Psalms 50:8-23

⁸I'm not complaining about your sacrifices or burnt offerings that you offer all the time.

⁹I do not require bulls from your barns or goats from your pens,

¹⁰for I own all the animals of the forest, and the cattle on a thousand hills belong to me.

¹¹I know every bird of the mountains; all living things in the fields are mine.

¹²If I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you, for the earth and everything in it are mine.

¹³Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴Give an offering of thanks to God; keep the promises you made to the Most High,

¹⁵and call on me when you're in trouble. I will rescue you, and you will thank me.”

¹⁶But to the wicked God says, “What's the point of mechanically repeating my laws or making empty promises about obeying the agreement?

¹⁷You hate my discipline, and you toss my words away, leaving them behind you.

¹⁸When you see people stealing, you admire them; you associate with adulterers.

¹⁹With your mouth you say evil things; you use your tongue to spread lies.

²⁰You sit there and speak against your brother, slandering your own mother's son.

²¹I kept quiet when you did these things. You thought I was someone just like you. But now I confront you, and bring my charges against you.

²²Think again, you people who dismiss God, or I will tear you apart, and no-one will be able to save you.

²³But those who give an offering of thanks honor me, and to those who follow the right I will show them the salvation of God.”