Psalms 48-50

Psalm 48

¹A Song; a Psalm of the sons of Korah. Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised, in the city of our God, in his holy mountain.

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 hath made himself known in her palaces for a refuge.

⁴For, lo, the kings assembled themselves, they passed by together.

⁵They saw it, then were they amazed; they were dismayed, they hasted away.

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

⁷With the east wind thou breakest the ships of Tarshish.

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

⁹We have thought on thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple.

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

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

¹²Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.

¹³Mark ye welt 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 even unto death.

Psalm 49

¹For the Chief Musician; a Psalm of the sons of Korah. Hear this, all ye peoples; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:

²Both low and high, rich and poor together.

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 dark saying upon the harp.

⁵Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when iniquity at my heels compasseth me about?

⁶They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;

⁷None of them 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 let alone for ever:)

⁹That he should still live alway, that he should not see corruption.

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

¹¹Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.

¹²But man abideth not in honour: he is like the beasts that perish.

¹³This their way is their folly: yet after them men approve their sayings. Selah

¹⁴They are appointed as a flock for Sheol; death shall be their shepherd: and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall be for Sheol to consume, that there be no habitation for it.

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

¹⁶Be not thou afraid when one is made 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 while he lived he blessed his soul, and men praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself,

¹⁹He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see the light.

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

Psalm 50

¹A Psalm of Asaph. God, even God, the LORD, 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 shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.

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

⁵Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

⁶And the heavens shall declare his righteousness; for God is judge himself. Selah

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

⁸I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; and thy burnt offerings are 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, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

¹¹I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

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

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

¹⁴Offer unto God the sacrifice of thanksgiving; and pay 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; and that thou hast taken my covenant in thy mouth?

¹⁷Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.

¹⁸When thou sawest a thief, thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.

¹⁹Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.

²⁰Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.

²¹These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one 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 you in pieces, and there be none to deliver:

²³Whoso offereth the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifieth me; and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.