Psalm 50–52

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.”

A Prayer of Repentance and Plea for Mercy

51For the music director. A psalm of David.

When Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.^a

¹Be gracious to me, O God, according to your loyal love.

According to your abundant mercies,

blot out my transgressions.

²Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and from my sin cleanse me.

³For I myself know^b my transgressions,^c

and my sin is ever before me.

⁴Against you, only you, I have sinned

and have done this evil^d in your eyes,

so that you are correct when you speak,

you are blameless when you judge.

⁵Behold, in iniquity I was born,

and in sin my mother conceived me.

⁶Behold, you delight in truth in the inward parts,

and in the hidden parts you make me to know wisdom.

⁷Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

⁸Make me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

⁹Hide your face from my sins,

and all my iniquities blot out.

¹⁰Create a clean heart for me, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.^e

¹¹Do not cast me away from your presence,

and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and with a willing spirit sustain me.

¹³Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will turn back to you.

¹⁴Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,

the God of my salvation;

then my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

¹⁵O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will proclaim your praise.

¹⁶For you do not delight in sacrifice or I would give it.

With a burnt offering you are not pleased.

¹⁷The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

A broken and contrite heart,

O God, you will not despise.

¹⁸Do good in your favor toward Zion.

Build the walls of Jerusalem.

¹⁹Then you will delight in righteous sacrifices,

burnt offering and whole burnt offering.

Then bulls will be offered on your altar.

God’s Judgment on the Wicked and Love for the Faithful

52For the music director. A maskil of David.

When Doeg the Edomite came and informed Saul.

And he said to him, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”^a

¹Why do you boast about evil, O mighty man?

The loyal love of God endures continually.^b

²Your tongue plans destruction,

like a sharp razor, working deceit.

³You love evil more than good,

a lie more than speaking what is right.^c Selah

⁴You love all devouring words,

O deceitful tongue,

⁵but God will pull you down forever.

He will snatch you and tear you away from your tent,

and he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah

⁶And the righteous will see and fear,

and will laugh at him, saying,

⁷“Look, the man who would not make God his refuge,

but he trusted in the greatness of his wealth;

he took refuge in his destructiveness.”

⁸But I am like an olive tree flourishing

in the house^d of God.

I trust the loyal love of God forever and ever.

⁹I will give thanks to you forever, because of what you have done,

and I will wait on your name, because it is good,

in the presence of your faithful ones.