Psalm 46-50

Revised Standard Version

⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
    the holy habitation of the Most High.
⁵ God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
    God will help her right early.
⁶ The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
    he utters his voice, the earth melts.
⁷ The Lord of hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our refuge.^[b]Selah

⁸ Come, behold the works of the Lord,
    how he has wrought desolations in the earth.
⁹ He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
    he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear,
    he burns the chariots with fire!
¹⁰ “Be still, and know that I am God.
    I am exalted among the nations,
    I am exalted in the earth!”
¹¹ The Lord of hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our refuge.^[c]Selah

⁵ God has gone up with a shout,
    the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
⁶ Sing praises to God, sing praises!
    Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
⁷ For God is the king of all the earth;
    sing praises with a psalm!^[d]

⁸ God reigns over the nations;
    God sits on his holy throne.
⁹ The princes of the peoples gather
    as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
    he is highly exalted!

⁴ For lo, the kings assembled,
    they came on together.
⁵ As soon as they saw it, they were astounded,
    they were in panic, they took to flight;
⁶ trembling took hold of them there,
    anguish as of a woman in travail.
⁷ By the east wind thou didst shatter
    the ships of Tarshish.
⁸ As we have heard, so have we seen
    in the city of the Lord of hosts,
in the city of our God,
    which God establishes for ever.Selah

⁹ We have thought on thy steadfast love, O God,
    in the midst of thy temple.
¹⁰ As thy name, O God,
    so thy praise reaches to the ends of the earth.
Thy right hand is filled with victory;
¹¹     let Mount Zion be glad!
Let the daughters of Judah rejoice
    because of thy judgments!

¹² Walk about Zion, go round about her,
    number her towers,
¹³ consider well her ramparts,
    go through her citadels;
that you may tell the next generation
¹⁴     that this is God,
our God for ever and ever.
    He will be our guide for ever.

⁵ Why should I fear in times of trouble,
    when the iniquity of my persecutors surrounds me,
⁶ men who trust in their wealth
    and boast of the abundance of their riches?
⁷ Truly no man can ransom himself,^[e]
    or give to God the price of his life,
⁸ for the ransom of his^[f] life is costly,
    and can never suffice,
⁹ that he should continue to live on for ever,
    and never see the Pit.

¹⁰ Yea, he shall see that even the wise die,
    the fool and the stupid alike must perish
    and leave their wealth to others.
¹¹ Their graves^[g] are their homes for ever,
    their dwelling places to all generations,
    though they named lands their own.
¹² Man cannot abide in his pomp,
    he is like the beasts that perish.

¹³ This is the fate of those who have foolish confidence,
    the end of those^[h] who are pleased with their portion.Selah
¹⁴ Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
    Death shall be their shepherd;
straight to the grave they descend,^[i]
    and their form shall waste away;
    Sheol shall be their home.^[j]
15 But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol,
    for he will receive me.Selah

¹⁶ Be not afraid when one becomes rich,
    when the glory^[k] of his house increases.
¹⁷ For when he dies he will carry nothing away;
    his glory^[l] will not go down after him.
¹⁸ Though, while he lives, he counts himself happy,
    and though a man gets praise when he does well for himself,
¹⁹ he will go to the generation of his fathers,
    who will never more see the light.
²⁰ Man cannot abide in his pomp,
    he is like the beasts that perish.

³ Our God comes, he does not keep silence,
    before him is a devouring fire,
    round about him a mighty tempest.
⁴ He calls to the heavens above
    and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
⁵ “Gather to me my faithful ones,
    who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
⁶ 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 bull from your house,
    nor he-goat from your folds.
¹⁰ For every beast of the forest is mine,
    the cattle on a thousand hills.
¹¹ I know all the birds of the air,^[m]
    and all that moves in the field is mine.

¹² “If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
    for the world and all that is in it is mine.
¹³ Do I eat the flesh of bulls,
    or drink the blood of goats?
¹⁴ Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,^[n]
    and pay your vows to the Most High;
¹⁵ and call upon me in the day of trouble;
    I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

¹⁶ But to the wicked God says:
    “What right have you to recite my statutes,
    or take my covenant on your lips?
¹⁷ For you hate discipline,
    and you cast my words behind you.
¹⁸ If you see a thief, you are a friend of his;
    and you keep company with adulterers.

¹⁹ “You give your mouth free rein for 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 have been silent;
    you thought that I was one like yourself.
But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.

²² “Mark this, then, you who forget God,
    lest I rend, and there be none to deliver!
²³ He who brings thanksgiving as his sacrifice honors me;
    to him who orders his way aright
    I will show the salvation of God!”