Psalms 48-50

Psalm 48

¹A Song; a Psalm. Of the sons of Korah. Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the hill of his holiness.

²Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.

³God is known in her palaces as a high fortress.

⁴For behold, the kings assembled themselves, they passed by together;

⁵They saw, -- so they marvelled; they were troubled, they fled in consternation:

⁶Trembling took hold upon them there; anguish, as of a woman in travail.

⁷With an east wind thou hast broken the ships of Tarshish.

⁸As we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of Jehovah of hosts, in the city of our God: God doth establish it for ever. Selah.

⁹We have thought, O God, of thy loving-kindness, in the midst of thy temple.

¹⁰According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.

¹¹Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments.

¹²Walk about Zion, and go round about her: count the towers thereof;

¹³Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces: that ye may tell it to the generation following.

¹⁴For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide until death.

Psalm 49

¹To the chief Musician. Of the sons of Korah. A Psalm. Hear this, all ye peoples; give ear, all inhabitants of the world:

²Both men of low and men of high degree, rich and poor alike.

³My mouth shall speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding:

⁴I will incline mine ear to a parable, I will open my riddle upon the harp.

⁵Wherefore should I fear in the days of adversity, when the iniquity of my supplanters encompasseth me? --

⁶They depend upon their wealth, and boast themselves in the abundance of their riches. ...

⁷None can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him,

⁸(For the redemption of their soul is costly, and must be given up for ever,)

⁹That he should still live perpetually, and not see corruption.

¹⁰For he seeth that wise men die; all alike, the fool and the brutish perish, and they leave their wealth to others.

¹¹Their inward thought is, that their houses are for ever, their dwelling-places from generation to generation: they call the lands after their own names.

¹²Nevertheless, man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.

¹³This their way is their folly, yet they that come after them delight in their sayings. Selah.

¹⁴Like sheep are they laid in Sheol: Death feedeth on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their comeliness shall be for Sheol to consume, that there be no habitation for them.

¹⁵But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol: for he will receive me. Selah.

¹⁶Be not afraid when a man becometh rich, when the glory of his house is increased:

¹⁷For when he dieth, he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him.

¹⁸Though he blessed his soul in his lifetime, -- and men will praise thee when thou doest well to thyself, --

¹⁹It shall go to the generation of his fathers: they shall never see light.

²⁰Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.

Psalm 50

¹A Psalm. Of Asaph. God, Elohim-Jehovah, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.

²Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined forth.

³Our God will come, and will not keep silence: fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.

⁴He will call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people:

⁵Gather unto me my godly ones, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice!

⁶And the heavens shall declare his righteousness; for God executeth judgment himself. Selah.

⁷Hear, my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify unto thee: I am God, thy God.

⁸I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, or thy burnt-offerings, continually before me;

⁹I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he-goats out of thy folds:

¹⁰For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle upon a thousand hills;

¹¹I know all the fowl of the mountains, and the roaming creatures of the field are mine:

¹²If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.

¹³Should I eat the flesh of bulls, and drink the blood of goats?

¹⁴Offer unto God thanksgiving, and perform thy vows unto the Most High;

¹⁵And call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

¹⁶But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant into thy mouth,

¹⁷Seeing thou hast hated correction and hast cast my words behind thee?

¹⁸When thou sawest a thief, thou didst take pleasure in him, and thy portion was with adulterers;

¹⁹Thou lettest thy mouth loose to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit;

²⁰Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother, thou revilest thine own mother's son:

²¹These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.

²²Now consider this, ye that forget +God, lest I tear in pieces, and there be no deliverer.

²³Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me; and to him that ordereth his way will I shew the salvation of God.