Psalms 50:3-13

3 Our God comes, and he won't be silent. A burning fire goes ahead of him. A terrible storm is all around him.
4 He calls out to heaven and earth to be his witnesses. Then he judges his people.
5 He says, "Gather my holy people around me. They made a covenant with me by offering a sacrifice."
6 The heavens announce that what God decides is right. He himself is the Judge. "Selah"
7 God says, "Listen, my people, and I will speak. Listen, Israel, and I will give witness against you. I am God, your God.
8 I don't find fault with you because of your sacrifices. I don't find fault with the burnt offerings you always bring me.
9 I don't need a bull from your barn. I don't need goats from your pens.
10 Every animal in the forest already belongs to me. And so do the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I own every bird in the mountains. The creatures of the field belong to me.
12 If I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you. The world belongs to me. And so does everything in it.
13 Do I eat the meat of bulls? Do I 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.

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