The Acceptable Sacrifice
A Psalm of Asaph.
1The mighty one, God the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.*
2Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.*
3Our God comes and does not keep silent;
before him is a devouring fire
and a mighty tempest all around him.*
4He 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!”*
6The 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.*
8Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.*
9I will not accept a bull from your house
or goats from your folds.*
10For every wild animal of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.*
11I know all the birds of the air,v
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.*
13Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,w
and pay your vows to the Most High.*
15Call on me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”*
16But to the wicked God says,
“What right have you to recite my statutes
or take my covenant on your lips?*
17For you hate discipline,
and you cast my words behind you.*
18You make friends with a thief when you see one,
and you keep company with adulterers.*
19You give your mouth free rein for evil,
and your tongue frames deceit.
20You sit and speak against your kin;
you slander your own mother’s child.*
21These things you have done, and I have been silent;
you thought that I was one just like yourself.
But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.*
22Mark this, then, you who forget God,
or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.*
23Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me;
to those who go the right way,x
I will show the salvation of God.”