50:3 Our God approaches and is not silent; 1
consuming fire goes ahead of him
and all around him a storm rages. 2
50:4 He summons the heavens above,
as well as the earth, so that he might judge his people. 3
50:5 He says: 4
“Assemble my covenant people before me, 5
those who ratified a covenant with me by sacrifice!” 6
1 tn According to GKC 322 §109.e, the jussive (note the negative particle אַל, ’al) is used rhetorically here “to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen.”
2 tn Heb “fire before him devours, and around him it is very stormy.”
3 tn Or perhaps “to testify against his people.”
5 tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. God’s summons to the defendant follows.
6 tn Or “Gather to me my covenant people.” The Hebrew term חָסִיד (khasid, “covenant people”) elsewhere in the psalms is used in a positive sense of God’s loyal followers (see the note at Ps 4:3), but here, as the following line makes clear, the term has a neutral sense and simply refers to those who have outwardly sworn allegiance to God, not necessarily to those whose loyalty is genuine.
7 tn Heb “the cutters of my covenant according to sacrifice.” A sacrifice accompanied the covenant-making ceremony and formally ratified the agreement (see Exod 24:3-8).