Psalms 50:8-14

50:8 I am not condemning ¹  you because of your sacrifices,

or because of your burnt sacrifices that you continually offer me. ² 

50:9 I do not need to take ³  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. ⁴ 

50:11 I keep track of ⁵  every bird in the hills,

and the insects ⁶  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? ⁷ 

50:14 Present to God a thank-offering!

Repay your vows to the sovereign One! ⁸ 

[50:8]  ¹ tn Or “rebuking.”

[50:8]  ² tn Heb “and your burnt sacrifices before me continually.”

[50:9]  ³ tn Or “I will not take.”

[50:10]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “I know.”

[50:11]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn The rhetorical questions assume an emphatic negative response, “Of course not!”

[50:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “Most High.” This divine title (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Pss 7:17; 9:2; 18:13; 21:7; 47:2.