21 These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself: `But' I will reprove thee, and set `them' in order before thine eyes.
And of whom hast thou been afraid and in fear, that thou liest, and hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? have not I held my peace even of long time, and thou fearest me not?
Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, Our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and prolong his `days', yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, that fear before him:
Wherefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall each man have his praise from God.
I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: `now' will I cry out like a travailing woman; I will gasp and pant together.
As many as I love, I reprove and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Jehovah hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.
For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
And they say, Jehovah will not see, Neither will the God of Jacob consider. Consider, ye brutish among the people; And ye fools, when will ye be wise? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see? He that chastiseth the nations, shall not he correct, `Even' he that teacheth man knowledge? Jehovah knoweth the thoughts of man, That they are vanity.
Our God cometh, and doth not keep silence: A fire devoureth before him, And it is very tempestuous round about him.
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are accounted as the small dust of the balance: Behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering. All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise; For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit have they opened against me: They have spoken unto me with a lying tongue. They have compassed me about also with words of hatred, And fought against me without a cause.
And they say, How doth God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?
I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; And thy burnt-offerings are continually before me.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 50
Commentary on Psalms 50 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 50
This psalm, as the former, is a psalm of instruction, not of prayer or praise; it is a psalm of reproof and admonition, in singing which we are to teach and admonish one another. In the foregoing psalm, after a general demand of attention, God by his prophet deals (v. 3) with the children of this world, to convince them of their sin and folly in setting their hearts upon the wealth of this world; in this psalm, after a like preface, he deals with those that were, in profession, the church's children, to convince them of their sin and folly in placing their religion in ritual services, while they neglected practical godliness; and this is as sure a way to ruin as the other. This psalm is intended,
These instructions and admonitions we must take to ourselves, and give to one another, in singing this psalm.
A psalm of Asaph.
Psa 50:1-6
It is probable that Asaph was not only the chief musician, who was to put a tune to this psalm, but that he was himself the penman of it; for we read that in Hezekiah's time they praised God in the words of David and of Asaph the seer, 2 Chr. 29:30. Here is,
Psa 50:7-15
God is here dealing with those that placed all their religion in the observances of the ceremonial law, and thought those sufficient.
Psa 50:16-23
God, by the psalmist, having instructed his people in the right way of worshipping him and keeping up their communion with him, here directs his speech to the wicked, to hypocrites, whether they were such as professed the Jewish or the Christian religion: hypocrisy is wickedness for which God will judge. Observe here,