Psalm 47–50

God Is King over All the Earth

47For the music director. Of the sons of Korah. A psalm.^a

¹All you peoples, clap your hands.^b

Shout to God with a voice of rejoicing.

²For Yahweh Most High is awesome,^c

a great king over all the earth.

³He subdues peoples under us

and nations under our feet.

⁴He chooses for us our inheritance,

the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah

⁵God has gone up with a shout,

Yahweh with the sound of a trumpet.

⁶Sing praises to God, sing praises.

Sing praises to our king, sing praises.

⁷For God is king of all the earth.

Sing praises with understanding.^d

⁸God reigns over nations;

God sits on his holy throne.

⁹The princes of the peoples are gathered together

with the people of Abraham’s God.

For the shields of the earth belong to God.

He is very exalted.

The Greatness of God in Zion

48A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.^a

¹Yahweh is great and very worthy of praise

in the city of our God, in his holy mountain.^b

²Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth,

is Mount Zion,^c in the far north,^d

the city of the great king.

³God is in her citadels;

he is known as a high stronghold.

⁴For see, the kings assembled;^e

they advanced together.

⁵They themselves saw^f it, so they were astonished.

They were terrified; they ran off.

⁶Trembling seized them there—

pain as of a woman in labor.

⁷With an east wind

you shatter^g the ships of Tarshish.^h

⁸As we have heard, so we have seen

in the city of Yahweh of hosts, in the city of our God.

God will establish her forever. Selah

⁹We have pondered your loyal love, O God,

in the midst of your temple.

¹⁰As is your name, O God, so is your praise

to the ends of the earth.

Your right hand is full of righteousness.

¹¹Let Mount Zionⁱ rejoice;

let the daughters of Judah rejoice

because of your judgments.

¹²Walk about Zion and circle it;

count her towers.

¹³Consider well^j her ramparts.

Go through her citadels

so that you can tell the next generation

¹⁴that this is God, our God forever and ever.

He himself^k will guide us until death.

Wealth and the Fate of the Wicked

49For the music director. Of the sons of Korah. A psalm.^a

¹Hear this, all you peoples;

give ear, all you inhabitants of the world,

²both low and high,

rich and poor together.

³My mouth will speak wisdom,

and the meditation of my heart will be understanding.

⁴I will incline my ear to a proverb;

I will propound^b my riddle on a lyre.

⁵Why should I fear in times of calamity,^c

when iniquity surrounds me at my heels,

⁶those who trust their wealth

and boast about the abundance of their riches?

⁷Surely a man cannot redeem a brother.

He cannot give to God his ransom

⁸(since^d the redemption price for their life is costly

and it always fails),

⁹so that he may stay alive forever

and not see the pit.

¹⁰For he sees that the wise die,

together with the fool and brute they perish,

and leave their wealth to the next generation.

¹¹Within them they think their houses are forever,

their dwelling places from generation to generation.

They name^e their lands by their own names.

¹²But man cannot continue in his pomp.

He is like the beasts that perish.

¹³This is the journey^f of those who have foolish confidence,

and those after them who accept their sayings. Selah

¹⁴Like sheep they are destined to Sheol;

death will shepherd them.

But the upright will rule over them in the morning,

and their forms will be for Sheol to consume,

far from his lofty abode.

¹⁵Surely God will ransom my life

from the power^g of Sheol,

because he will receive me. Selah

¹⁶Do not fear when a man becomes rich,

when the wealth^h of his house increases,

¹⁷because when he dies he will not take away any of it.

His wealth will not follow down after him.

¹⁸Though he congratulated his soul while he was living

—and people will praise you when you do well for yourself—

¹⁹itⁱ will go to the generation of his fathers.

Never will they see light.

²⁰Humankind in its pomp, but does not understand,

is like the beasts that perish.

An Oracle Concerning Sacrifices

50A psalm of Asaph.^a

¹The Supreme God, God, Yahweh, has spoken

and summoned the earth,

from the rising of the sun

to its setting.

²From Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God shines forth.

³Our God comes and he is not silent.

Before him fire devours,

and around him it is very tempestuous.

⁴He summons the heavens above

and the earth that he might judge his people:

⁵“Gather to me my loyal ones,

those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”

⁶And the heavens declare his righteousness,

because God himself is judge. Selah

⁷“Hear, O my people, and I will speak,

O Israel, and I will testify against you.

I am God, your God.

⁸It is not concerning a lack of your sacrifices that I rebuke you,

and your burnt offerings are before me continually.

⁹I will not take from your house a bull

or from your stalls a he-goat,

¹⁰because every animal of the forest is mine,

the cattle on a thousand hills.

¹¹I know every bird of the mountains,

and every moving creature in the field is mine.

¹²If I were hungry I would not tell you,

because the world and its fullness are mine.

¹³Do I eat the flesh of bulls

or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴Offer to God a thank offering

and pay your vows to the Most High.

¹⁵And call me in the day of trouble;

I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.”

¹⁶But to the wicked God says,

“What right have you to recite my statutes

and mention my covenant with your mouth,^b

¹⁷while you yourself hate discipline,

and cast my words behind you?

¹⁸When you see a thief, then you are pleased with him,

and your association is with adulterers.

¹⁹You give your mouth free rein for evil,

and you harness your tongue to deceit.

²⁰You sit and speak against your brother;

you slander your mother’s son.

²¹These things you have done, and I have been silent;

You imagined that I was just like you.

I will rebuke you and present an argument before your eyes.

²²Now consider this, you who forget God,

lest I tear you apart, and there will be none to deliver.

²³He who sacrifices a thank offering honors me,

and he who orders his way;

I will show him the salvation of God.”