Psalms 50:12-22

12 Even if I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you because the whole world and everything in it already belong to me.
13 Do I eat bulls' meat? Do I drink goats' blood?
14 Offer God a sacrifice of thanksgiving! Fulfill the promisesyou made to the Most High!
15 Cry out to me whenever you are in trouble; I will deliver you, then you will honor me."
16 But to the wicked God says, "Why do you talk about my laws? Why do you even mention my covenant?
17 You hate discipline, and you toss my words behind your back.
18 You make friends with thieves whenever you see one; you spend your time with adulterers.
19 You set your mouth free to do evil, then harness your tongue to tell lies.
20 You sit around, talking about your own siblings; you find fault with the children of your very own mother.
21 You've done these things and I've kept quiet. You thought I was just like you! But now I'm punishing you; I'm laying it all out, right in front of your face.
22 So consider this carefully, all you who forget God, or I'll rip you to pieces with no one to deliver you:

Psalms 50:12-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 50

\\<>\\. This psalm is called a psalm of Asaph; either because it was composed by him under divine inspiration, since he was a prophet and a seer, 1Ch 25:2, 2Ch 29:30; or because it was delivered to him to be sung in public service, he being a chief musician; see 1Ch 16:7; and so it may be rendered, "a psalm for Asaph"; or "unto Asaph" {o}; which was directed, sent, and delivered to him, and might be written by David; and, as Junius thinks, after the angel had appeared to him, and he was directed where he should build an altar to the Lord, 1Ch 21:18. The Targum, Kimchi, and R. Obadiah Gaon, interpret this psalm of the day of judgment; and Jarchi takes it to be a prophecy of the future redemption by their expected Messiah; and indeed it does refer to the times of the Gospel dispensation; for it treats of the calling of the Gentiles, of the abrogation of legal sacrifices, and of the controversy the Lord would have with the Jews for retaining them, and rejecting pure, spiritual, and evangelical worship. {o} Poal "ipsi Asaph", Tigurine version, Vatablus; "Asapho", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so Ainsworth.

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