Psalms50
New Living Translation
1 The Lord, the Mighty One, is God, and he has spoken; he has summoned all humanity from where the sun rises to where it sets.
2 From Mount Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines in glorious radiance.
3 Our God approaches, and he is not silent. Fire devours everything in his way, and a great storm rages around him.
4 He calls on the heavens above and earth below to witness the judgment of his people.
5 “Bring my faithful people to me— those who made a covenant with me by giving sacrifices.”
6 Then let the heavens proclaim his justice, for God himself will be the judge. Interlude
7 “O my people, listen as I speak. Here are my charges against you, O Israel: I am God, your God!
8 I have no complaint about your sacrifices or the burnt offerings you constantly offer.
9 But I do not need the bulls from your barns or the goats from your pens.
10 For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird on the mountains, and all the animals of the field are mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for all the world is mine and everything in it.
13 Do I eat the meat of bulls? Do I drink the blood of goats?
14 Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High.
15 Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.”
16 But God says to the wicked: “Why bother reciting my decrees and pretending to obey my covenant?
17 For you refuse my discipline and treat my words like trash.
18 When you see thieves, you approve of them, and you spend your time with adulterers.
19 Your mouth is filled with wickedness, and your tongue is full of lies.
20 You sit around and slander your brother— your own mother’s son.
21 While you did all this, I remained silent, and you thought I didn’t care. But now I will rebuke you, listing all my charges against you.
22 Repent, all of you who forget me, or I will tear you apart, and no one will help you.
23 But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me. If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God.”
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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