50:8 I am not condemning 1 you because of your sacrifices,
or because of your burnt sacrifices that you continually offer me. 2
50:9 I do not need to take 3 a bull from your household
or goats from your sheepfolds.
50:10 For every wild animal in the forest belongs to me,
as well as the cattle that graze on a thousand hills. 4
50:11 I keep track of 5 every bird in the hills,
and the insects 6 of the field are mine.
50:12 Even if I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and all it contains belong to me.
50:13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls?
Do I drink the blood of goats? 7
50:14 Present to God a thank-offering!
Repay your vows to the sovereign One! 8
1 tn Or “rebuking.”
2 tn Heb “and your burnt sacrifices before me continually.”
3 tn Or “I will not take.”
4 tn Heb “[the] animals on a thousand hills.” The words “that graze” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The term בְּהֵמוֹה (bÿhemot, “animal”) refers here to cattle (see Ps 104:14).
5 tn Heb “I know.”
6 tn The precise referent of the Hebrew word, which occurs only here and in Ps 80:13, is uncertain. Aramaic, Arabic and Akkadian cognates refer to insects, such as locusts or crickets.
7 tn The rhetorical questions assume an emphatic negative response, “Of course not!”
8 tn Heb “Most High.” This divine title (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Pss 7:17; 9:2; 18:13; 21:7; 47:2.