Psalms 50:7-17

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 regarding thy sacrifices; thy burnt offerings are 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 with me.

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

13 Must I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?

14 Sacrifice praise unto God 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 part hast thou to declare my statutes or that thou should take my covenant in thy mouth?

17 Seeing thou dost hate chastening and dost cast my words behind thee.

Psalms 50:7-17 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.