Psalm 50: God Calls the Earth to Judgment
God summons heaven and earth as witnesses to judge His covenant people.
Psalm 50 opens with God speaking and calling the earth 'from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof' to gather His saints for judgment. He declares that every beast of the forest and the cattle on a thousand hills already belong to Him, so animal sacrifice alone cannot satisfy Him, unlike the wealth warning of Psalms 49.
> The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, speaks, And calls the earth from sunrise to sunset.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
Our God comes, and does not keep silent. A fire devours before him. It is very tempestuous around him.
He calls to the heavens above, To the earth, that he may judge his people:
\"Gather my saints together to me, Those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.\"
The heavens shall declare his righteousness, For God himself is judge. Selah.
\"Hear, my people, and I will speak; Israel, and I will testify against you. I am God, your God.
I don't rebuke you for your sacrifices. Your burnt offerings are continually before me.
I have no need for a bull from your stall, Nor male goats from your pens.
For every animal of the forest is mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the mountains. The wild animals of the field are mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you, For the world is mine, and all that is in it.
Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats?
Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving. Pay your vows to the Most High.
Call on me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you will honor me.\"
But to the wicked God says, \"What right do you have to declare my statutes, That you have taken my covenant on your lips,
Seeing you hate instruction, And throw my words behind you?
When you saw a thief, you consented with him, And have participated with adulterers.
\"You give your mouth to evil. You harnesses your tongue for deceit.
You sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother's son.
You have done these things, and I kept silent. You thought that the \"I AM\" was just like you. I will rebuke you, and accuse you in front of your eyes.
\"Now consider this, you who forget God, Lest I tear you into pieces, and there be none to deliver.
Whoever offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me, And prepares his way so that I will show God's salvation to him.\"