Psalm 50-52
Amplified Bible
God the Judge of the Righteous and the Wicked.
A Psalm of [a]Asaph
50 The mighty One, God, the Lord, has spoken,
And summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting [from east to west].
2
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God has shone forth.
3
May our God come and not keep silent;
Fire devours before Him,
And around Him a mighty tempest rages.
4
He summons the heavens above,
And the earth, to judge His people:
5
“Gather My godly ones to Me,
Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”
6
And the heavens declare His righteousness,
For God Himself is judge. Selah.
7
“Hear, O My people, and I will speak;
O Israel, I will testify against you:
I am God, your God.
8
“I do not reprove you for your sacrifices;
Your burnt offerings are continually before Me.
9
“I will accept no young bull from your house
Nor male goat from your folds.
10
“For every beast of the forest is Mine,
And the cattle on a thousand hills.
11
“I know every bird of the mountains,
And everything that moves in the field is [b]Mine.
12
“If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
For the world and all it contains are Mine.(A)
13
“Shall I eat the flesh of bulls
Or drink the blood of male goats?
14
“Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving
And pay your vows to the Most High;
15
Call on Me in the day of trouble;
I will rescue you, and you shall honor and glorify Me.”
16
But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to recite My statutes
Or to take My covenant on your lips?
17
“For you hate instruction and discipline
And cast My words behind you [discarding them].
18
“When you see a thief, you are pleased with him and condone his behavior,
And you associate with adulterers.
19
“You give your mouth to evil
And your tongue frames deceit.
20
“You sit and speak against your brother;
You slander your own mother’s son.
21
“These things you have done and I kept silent;
You thought that I was just like you.
Now I will reprimand and denounce you and state the case in order before your eyes.
22
“Now consider this, you who forget God,
Or I will tear you in pieces, and there will be no one to rescue [you].
23
“He who offers a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving honors Me;
And to him who orders his way rightly [who follows the way that I show him],
I shall show the salvation of God.”
A Contrite Sinner’s Prayer for Pardon.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David; when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had sinned with Bathsheba.
51 Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.
2
Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness and guilt
And cleanse me from my sin.
3
For I am conscious of my transgressions and I acknowledge them;
My sin is always before me.
4
Against You, You only, have I sinned
And done that which is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified when You speak [Your sentence]
And faultless in Your judgment.(B)
5
I was brought forth in [a state of] wickedness;
In sin my mother conceived me [and from my beginning I, too, was sinful].(C)
6
Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
And in the hidden part [of my heart] You will make me know wisdom.
7
Purify me with [c]hyssop, and I will be clean;
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8
Make me hear joy and gladness and be satisfied;
Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.
9
Hide Your face from my sins
And blot out all my iniquities.
10
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a right and steadfast spirit within me.
11
Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.
13
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted and return to You.
14
Rescue me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation;
Then my tongue will sing joyfully of Your righteousness and Your justice.
15
O Lord, open my lips,
That my mouth may declare Your praise.
16
For You do not delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You are not pleased with burnt offering.(D)
17
My [only] sacrifice [acceptable] to God is a broken spirit;
A broken and contrite heart [broken with sorrow for sin, thoroughly penitent], such, O God, You will not despise.
18
By Your favor do good to Zion;
May You rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19
Then will You delight in the sacrifices of righteousness,
In burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar.
Futility of Boastful Wickedness.
To the Chief Musician. A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem. A Psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”
52 Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
The lovingkindness of God endures all day long.
2
Your tongue devises destruction,
Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
3
You love evil more than good,
And falsehood more than speaking what is right. Selah.
4
You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.
5
But God will break you down forever;
He will take you away and tear you away from your tent,
And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah.
6
The righteous will see it and fear,
And will [scoffingly] laugh, saying,
7
“Look, [this is] the man who would not make God his strength [his stronghold and fortress],
But trusted in the abundance of his riches,
Taking refuge in his wealth.”
8
But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;
I trust [confidently] in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever.
9
I will thank You forever, because You have done it, [You have rescued me and kept me safe].
I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones.
Footnotes
- Psalm 50:1 Asaph was a Levite and one of the leaders of David’s choir. He was the head of one of the three families permanently in charge of the temple music. His family formed a guild that bore his name and is frequently mentioned (2 Chr 20:14; 29:13, 30). Twelve psalms (50; 73-83) are attributed in the titles to the family of Asaph. A hundred and twenty-eight of Asaph’s family members, all singers, came back from Babylon and took part when the foundations of Zerubbabel’s temple were laid (Ezra 2:41; 3:10).
- Psalm 50:11 Or in my mind; lit with Me.
- Psalm 51:7 This evidently was a bristly plant which was useful as a kind of brush.
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