Psalm 49 – Deus deorum

The coming of Christ: who prefers virtue and inward purity before the blood of victims.

[1] A psalm for Asaph. The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken: and he hath called the earth. From the rising of the sun, to the going down thereof: [2] Out of Sion the loveliness of his beauty. [3] God shall come manifestly: our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. A fire shall burn before him: and a mighty tempest shall be round about him. [4] He shall call heaven from above, and the earth, to judge his people. [5] Gather ye together his saints to him: who set his covenant before sacrifices.

[6] And the heavens shall declare his justice: for God is judge. [7] Hear, O my people, and I will speak: O Israel, and I will testify to thee: I am God, thy God. [8] I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices: and thy burnt offerings are always in my sight. [9] I will not take calves out of thy house: nor he goats out of thy flocks. [10] For all the beasts of the woods are mine: the cattle on the hills, and the oxen.

[11] I know all the fowls of the air: and with me is the beauty of the field. [12] If I should be hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. [13] Shall I eat the flesh of bullocks? or shall I drink the blood of goats? [14] Offer to God the sacrifice of praise: and pay thy vows to the most High. [15] And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

[16] But to the sinner God hath said: Why dost thou declare my justices, and take my covenant in thy mouth? [17] Seeing thou hast hated discipline: and hast cast my words behind thee. [18] If thou didst see a thief thou didst run with him: and with adulterers thou hast been a partaker. [19] Thy mouth hath abounded with evil, and thy tongue framed deceits. [20] Sitting thou didst speak against thy brother, and didst lay a scandal against thy mother’s son:

[21] These things hast thou done, and I was silent. Thou thoughtest unjustly that I should be like to thee: but I will reprove thee, and set before thy face. [22] Understand these things, you that forget God; lest he snatch you away, and there be none to deliver you. [23] The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me: and there is the way by which I will shew him the salvation of God.