the right (natural · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
God
אֱלֹהִ֓ים'E.lo.Him
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
judge
שֹׁפֵ֖טsho.Fet
H8199
to judge · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
Selah
סֶֽלָהSe.lah
H5542
suspension (of music) · interjection
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 97:6 The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.
Psalms 75:7 But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.
Psalms 89:5 And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.
Revelation 19:2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath ave…
Psalms 9:16 The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
Romans 14:9-12 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
Genesis 18:25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that b…
Psalms 7:3-5 O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands;
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 50:1-6
It is probable that Asaph was not only the chief musician, who was to put a tune to this psalm, but that he was himself the penman of it; for we read that in Hezekiah's time they praised God in the words of David and of Asaph the seer, Ch2 29:30. Here is,
I. The court called, in the name of the King of kings (Psa 50:2): The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken - El, Elohim, Jehovah, the God of infinite power justice and mercy, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. God is the Judge, the Son of God came for judgement into the world, and the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of judgment. All the earth is called to attend, not only because the controversy God had with his people Israel for their hypocrisy and i…
The inhabitants of heaven, who well know God's character, attest His righteousness as a judge.
John Gill on Psalms 50:6
And the heavens shall declare his righteousness,.... That is, either the heavens shall bear witness to his justice and equity in judging his people; or the angels, the ministers of the Gospel, shall declare his justifying righteousness, which is revealed in it, to the saints and covenant ones they shall be a means of gathering in: or rather the justice of Christ in the destruction of the Jews shall be attested and applauded by angels and men, just as the righteousness of God in the destruction of the antichristian powers is celebrated by the angel of the waters, Revelation 16:5;
for God is Judge himself. And not another, or by another; and therefore his judgments must be just and righteous,…
Psalm 50:6-13
6. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God is judge himself. Selah. 7. Hear, O my people! and I will speak; O Israel! and I will announce to thee: I am God, even thy God. 8. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, and thy burnt offerings are continually before me. 9. I will take no calf out of thy house, nor he-goats out of thy folds. 10. For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. 11. I know all the fowls of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the field are at my command. 12. If I am hungry, I will not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. 13. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, [246] and drink the blood…
The Church Fathers
"And the Heaven shall declare His righteousness" [Psalm 50:6]. Truly this righteousness of God to us the "heavens have declared," the Evangelists have foretold. Through them we have heard that some will be on the right hand, to whom the Householder says, "Come, you blessed of My Father, receive." [Matthew 25:34] Receive what? "A kingdom." In return for what thing? "I was an hungred, and you gave Me to eat." What so valueless, what so earthly, as to break bread to the hungry? At so much is valued the kingdom of heaven. "Break your bread to the hungry, and the needy without covering bring into your house; if you see one naked, clothe him." [Isaiah 58:7] If you have not the means of breaking bread, hast not house into which you may bring, hast not garment wherewith you may cover: give a cup of cold water, [Matthew 10:42] cast two mites into the treasury. [Mark 12:42] As much the widow does buy with two mites, as Peter buys, by leaving the nets, [Matthew 4:20] as Zacchæus buys by giving half his goods. [Luke 19:8] Of so much worth is all that you have. "The heavens shall declare His righteousness, for God is Judge." Truly judge not confounding but severing. For "the Lord knows them that are His." [2 Timothy 2:19] Even if grains lie hidden in the chaff, they are known to the husbandman. Let no one fear that he is a grain even among the chaff; the eyes of our winnower are not deceived. Fear not lest that tempest, which shall be round about Him, should confound you with chaff. Certainly mighty will be the tempest; yet not one grain will it sweep from the side of the grain to the chaff: because not any rustic with three-pronged fork, but God, Three in One, is Judge. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness: for God is Judge. Let heavens go, let the heavens tell, into every land let their sound go out, and unto the ends of the world their words: and let that body say, "From the ends of the world unto You have I cried, when my heart was in heaviness." For now mingled it groans, divided it shall rejoice. Let it cry then and say, "Destroy not my soul with ungodly men, and with men of blood my life." He destroys not together, because God is Judge. Let it cry to Him and say, "Judge me, O Lord, and sever my cause from the nation unholy:" let it say, He shall do it: there shall be gathered to Him His righteous ones. He has called the earth that He may sever His…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Asaph — Convener, or collector. (1.) A Levite; one of the leaders of David’s choir (1 Chr. 6:39). Psalms 50 and 73-83 inclusive are attributed to him. He is mentioned along with David as skilled in music,…
Psalms — The psalms are the production of various authors. “Only a portion of the Book of Psalms claims David as its author. Other inspired poets in successive generations added now one now another…
Judgment · THE GENERAL — THE GENERAL
Righteousness Of God, The · The heavens shall declare — The heavens shall declare
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The judgment scene. To the heavens above (מעל, elsewhere a preposition, here, as in Gen 27:39; Gen 49:25, an adverb, desuper, superne) and to the earth God calls (קרא אל, as, e.g., Gen 28:1), to both לדין עמּו, in order to sit in judgment upon His people in their presence, and with them as witnesses of His doings. Or is it not that they are summoned to attend, but that the commission, Psa 50:5, is addressed to them (Olshausen, Hitzig)? Certainly not, for the act of gathering is not one that properly belongs to the heavens and the earth, which, however, because they exist from the beginning and will last for ever, are suited to be witnesses (Deu 4:26; Deu 32:1; Isa 1:2, 1 Macc. 2:37). The sum…
The Lord is coming to bring righteousness. This hope encourages his faithful people, but those who have been unfaithful will not experience blessing when the heavens above and earth below testify against them (cp. Deut 30:19; 31:28; 32:1; Isa 1:2). The Lord comes to restore order to the world (Pss 5:8; 22:31; 33:5; 40:9; 50:6; 71:16; 97:6).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 50:6
And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.
And the heavens shall declare his righteousness. Celestial intelligences and the spirits of just men made perfect, shall magnify the infallible judgment of the divine tribunal. Now they doubtless wonder at the hypocrisy of men; then they shall equally marvel at the exactness of the severance between the true and the false. For God is judge himself. This is the reason for the correctness of the judgment. Priests of old, and churches of later times, were readily deceived, but not so the all discerning Lord. No deputy judge sits on the great white throne; the injured Lord of all himself weighs the evidence and al…
