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The Mighty One Calls

¹ A Psalm of Asaph. The Mighty One, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising to the setting of the sun.² From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.³ Our God comes and will not be silent! Consuming fire precedes Him, and a tempest rages around Him.⁴ He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that He may judge His people:⁵ “Gather to Me My saints, who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”⁶ And the heavens proclaim His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge^(a). Selah

⁷ “Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, your God.⁸ I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices, and your burnt offerings are ever before Me.⁹ I have no need for a bull from your stall or goats from your pens,¹⁰ for every beast of the forest is Mine—the cattle on a thousand hills.¹¹ I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are Mine.¹² If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and the fullness thereof.¹³ Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?¹⁴ Sacrifice a thank offering to God, and fulfill your vows to the Most High.¹⁵ Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”

¹⁶ To the wicked, however, God says, “What right have you to recite My statutes and to bear My covenant on your lips?¹⁷ For you hate My instruction and cast My words behind you.¹⁸ When you see a thief, you befriend him, and throw in your lot with adulterers.¹⁹ You unleash your mouth for evil and unharness your tongue for deceit.²⁰ You sit and malign your brother; you slander your own mother’s son.²¹ You have done these things, and I kept silent; you thought I was^(a) just like you. But I Myself will rebuke you and accuse you to your face.²² Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:²³ He who sacrifices a thank offering honors Me, and to him who rights his way, I will show the salvation of God.”