Psalms 50:1-23

¹God, the all-powerful one, speaks; he summons all people, from the east to the west.

²His glory shines from Zion Hill in Jerusalem, an extremely beautiful city.

³Our God comes to us, and he is not silent. A great fire is in front of him, and a storm is around him.

⁴He comes to judge his people. He shouts to the angels in heaven and to the people on the earth.

⁵He says, “Summon those who faithfully worship me, those who made an agreement with me by offering sacrifices to me.”

⁶The angels in heaven declare, “God is righteous, and he is the supreme judge.”

⁷God says, “My people, listen! You Israeli people, listen, as I, your God, say what you have done that is wrong.

⁸I am not rebuking you for making sacrifices to me, for the offerings that you completely burn on the altar.

⁹But I do not really need you to sacrifice the bulls from your barns and the goats from your pens,

¹⁰because all the animals in the forest belong to me, and all the cattle on a thousand hills also belong to me.

¹¹I own and know all the birds and all the creatures that move around in the fields.

¹²So, if I were hungry, I would not tell you to bring me some food, because everything in the world belongs to me!

¹³I do not eat the flesh of the bulls that you sacrifice, and I do not drink the blood of the goats that you offer to me.

¹⁴The sacrifice that I really want is that you thank me and do all that you have promised to do.

¹⁵And pray to me when you have troubles. If you do that, I will rescue you, and then you will praise me.

¹⁶But I say this to the wicked people: ◄Why do you/It does not benefit you at all to► RHQ recite my commandments or talk about the agreement that I made with you,

¹⁷because you have refused to allow me to discipline you, and you have rejected what I told you to do.

¹⁸Every time that you see a thief, you become his friend, and you spend much time with those who commit adultery.

¹⁹You are always talking MTY about doing wicked things, and you are always trying to deceive people.

²⁰You are always accusing members of your own family of doing wrong, and slandering them.

²¹You did all those things, and I did not say anything to you, so you thought that I was a sinner just like you. But now I rebuke you and accuse you, right in front of you.

²²So, all you who have ignored me, pay attention to this, because if you do not, I will tear you to pieces, and there will be no one to rescue you.

²³The sacrifice that truly honors me is to thank me for what I have done; and I will save those who always do the things that I want them to.”