Psalm 48-50

Psalm 48-50 New King James Version (NKJV)

The Glory of God in Zion

A Song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

48 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised
In the city of our God,
In His holy mountain.
² Beautiful in ^[a]elevation,
The joy of the whole earth,
Is Mount Zion on the sides of the north,
The city of the great King.
³ God is in her palaces;
He is known as her refuge.

⁴ For behold, the kings assembled,
They passed by together.
⁵ They saw it, and so they marveled;
They were troubled, they hastened away.
⁶ Fear took hold of them there,
And pain, as of a woman in birth pangs,
⁷ As when You break the ships of Tarshish
With an east wind.

⁸ As we have heard,
So we have seen
In the city of the Lord of hosts,
In the city of our God:
God will establish it forever. Selah

⁹ We have thought, O God, on Your lovingkindness,
In the midst of Your temple.
¹⁰ According to Your name, O God,
So is Your praise to the ends of the earth;
Your right hand is full of righteousness.
¹¹ Let Mount Zion rejoice,
Let the daughters of Judah be glad,
Because of Your judgments.

¹² Walk about Zion,
And go all around her.
Count her towers;
¹³ Mark well her bulwarks;
Consider her palaces;
That you may tell it to the generation following.
¹⁴ For this is God,
Our God forever and ever;
He will be our guide
^[b]Even to death.

The Confidence of the Foolish

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

49 Hear this, all peoples;
Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
² Both low and high,
Rich and poor together.
³ My mouth shall speak wisdom,
And the meditation of my heart shall give understanding.
⁴ I will incline my ear to a proverb;
I will disclose my ^[c]dark saying on the harp.

⁵ Why should I fear in the days of evil,
When the iniquity at my heels surrounds me?
⁶ Those who trust in their wealth
And boast in the multitude of their riches,
⁷ None of them can by any means redeem his brother,
Nor give to God a ransom for him—
⁸ For the redemption of their souls is costly,
And it shall cease forever—
⁹ That he should continue to live eternally,
And not ^[d]see the Pit.

¹⁰ For he sees wise men die;
Likewise the fool and the senseless person perish,
And leave their wealth to others.
^11 [e]Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever,
Their dwelling places to all generations;
They call their lands after their own names.
¹² Nevertheless man, though in honor, does not ^[f]remain;
He is like the beasts that perish.

¹³ This is the way of those who are foolish,
And of their posterity who approve their sayings. Selah
¹⁴ Like sheep they are laid in the grave;
Death shall feed on them;
The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning;
And their beauty shall be consumed in ^[g]the grave, far from their dwelling.
¹⁵ But God will redeem my soul from the power of ^[h]the grave,
For He shall receive me. Selah

¹⁶ Do not be afraid when one becomes rich,
When the glory of his house is increased;
¹⁷ For when he dies he shall carry nothing away;
His glory shall not descend after him.
¹⁸ Though while he lives he blesses himself
(For men will praise you when you do well for yourself),
¹⁹ He shall go to the generation of his fathers;
They shall never see light.^[i]
20 A man who is in honor, yet does not understand,
Is like the beasts that perish.

God the Righteous Judge

A Psalm of Asaph.

50 The Mighty One, God the Lord,
Has spoken and called the earth
From the rising of the sun to its going down.
² Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God will shine forth.
³ Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent;
A fire shall devour before Him,
And it shall be very tempestuous all around Him.

⁴ He shall call to the heavens from above,
And to the earth, that He may judge His people:
⁵ “Gather My saints together to Me,
Those who have ^[j]made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”
⁶ Let the heavens declare His righteousness,
For God Himself is Judge. Selah

⁷ “Hear, O My people, and I will speak,
O Israel, and I will testify against you;
I am God, your God!
⁸ I will not ^[k]rebuke you for your sacrifices
Or your burnt offerings,
Which are continually before Me.
⁹ I will not take a bull from your house,
Nor goats out of your folds.
¹⁰ For every beast of the forest is Mine,
And the cattle on a thousand hills.
¹¹ I know all the birds of the mountains,
And the wild beasts of the field are Mine.

¹² “If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
For the world is Mine, and all its fullness.
¹³ Will I eat the flesh of bulls,
Or drink the blood of goats?
¹⁴ Offer to God thanksgiving,
And pay your vows to the Most High.
¹⁵ Call upon Me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”

¹⁶ But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to declare My statutes,
Or take My covenant in your mouth,
¹⁷ Seeing you hate instruction
And cast My words behind you?
¹⁸ When you saw a thief, you consented^[l] with him,
And have been a partaker with adulterers.
¹⁹ You give your mouth to evil,
And your tongue frames deceit.
²⁰ You sit and speak against your brother;
You slander your own mother’s son.
²¹ These things you have done, and I kept silent;
You thought that I was altogether like you;
But I will rebuke you,
And set them in order before your eyes.

²² “Now consider this, you who forget God,
Lest I tear you in pieces,
And there be none to deliver:
²³ Whoever offers praise glorifies Me;
And to him who orders his conduct aright
I will show the salvation of God.”