Discovery BoxPsalms 50:7-13 
Context“Listen my people! I am speaking!
Listen Israel! I am accusing you! 2
I am God, your God!
50:8 I am not condemning 3 you because of your sacrifices,
or because of your burnt sacrifices that you continually offer me. 4
50:9 I do not need to take 5 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. 6
50:11 I keep track of 7 every bird in the hills,
and the insects 8 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? 9
Psalms 50:16-17
Context50:16 God says this to the evildoer: 10
“How can you declare my commands,
and talk about my covenant? 11
50:17 For you hate instruction
and reject my words. 12
1 tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. God’s charges against his people follow.
2 tn Heb “Israel, and I will testify against you.” The imperative “listen” is understood in the second line by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
3 tn Or “rebuking.”
4 tn Heb “and your burnt sacrifices before me continually.”
5 tn Or “I will not take.”
6 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).
7 tn Heb “I know.”
8 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.
9 tn The rhetorical questions assume an emphatic negative response, “Of course not!”
10 tn Heb “evil [one].” The singular adjective is used here in a representative sense; it refers to those within the larger covenant community who have blatantly violated the
11 tn Heb “What to you to declare my commands and lift up my covenant upon your mouth?” The rhetorical question expresses sarcastic amazement. The
12 tn Heb “and throw my words behind you.”
