Psalms 50:7-13

50:7 He says: ¹ 

“Listen my people! I am speaking!

Listen Israel! I am accusing you! ² 

I am God, your God!

50:8 I am not condemning ³  you because of your sacrifices,

or because of your burnt sacrifices that you continually offer me. ⁴ 

50:9 I do not need to take ⁵  a bull from your household

or goats from your sheepfolds.

50:10 For every wild animal in the forest belongs to me,

as well as the cattle that graze on a thousand hills. ⁶ 

50:11 I keep track of ⁷  every bird in the hills,

and the insects ⁸  of the field are mine.

50:12 Even if I were hungry, I would not tell you,

for the world and all it contains belong to me.

50:13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls?

Do I drink the blood of goats? ⁹ 

[50:7]  ¹ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. God’s charges against his people follow.

[50:7]  ² tn Heb “Israel, and I will testify against you.” The imperative “listen” is understood in the second line by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[50:8]  ³ tn Or “rebuking.”

[50:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “and your burnt sacrifices before me continually.”

[50:9]  ⁵ tn Or “I will not take.”

[50:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “[the] animals on a thousand hills.” The words “that graze” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The term בְּהֵמוֹה (bÿhemot, “animal”) refers here to cattle (see Ps 104:14).

[50:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “I know.”

[50:11]  ¹⁰ tn The precise referent of the Hebrew word, which occurs only here and in Ps 80:13, is uncertain. Aramaic, Arabic and Akkadian cognates refer to insects, such as locusts or crickets.

[50:13]  ¹¹ tn The rhetorical questions assume an emphatic negative response, “Of course not!”