Psalm 50, a Psalm of Asaph, is the 50th psalm from the Book of Psalms in the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

, beginning in English in the

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

: "The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof." In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

and Latin

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 49. The opening words in Latin are ''Deus deorum, Dominus, locutus est / et vocavit terram a solis ortu usque ad occasum''. The psalm is a

prophetic In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or pret ...

imagining of

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

's judgment on the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

. The psalm forms a regular part of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

, Anglican and other Protestant liturgies. It has been set to music completely and in single verses. The phrase ''A solis ortu usque ad occasum'', taken from verse 1, is part of a Spanish coat of arms.

Composition

The psalm has been variously dated to either the 8th century BC, the time of the prophets

Hosea In the Hebrew Bible, Hosea ( or ; he, הוֹשֵׁעַ – ''Hōšēaʿ'', 'Salvation'; gr, Ὡσηέ – ''Hōsēé''), son of Beeri, was an 8th-century BCE prophet in Israel and the nominal primary author of the Book of Hosea. He is t ...

and

Micah Micah (; ) is a given name. Micah is the name of several people in the Hebrew Bible ( Old Testament), and means "Who is like God?" The name is sometimes found with theophoric extensions. Suffix theophory in '' Yah'' and in ''Yahweh'' results in ...

, or to a time after the Babylonian captivity. The latter date is supported by the reference to "gathering" in verse 5, but is problematic because verse 2 describes

Zion Zion ( he, צִיּוֹן ''Ṣīyyōn'', LXX , also variously transliterated ''Sion'', ''Tzion'', ''Tsion'', ''Tsiyyon'') is a placename in the Hebrew Bible used as a synonym for Jerusalem as well as for the Land of Israel as a whole (see Nam ...

(another name for

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

) as "the perfection of beauty", even though Jerusalem was destroyed in 587 BC.

Text

The psalm can be divided into an introduction (verses 1-6), two separate orations in which God testifies against the Jews (verses 7-15 and 16-21), and a conclusion (verses 22-23). The imagery of the introduction evokes the revelation of the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...

Mount Sinai Mount Sinai ( he , הר סיני ''Har Sinai''; Aramaic: ܛܘܪܐ ܕܣܝܢܝ ''Ṭūrāʾ Dsyny''), traditionally known as Jabal Musa ( ar, جَبَل مُوسَىٰ, translation: Mount Moses), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is ...

, where God's appearance was accompanied by thunder and lightning. God summons the heavens and the earth to act as witnesses, and the rest of the psalm takes the form of a legal proceeding, with God acting as both plaintiff and judge. The same metaphor of a divine tribunal occurs in chapter 1 of the Book of Isaiah and chapter 6 of the

Book of Micah The Book of Micah is the sixth of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible. Ostensibly, it records the sayings of Micah, whose name is ''Mikayahu'' ( he, מִיכָיָ֫הוּ), meaning "Who is like Yahweh?", an 8th-century BCE prophet fro ...

.Kirkpatrick 276 Cattle at Velika Planina, Slovenia

In God's first oration, he tells the people that he is not satisfied with material sacrifices alone, since he does not require food or drink. Rather, he desires his people to worship him with thanksgiving and sincere prayer.Rhodes 85 Verse 13, "Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?" may be an allusion to the goddess

Anat Anat (, ), Anatu, classically Anath (; uga, 𐎓𐎐𐎚 ''ʿnt''; he, עֲנָת ''ʿĂnāṯ''; ; el, Αναθ, translit=Anath; Egyptian: '' ꜥntjt'') was a goddess associated with warfare and hunting, best known from the Ugaritic text ...

, since in one fragmentary text Anat eats the flesh and drinks the blood of her brother

Baal Baal (), or Baal,; phn, , baʿl; hbo, , baʿal, ). ( ''baʿal'') was a title and honorific meaning "owner", "lord" in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity. From its use among people, it came to be applied t ...

, who sometimes appears as a bull. God's second oration is warning against hypocrisy. Though the hypocrites often recite God's commandments, they inwardly hate them and make no effort to live by them, and God will surely bring them to judgment. The psalm closes with a final warning against iniquity and a promise that God will bless the righteous and make them "drink deeply of the salvation of God". This last is an appearance of the common biblical theme of the " Messianic banquet," which also occurs in

Psalm 23 Psalm 23 is the 23rd psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "The Lord is my shepherd". In Latin, it is known by the incipit, "". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a boo ...

Psalm 16 Psalm 16 is the 16th psalm in the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust." In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate tran ...

, and Luke 14, among other places.

Uses

Judaism

Psalm 50 is recited on the fourth day of Sukkot.

Book of Common Prayer

In the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

's ''

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...

'', this psalm is appointed to be read on the morning of the tenth day of the month.

Musical settings

In a Scottish Psalter of 1650, Psalm 50 was paraphrased rhymed in English as "The mighty God, the Lord, Hath spoken unto all". The 1863 hymn "

For the Beauty of the Earth "For the Beauty of the Earth" is a Christian hymn by Folliott S. Pierpoint (1835-1917). History Pierpoint was 29 at the time he wrote this hymn; he was mesmerized by the beauty of the countryside that surrounded him. It first appeared in 1864 ...

" by Folliott Sandford Pierpoint issues verse 14.

Heinrich Schütz Heinrich Schütz (; 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as one of the most important composers of the 17th century. He ...

set Psalm 50 in a rhymed version in the ''

Becker Psalter The ''Becker Psalter'' is a German metrical psalter authored by the Leipzig theologian Cornelius Becker and first published by Jakob Apel in Leipzig in 1602 under the title ''Der Psalter Davids Gesangweis''. Several composers set the psalms cont ...

'', as "Gott unser Herr, mächtig durchs Wort", SWV 147. The last verse is used in German in the opening chorus of Bach's cantata ''Wer Dank opfert, der preiset mich'', BWV 17, composed in 1726.

F. Melius Christiansen Fredrik Melius Christiansen (April 1, 1871 – June 1, 1955) was a Norway, Norwegian-born violinist and choral conductor in the Lutheran choral tradition. Early life Fredrik Melius Christiansen, the son of a Norwegian factory worker, was born in ...

created a famous choral arrangement of Psalm 50 in 1922. This setting was dedicated to the

St. Olaf Choir The St. Olaf Choir is a premier a cappella choir based in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1912 by Norwegian immigrant F. Melius Christiansen, the choir has been influential to other church and college choirs for its performance of unaccompanied ...

for the 10th anniversary of the choir's formation.

Notes

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* * * Text of Psalm 50 according to th
1928 Psalter

text in Hebrew and English, mechon-mamre.org
A psalm of Asaph. / The God of gods, the LORD, has spoken and summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting
text and footnotes, usccb.org United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

introduction and text, biblestudytools.com
Psalm 50 – Judgment Begins Among the People of God
enduringword.com
Psalm 50 / Refrain: Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

Psalm 50
at biblegateway.com
Hymns for Psalm 50
hymnary.org

{{Psalms 050 Anat