God the Judge of the Righteous and the Wicked.

A Psalm of [a]Asaph

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.

8“I do not reprove you for your sacrifices;

Your burnt offerings are continually before Me.

9“I will accept no young bull from your house

Nor male goat from your folds.

10“For every beast of the forest is Mine,

And the cattle on a thousand hills.

11“I know every bird of the mountains,

And everything that moves in the field is [b]Mine.

12“If I were hungry, I would not tell you,

For the world and all it contains are Mine.

13“Shall I eat the flesh of bulls

Or drink the blood of male goats?

14“Offer 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?

17“For you hate instruction and discipline

And cast My words behind you [discarding them].

18“When you see a thief, you are pleased with him and condone his behavior,

And you associate with adulterers.

19“You give your mouth to evil

And your tongue frames deceit.

20“You sit and speak against your brother;

You slander your own mother’s son.

21“These 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].

23“He 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.”

[a] PSALM 50Title Asaph was a Levite and one of the leaders of David’s choir. He was the head of one of the three families permanently in charge of the temple music. His family formed a guild that bore his name and is frequently mentioned (2 Chr 20:14; 29:13, 30). Twelve psalms (50; 73-83) are attributed in the titles to the family of Asaph. A hundred and twenty-eight of Asaph’s family members, all singers, came back from Babylon and took part when the foundations of Zerubbabel’s temple were laid (Ezra 2:41; 3:10).
[b] 11 Or in my mind; lit with Me.