ways, depend upon his wisdom, power, and goodness, and refer ourselves wholly to him, and so give him glory. Thus must we keep up communion with God; meeting him with prayers under trials, and with praises in deliverances. A believing supplicant shall not only be graciously answered as to his petition, and so have cause for praising God, but shall also have grace to praise him.
vv16-23
Hypocrisy is wickedness, which God will judge. And it is too common, for those who declare the Lord's statutes to others, to live in disobedience to them themselves. This delusion arises from the abuse of God's long-suffering, and a wilful mistake of his character and the intention of his gospel. The sins of sinners will be fully proved on them in the judgment of the great day. The day is coming when God will set their sins in order, sins of childhood and youth, of riper age and old age, to their everlasting shame and terror. Let those hitherto forgetful of God, given up to wickedness, or in any way negligent of salvation, consider their urgent danger. The patience of the Lord is very great. It is the more wonderful, because sinners make such ill use of it; but if they turn not, they shall be made to see their error when it is too late. Those that forget God, forget themselves; and it will never be right with them till they consider. Man's chief end is to glorify God: whoso offers praise, glorifies him, and his spiritual sacrifices shall be accepted. We must praise God, sacrifice praise, put it into the hands of the Priest, our Lord Jesus, who is also the altar: we must be fervent in spirit, praising the Lord. Let us thankfully accept God's mercy, and endeavour to glorify him in word and deed.
Key Words
מִזְמוֹר: properly, instrumental music; by implication, a poem set to notes
אָסָף: Asaph, the name of three Israelites, and of the family of the first
אֵל: strength; as adjective, mighty; especially the Almighty (but used also of any deity)
אֱלֹהִים: gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative
דָבַר: perhaps properly, to arrange; but used figuratively (of words), to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue
קָרָא: to call out to (i.e. properly, address by name, but used in a wide variety of applications)
אֶרֶץ: the earth (at large, or partitively a land)
מִן: properly, a part of; hence (prepositionally), from or out of in many senses
מִזְרָח: sunrise, i.e. the east
שֶׁמֶשׁ: the sun; by implication, the east; figuratively, a ray, i.e. (architectural) a notched battlement
Cross References
Psalms 50The dramatic description of devouring fire and tempest directly recalls God's historic descent on Mount Sinai.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Moses summons heaven and earth to witness Israel's covenant, a direct parallel to God's cosmic courtroom.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
Isaiah similarly summons heaven and earth to witness God's covenant lawsuit against His hypocritical people.
Supported by John Calvin, JFB
Paul echoes the condemnation of formalists who declare God's statutes yet violate them in practice.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
New Testament warning that 'our God is a consuming fire' echoes this psalm's devouring judgment scene.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Alludes to the inaugural Sinai covenant ratified with the blood of sacrificed animals.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Identical theological premise that God needs nothing from man because the whole earth is His.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
The terror of hypocrites in Zion when confronted by God's devouring fire.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Exposes the inherent insufficiency of animal blood sacrifices, pointing to their ultimate obsolescence.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Classic prophetic principle that obedience and a right heart please God far more than sacrifices.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Exhorts Israel to render the spiritual sacrifices of their lips rather than mere bulls.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Warns against abusing God's long-suffering silence as a green light for continued wickedness.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Rejects the transactional notion of offering animals in favor of justice, mercy, and humility.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Establishes the sacrifice of praise as the permanent New Covenant offering in place of legal sacrifices.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Moses warns of the severe peril facing those who forget the God who formed them.
Supported by JFB