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Psalms 50

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[1]The majesty of God in the church: [5]his command to gather his saints. [7]God delighteth not in sacrifice, [14]but in a pious heart. [16]The hypocrite rebuked: [23]salvation promised to the upright.

A Psalm of Asaph.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

21. These 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.

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

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

Metrical version

Psalm 50

S.M.

The mighty God, the LORD,
hath spoken, and did call
The earth, from rising of the sun,
to where he hath his fall.

From out of Zion hill,
which of excellency
And beauty the perfection is,
God shined gloriously.

Our God shall surely come;
keep silence shall not he:
Before him fire shall waste, great storms
shall round about him be.

Unto the heavens clear
he from above shall call,
And to the earth likewise, that he
may judge his people all.

Together let my saints
unto me gathered be,
Those that by sacrifice have made
a covenant with me.

And then the heavens shall
his righteousness declare:
Because the Lord himself is he
by whom men judged are.

My people Isr'el hear,
speak will I from on high,
Against thee I will testify;
God, ev'n thy God, am I.

I for thy sacrifice
no blame will on thee lay,
Nor for burnt-off'rings, which to me
thou offer'dst ev'ry day.

I'll take no calf nor goats
from house or fold of thine:
For beasts of forest, cattle all
on thousand hills, are mine.

The fowls on mountains high
are all to me well known;
Wild beasts which in the fields do lie,
ev'n they are all mine own.

Then, if I hungry were,
I would not tell it thee;
Because the world, and fulness all
thereof, belongs to me.

Will I eat flesh of bulls?
or goats' blood drink will I?
Thanks offer thou to God, and pay
thy vows to the Most High.

And call upon me when
in trouble thou shalt be;
I will deliver thee, and thou
my name shalt glorify.

But to the wicked man
God saith, My laws and truth
Should'st thou declare? how dar'st thou take
my cov'nant in thy mouth?

Sith thou instruction hat'st,
which should thy ways direct;
And sith my words behind thy back
thou cast'st, and dost reject.

When thou a thief didst see,
with him thou didst consent;
And with the vile adulterers
partaker on thou went.

Thou giv'st thy mouth to ill,
thy tongue deceit doth frame;
Thou sitt'st, and 'gainst thy brother speak'st,
thy mother's son dost shame.

Because I silence kept,
while thou these things hast wrought;
That I was altogether like
thyself, hath been thy thought;

Yet I will thee reprove,
and set before thine eyes,
In order ranked, thy misdeeds
and thine iniquities.

Now, ye that God forget,
this carefully consider;
Lest I in pieces tear you all,
and none can you deliver.

Whoso doth offer praise
me glorifies; and I
Will show him God's salvation,
that orders right his way.
This psalm is a mirror calculated to exhibit the emptiness of all worldly enjoyments. Observe, (1.) David's earnest attempt to awaken all ranks of mankind to a serious consideration of this matter, as a point of great importance and universal concern, ver. 1-4. (2.) His irrefragable proofs of the vanity of earthly enjoyments - viz., that they cannot save from death either a man's self or his friend; and that they cannot make men wise or happy in this world, and far less render them happy in the future state, ver. 6-14. (3.) His attempt to comfort himself and other saints, under the sense of their daily infirmities, and of the chastisements received on account of their sins; and against the slavish fears of death, and temptations arising from the prosperity of the wicked, ver. 5, 15-18.


While I sing, let me bewail my sinful minding of, and idolatrous attachment to earthly things. Let me be henceforth as a weaned child, setting my affections on things above, where Christ is at the right hand of God. Let no uncertain riches or honours, but the living God, be the object of all my trust and joy.

Psalm 50 (second version)

C.M.

The mighty God, the LORD, hath spoke,
and called the earth upon,
Ev'n from the rising of the sun
unto his going down.

From out of Zion, his own hill,
where the perfection high
Of beauty is, from thence the Lord
hath shined gloriously.

Our God shall come, and shall no more
be silent, but speak out:
Before him fire shall waste, great storms
shall compass him about.

He to the heavens from above,
and to the earth below,
Shall call, that he his judgments may
before his people show.

Let all my saints together be
unto me gathered;
Those that by sacrifice with me
a covenant have made.

And then the heavens shall declare
his righteousness abroad:
Because the Lord himself doth come;
none else is judge but God.

Hear, O my people, and I'll speak;
O Israel by name,
Against thee I will testify;
God, ev'n thy God, I am.

I for thy sacrifices few
reprove thee never will,
Nor for burnt-off'rings to have been
before me offered still.

I'll take no bullock nor he-goats
from house nor folds of thine:
For beasts of forest, cattle all
on thousand hills, are mine.

The fowls are all to me well known
that mountains high do yield;
And I do challenge as mine own
the wild beasts of the field.

If I were hungry, I would not
to thee for need complain;
For earth, and all its fulness, doth
to me of right pertain.

That I to eat the flesh of bulls
take pleasure dost thou think?
Or that I need, to quench my thirst,
the blood of goats to drink?

Nay, rather unto me, thy God,
thanksgiving offer thou:
To the Most High perform thy word,
and fully pay thy vow:

And in the day of trouble great
see that thou call on me;
I will deliver thee, and thou
my name shalt glorify.

But God unto the wicked saith,
Why should'st thou mention make
Of my commands? how dar'st thou in
thy mouth my cov'nant take?

Sith it is so that thou dost hate
all good instruction;
And sith thou cast'st behind thy back,
and slight'st my words each one.

When thou a thief didst see, then straight
thou join'dst with him in sin,
And with the vile adulterers
thou hast partaker been.

Thy mouth to evil thou dost give,
thy tongue deceit doth frame.
Thou sitt'st, and 'gainst thy brother speak'st,
thy mother's son to shame.

These things thou wickedly hast done,
and I have silent been:
Thou thought'st that I was like thyself,
and did approve thy sin:

But I will sharply thee reprove,
and I will order right
Thy sins and thy transgressions
in presence of thy sight.

Consider this, and be afraid,
ye that forget the Lord,
Lest I in pieces tear you all,
when none can help afford.

Who off'reth praise me glorifies:
I will show God's salvation
To him that ordereth aright
his life and conversation.
This psalm may be considered as a rebuke to the carnal Jews who rested in, and boasted of their external ceremonies in worship, to the neglect of the weightier matters of the law - mercy, judgment, and faith; or as a prediction of the coming of Christ, to abolish the ceremonial worship, eject the Jews from his church, and establish a more pure and spiritual form of worship under the gospel: or, in fine, as a representation of the last judgment; in which Christ shall come, to render to every man according to his deeds. Observe, (1.) The awful appearance of God our Redeemer, in the flesh, in power, or in the clouds; with the gathering of the people to him, ver. 1-6. (2.) An engaging admonition to improve God's new-covenant grant of himself to be our God, as an excitement to exchange legal ceremonies into prayer, thanksgiving and holy obedience; or, at least, to give a remarkable preference to the latter, ver. 7-15. (3.) A terrible charge of hypocrisy, slander, contempt of God's word, and of atheistical imaginations concerning God, laid against the wicked, with a fearful sentence of condemnation founded thereon, ver. 16-22. (4.) An alarming warning of danger to the forgetters of God, and an encouraging promise to such as study to glorify him by a holy conversation, ver. 22-23.


Sing this, my soul, with solemn awe, assisted before the great Searcher of hearts, and as by faith beholding Jesus in my nature, sitting on his great white throne, gathering the nations to his bar, opening the books, and judging mankind out of the things found written therein.