Sunday Sermonette: I'll give it one like

Psalm 49 is one I can pretty much get behind. It's kind of Buddhist, actually. One of Jesus's sermons is also reminiscent -- in Matthew 6 19-21. (That whole chapter is where a lot of the good stuff in the Gospels is to be found.)

¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust^[c] consume and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust^[d] consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Psalm 50, on the other hand, is another one of those vainglorious rants by our pal Yahweh. At least he makes it clear that he doesn't actually need the sacrifices for literal nourishment -- he isn't chowing down on them. Asaph is the putative author.

 

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

49 Hear this, all peoples!
Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
² both low and high,
    rich and poor together!
³ My mouth shall speak wisdom;
    the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
⁴ I will incline my ear to a proverb;
    I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre.

⁵ Why should I fear in times of trouble,
    when the iniquity of my persecutors surrounds me,
⁶ men who trust in their wealth
    and boast of the abundance of their riches?
⁷ Truly no man can ransom himself,^[a]
    or give to God the price of his life,
⁸ for the ransom of his^[b] life is costly,
    and can never suffice,
⁹ that he should continue to live on for ever,
    and never see the Pit.

¹⁰ Yea, he shall see that even the wise die,
    the fool and the stupid alike must perish
    and leave their wealth to others.
¹¹ Their graves^[c] are their homes for ever,
    their dwelling places to all generations,
    though they named lands their own.
¹² Man cannot abide in his pomp,
    he is like the beasts that perish.

¹³ This is the fate of those who have foolish confidence,
    the end of those^[d] who are pleased with their portion.Selah
¹⁴ Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
    Death shall be their shepherd;
straight to the grave they descend,^[e]
    and their form shall waste away;
    Sheol shall be their home.^[f]
15 But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol,
    for he will receive me.Selah

¹⁶ Be not afraid when one becomes rich,
    when the glory^[g] of his house increases.
¹⁷ For when he dies he will carry nothing away;
    his glory^[h] will not go down after him.
¹⁸ Though, while he lives, he counts himself happy,
    and though a man gets praise when he does well for himself,
¹⁹ he will go to the generation of his fathers,
    who will never more see the light.
²⁰ Man cannot abide in his pomp,
    he is like the beasts that perish.

Footnotes

1. Psalm 49:7 Another reading is no man can ransom his brother
2. Psalm 49:8 Gk: Heb their
3. Psalm 49:11 Gk Syr Compare Tg: Heb their inward (thought)
4. Psalm 49:13 Tg: Heb after them
5. Psalm 49:14 Cn: Heb the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning
6. Psalm 49:14 Heb uncertain
7. Psalm 49:16 Or wealth
8. Psalm 49:17 Or wealth

 

A Psalm of Asaph.

50 The Mighty One, God the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
    from the rising of the sun to its setting.
² Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
    God shines forth.

³ Our God comes, he does not keep silence,
    before him is a devouring fire,
    round about him a mighty tempest.
⁴ He calls to the heavens above
    and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
⁵ “Gather to me my faithful ones,
    who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
⁶ The heavens declare his righteousness,
    for God himself is judge!Selah

⁷ “Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
    O Israel, I will testify against you.
    I am God, your God.
⁸ I do not reprove you for your sacrifices;
    your burnt offerings are continually before me.
⁹ I will accept no bull from your house,
    nor he-goat from your folds.
¹⁰ For every beast of the forest is mine,
    the cattle on a thousand hills.
¹¹ I know all the birds of the air,^[a]
    and all that moves in the field is mine.

¹² “If I were hungry, I would not tell you;
    for the world and all that is in it is mine.
¹³ Do I eat the flesh of bulls,
    or drink the blood of goats?
¹⁴ Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,^[b]
    and pay your vows to the Most High;
¹⁵ and call upon me in the day of trouble;
    I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

¹⁶ But to the wicked God says:
    “What right have you to recite my statutes,
    or take my covenant on your lips?
¹⁷ For you hate discipline,
    and you cast my words behind you.
¹⁸ If you see a thief, you are a friend of his;
    and you keep company with adulterers.

¹⁹ “You give your mouth free rein for evil,
    and your tongue frames deceit.
²⁰ You sit and speak against your brother;
    you slander your own mother’s son.
²¹ These things you have done and I have been silent;
    you thought that I was one like yourself.
But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.

²² “Mark this, then, you who forget God,
    lest I rend, and there be none to deliver!
²³ He who brings thanksgiving as his sacrifice honors me;
    to him who orders his way aright
    I will show the salvation of God!”

Footnotes

1. Psalm 50:11 Gk Syr Tg: Heb mountains
2. Psalm 50:14 Or make thanksgiving your sacrifice to God