1A psalm of Asaph. The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, has spoken and summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone forth.
3Our God comes and does not keep silent; fire devours before him, and around him it storms mightily.
4He calls to the heavens above, and to the earth, to judge his people.
5“Gather to me my faithful ones, those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
6And the heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah.
God Desires Thanksgiving, Not Sacrifice
7“Hear, my people, and I will speak; Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, your God.
8Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you, nor for your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.
9I will take no bull from your house, no male goats from your pens.
10For every animal of the forest is mine, the beasts on a thousand hills.
11I know every bird of the mountains, and the creatures of the field are with me.
12If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.
13Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and fulfill your vows to the Most High.
15And call on me in the day of trouble; I will rescue you, and you will honor me.”
A Rebuke to the Wicked
16But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes, or to take my covenant on your lips,
17seeing that you hate discipline and cast my words behind you?
18When you saw a thief, you were pleased with him, and with adulterers is your portion.
19You let your mouth loose for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.
20You sit and speak against your brother; against your own mother’s son you cast slander.
21These things you have done, and I kept silent; you imagined that I was altogether like you. I will rebuke you and set the case in order before your eyes.
22Understand this, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, with none to deliver.
23The one who sacrifices thanksgiving honors me, and to the one who orders his way I will show the salvation of God.”