Psalms 50:3-13

3 Our God is coming, but not in silence; a raging fire is in front of him, a furious storm around him.

4 He calls heaven and earth as witnesses to see him judge his people.

5 He says, "Gather my faithful people to me, those who made a covenant with me by offering a sacrifice."

6 The heavens proclaim that God is righteous, that he himself is judge.

7 "Listen, my people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel. I am God, your God.

8 I do not reprimand you because of your sacrifices and the burnt offerings you always bring me.

9 And yet I do not need bulls from your farms or goats from your flocks;

10 all the animals in the forest are mine and the cattle on thousands of hills.

11 All the wild birds are mine and all living things in the fields.

12 "If I were hungry, I would not ask you for food, 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.