Psalm 50:1-15*

 

1 The Mighty One, God the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.

2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.

 

3 Our God comes, and does not keep silence,
Before whom is a devouring fire,

Round about whom is a mighty storm.

4 God calls to the heavens above

And to the earth, that the people may be judged:

 

5 “Gather to me my faithful ones,

Who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”

6 The heavens declare God’s righteousness,
For God alone is judge!

 

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 But I will not accept a bull from your house,
Nor a 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,
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,
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.”

 

*Psalm 50, ed. Carlton R. Young, The United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville, TN: United Methodist Publishing House, 1989), 783.