God Himself Is Judge

A Psalm of nAsaph.

¹oThe Mighty One, God the Lord,

speaks and summons the earth

pfrom the rising of the sun to its setting.

²Out of Zion, qthe perfection of beauty,

rGod shines forth.

³Our God comes; he sdoes not keep silence;1

before him is a devouring tfire,

around him a mighty tempest.

⁴uHe calls to the heavens above

and to the earth, that he may judge his people:

⁵“Gather to me my faithful ones,

who made va covenant with me by sacrifice!”

⁶wThe heavens declare his righteousness,

for xGod himself is judge! Selah

⁷y“Hear, O my people, and I will speak;

O Israel, I will testify against you.

zI am God, your God.

⁸Not for your sacrifices ado I rebuke you;

your burnt offerings are continually before me.

⁹I will not accept a bull from your house

or goats from your folds.

¹⁰For every beast of the forest is mine,

the cattle on a thousand hills.

¹¹bI know all the birds of the hills,

and all that moves in the field is mine.

¹²“If I were hungry, I would not tell you,

cfor the world and its fullness are mine.

¹³Do I eat the flesh of bulls

or drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴dOffer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,2

and eperform your vows to the Most High,

¹⁵and fcall upon me in the day of trouble;

I will gdeliver you, and you shall hglorify me.”

¹⁶But to the wicked God says:

“What right have you to recite my statutes

or take my covenant on your lips?

¹⁷iFor you hate discipline,

jand you cast my words behind you.

¹⁸If you see a thief, kyou are pleased with him,

land you keep company with adulterers.

¹⁹“You give your mouth free rein for evil,

mand your tongue frames deceit.

²⁰You sit and speak against your brother;

you slander your own mother's son.

²¹These things you have done, and I nhave been silent;

you thought that I3 was one like yourself.

But now I orebuke you and play the charge before you.

²²“Mark this, then, you who qforget God,

lest I tear you apart, and there be rnone to deliver!

²³The one who soffers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;

to one who torders his way rightly

I will show the usalvation of God!”