Psalms 50:3-13

3 Our God is coming; He will not be silent! Devouring fire precedes Him, and a storm rages around Him.
4 On high, He summons heaven and earth in order to judge His people.
5 "Gather My faithful ones to Me, those who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice."[a]
6 The heavens proclaim His righteousness,[b] for God is the judge. Selah
7 "Listen, My people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel. I am God, your God.
8 I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices or for your burnt offerings, which are continually before Me.[c]
9 I will not accept a bull from your household or male goats from your pens,
10 for every animal of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird of the mountains[d], and the creatures of the field are Mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and everything in it is Mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?

Psalms 50:3-13 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.

Footnotes 5

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