Logos Bible Study

Psalm 50:1–3

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50:1El, God, the Lord1 speaks,

and summons the earth to come from the east and west.2

50:2From Zion, the most beautiful of all places,3

God comes in splendor.4

50:3Our God approaches and is not silent;5

consuming fire goes ahead of him

and all around him a storm rages.6

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Israel’s God is here identified with three names: El (אֵל [’el], or “God”), Elohim (אֱלֹהִים [’elohim], or “God”), and Yahweh (יְהוָה [yéhvah] or “the Lord”). There is an obvious allusion here to Josh 22:22, the only other passage where these three names appear in succession. In that passage the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh declare, “El, God, the Lord! El, God, the Lord! He knows the truth! Israel must also know! If we have rebelled or disobeyed the Lord, don’t spare us today!” In that context the other tribes had accused the trans-Jordanian tribes of breaking God’s covenant by worshiping idols. The trans-Jordanian tribes appealed to “El, God, the Lord” as their witness that they were innocent of the charges brought against them. Ironically here in Ps 50 “El, God, the Lord” accuses his sinful covenant people of violating the covenant and warns that he will not spare them if they persist in their rebellion.
  2. 2 Heb “and calls [the] earth from the sunrise to its going.”
  3. 3 Heb “the perfection of beauty.”
  4. 4 Or “shines forth.” Comes in splendor. The psalmist may allude ironically to Deut 33:2, where God “shines forth” from Sinai and comes to superintend Moses’ blessing of the tribes.
  5. 5 According to §109.e, the jussive (note the negative particle אַל, ’al) is used rhetorically here “to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen.”
  6. 6 Heb “fire before him devours, and around him it is very stormy.”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

The Mighty One, God the Lord,

speaks and summons the earth

from the rising of the sun to its setting.

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God shines forth.

Our God comes; he does not keep silence;

before him is a devouring fire,

around him a mighty tempest.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

The Mighty One, God, the Lord,

speaks and summons the earth

from the rising of the sun to where it sets.

From Zion, perfect in beauty,

God shines forth.

Our God comes

and will not be silent;

a fire devours before him,

and around him a tempest rages.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks;

he summons the earth

from the rising of the sun to its setting.

From Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God appears in radiance.

Our God is coming; he will not be silent!

Devouring fire precedes him,

and a storm rages around him.

NLTNew Living Translation

The Lord, the Mighty One, is God,

and he has spoken;

he has summoned all humanity

from where the sun rises to where it sets.

From Mount Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God shines in glorious radiance.

Our God approaches,

and he is not silent.

Fire devours everything in his way,

and a great storm rages around him.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

The Supreme God, God, Yahweh, has spoken

and summoned the earth,

from the rising of the sun

to its setting.

From Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God shines forth.

Our God comes and he is not silent.

Before him fire devours,

and around him it is very tempestuous.

KJV 1900King James Version

The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth

From the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God hath shined.

Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence:

A fire shall devour before him,

And it shall be very tempestuous round about him.