Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament

Psalms 50

Psalm 50: God summons the earth, judges his people and rebukes the wicked

General context

The psalm says the mighty God, the Lord, has spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun to its going down, and has shined out of Zion, the perfection of beauty. Our God will come and not keep silence, with a devouring fire before him and tempest around him; he calls to heaven and earth to judge his people: Gather my saints to me, those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice. The heavens declare his righteousness, for God is judge himself; Selah follows. God then speaks to Israel, his people, and testifies against them. He will not reprove them for their sacrifices and burnt offerings, and will take no bullock or goats from them, because every beast of the forest and the cattle on a thousand hills are his; if he were hungry he would not tell them, for the world is his. Will he eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? He tells them to offer thanksgiving, pay their vows to the most High and call on him in the day of trouble, when he will deliver them. To the wicked God says, What have you to do to declare my statutes, seeing you hate instruction and cast my words behind you? He charges them with consenting with a thief, partaking with adulterers, framing deceit, and slandering their own mother's son. He kept silence and they thought him like themselves, but he will reprove them and set these things before their eyes. He warns those who forget God that he may tear them in pieces with none to deliver, and closes: whoever offers praise glorifies him, and to the one who orders his conversation aright he will show the salvation of God.

Cited passages: Psalms 50:1, Psalms 50:2, Psalms 50:3, Psalms 50:4, Psalms 50:5, Psalms 50:6, Psalms 50:7, Psalms 50:8, Psalms 50:10, Psalms 50:12, Psalms 50:13, Psalms 50:14, Psalms 50:15, Psalms 50:16, Psalms 50:17, Psalms 50:18, Psalms 50:20, Psalms 50:21, Psalms 50:22, Psalms 50:23

Psalms 50 (KJV)

¹The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.

²Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.

³Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.

⁴He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.

⁵Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

⁶And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.

⁷Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.

⁸I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.

⁹I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.

¹⁰For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

¹¹I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

¹²If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.

¹³Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:

¹⁵And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

¹⁶But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?

¹⁷Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.

¹⁸When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.

¹⁹Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.

²⁰Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.

²¹These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.

²²Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

²³Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.

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Historical context

The text as printed here carries no heading; verse 1 opens with "The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken", so this source names no author, occasion or musical direction. The first six verses are spoken about God in the third person, with "Our God" in verse 3 the only trace of the speakers. Verse 5, "Gather my saints together unto me", is already in God's voice, verse 6 returns to the third person, and from verse 7 the words are God's own, addressed to "my people" and "Israel"; from verse 16 they are addressed "unto the wicked", introduced by "God saith". The setting is "Zion" and a gathering of "my saints" who made "a covenant with me by sacrifice"; no date or king appears. The speech does not condemn sacrifice as such, since it says "I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices", but denies that God needs them; the requested offering is thanksgiving and vows. The wicked are charged with consenting with thieves, partaking with adulterers, deceit and slander of a brother, but no individual is named. Whether "the wicked" are within Israel is not stated, though they "take my covenant" in their mouth. Selah stands once, after verse 6.

Cited passages: Psalms 50:1, Psalms 50:3, Psalms 50:7, Psalms 50:16, Psalms 50:5, Psalms 50:8, Psalms 50:14, Psalms 50:6

Literary context

The psalm is staged as a court scene. A summons to the whole earth and to heaven and earth as witnesses opens it, God arrives with fire and tempest, and Selah closes the arrival before the speech begins. Two addresses follow, each marked by a change of hearer: "Hear, O my people" and "But unto the wicked God saith". The first address works by rhetorical ownership and question: the beasts, cattle, fowls and the world are "mine", and the question "Will I eat the flesh of bulls" answers itself. The second is an indictment in the second person built on verbs of the mouth: declare, take in thy mouth, givest thy mouth, tongue frameth, speakest, slanderest. Silence is a hinge: God "shall not keep silence" at his coming, and the wicked misread the silence he kept. The psalm ends with a tearing threat and a promise in the same breath, praise and right conduct set against forgetting God. The preference for thanksgiving over bullocks stands next to Psalm 51's "thou desirest not sacrifice".

Cited passages: Psalms 50:4, Psalms 50:7, Psalms 50:16, Psalms 50:11, Psalms 50:19, Psalms 50:21, Psalms 50:22, Psalms 50:23, Psalms 51:16

Key moments

The earth is summoned (Psalms 50:1). The mighty God speaks and calls the earth from sunrise to sunset.
Fire and tempest before him (Psalms 50:3). God comes without silence, with a devouring fire and tempest around him.
Gather my saints (Psalms 50:5). God calls together those who made a covenant with him by sacrifice.
Hear, O my people (Psalms 50:7). God addresses Israel directly and says he will testify against them.
Cattle on a thousand hills (Psalms 50:10). God says every beast of the forest and the cattle on a thousand hills are his.
But unto the wicked (Psalms 50:16). God turns to the wicked and asks what right they have to speak his covenant.
I kept silence (Psalms 50:21). God says the wicked mistook his silence for likeness to themselves, and he will reprove them.

For reflection

God says he kept silence and the wicked took that silence to mean he was like them; what does the poem suggest people read into a God who does not immediately answer?