¹A Psalm of Asaph.

God, God, the Lord has spoken

And called to the earth

From the rising of the sun

To its setting.

²God has shone from Zion

As the perfection of beauty.

³Our God will come and will not be silent.

A fire before him will consume away,

And around him it will be very tempestuous.

⁴He will call out to the heavens above,

And to the earth,

To judge his people.

⁵Gather my men of grace up to me

– Those who have carried out my covenant by sacrifice.

⁶And the heavens will declare his righteousness,

For God is the judge.

Selah.

⁷Listen, my people,

And I will speak, O Israel,

And I will testify against you.

I am God – your God.

⁸I will not reprove you about your sacrifices,

Nor your burnt offerings

Which are continually before me.

⁹I will not take a bull-calf from your house,

Nor he-goats from your folds,

¹⁰For all the wild animals of the forest are mine,

As are the cattle on a thousand mountains.

¹¹I know all the birds of the mountains,

And the wildlife of the countryside is with me.

¹²If I were to be hungry,

I would not tell you,

For the world and its fulness are mine.

¹³Would I eat beef of strong bulls,

Or drink the blood of he-goats?

¹⁴Give a sacrifice of a thank-offering to God,

And fulfil your vows to the Most High.

¹⁵And call on me on the day of anguish,

And I will deliver you,

And you will glorify me.

¹⁶But to the wicked, God has said,

“What concern is it to you to relate my statutes,

And for you to take up my covenant in your mouth,

¹⁷Seeing you hate correction,

And you cast my words behind you?

¹⁸If you saw a thief,

You delighted in being with him,

And you participated with adulterers.

¹⁹You let your mouth loose with evil,

And you yoke your tongue to deceit.

²⁰You sit and speak against your brother,

You publish defamation of your mother's son;

²¹You have done these things,

And I have been silent.

Did you think

That I would in any way be like you?

I will reprove you

And make the comparison in your sight.

²²Now understand this,

You who forget God,

Lest I tear you apart,

And there will be no-one to deliver you.

²³He who offers a thank-offering

Honours me,

And as for him who lays the way to heart,

I will show him the salvation of God.”