Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Who owns the earth?A wide set of passages (Gen 14:19, 22; Exod 9:29; 19:5; Deut 10:14; Ps 24:1; 50:12; 89:11; 1 Cor 10:26) affirm that God owns the earth absolutely.
Does God desire animal sacrifices?The Priestly source and the Genesis narrative have Yahweh approving Abel's animal sacrifice and later filling Leviticus with hundreds of verses of mandatory bl…
Exodus 19:5(v12)Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all…
Deuteronomy 10:14(v12)Behold, to Yahweh your God belongs heaven, the heaven of heavens, and the earth, with all that is therein.
Psalms 24:1-2(v12)The earth is Yahweh’s, with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell in it. For he has founded it on the seas, and established it on…
1 Corinthians 10:26-28(v12)for “the earth is the Lord’s, and its fullness.” But if one of those who don’t believe invites you to a meal, and you are inclined to go,…
Job 41:11(v12)Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.
Show all 38 cross-references
Jeremiah 27:5-6(v10)‘I have made the earth, the men, and the animals that are on the surface of the earth by my great power and by my outstretched arm. I give…
Micah 6:6-8(v9)How shall I come before Yahweh, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year…
Psalms 115:15-16(v12)Blessed are you by Yahweh, who made heaven and earth. The heavens are Yahweh’s heavens, but he has given the earth to the children of men.
Psalms 8:6-8(v10)You make him ruler over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet: All sheep and cattle, yes, and the animals of the…
Psalms 104:14(v10)He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth:
Matthew 6:26(v11)See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of…
Genesis 1:20-22(v11)God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.” God created the…
Psalms 104:24-25(v10)Yahweh, how many are your works! In wisdom, you have made them all. The earth is full of your riches. There is the sea, great and wide, in…
Daniel 2:38(v10)Wherever the children of men dwell, he has given the animals of the field and the birds of the sky into your hand, and has made you rule…
Acts 17:25(v9)He isn’t served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath, and all things.
Hebrews 10:4-6(v9)For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, “You didn’t…
Psalms 69:31(v9)It will please Yahweh better than an ox, or a bull that has horns and hoofs.
Isaiah 43:23-24(v9)You have not brought me any of your sheep for burnt offerings, neither have you honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you…
Genesis 8:17(vv10, 12)Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, including birds, livestock, and every creeping thing that creeps on…
Genesis 1:24-25(v10)God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind;”…
Genesis 1:28-30(v12)God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the…
Genesis 2:19(v10)Out of the ground Yahweh God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would…
1 Chronicles 29:14-16(v10)But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from you, and we have given…
Job 39:26-30(v11)“Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and stretches her wings toward the south? Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up, and…
Psalms 145:15-16(v12)The eyes of all wait for you. You give them their food in due season. You open your hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
Jonah 4:11(v10)Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between…
Luke 12:24(v11)Consider the ravens: they don’t sow, they don’t reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you…
Genesis 1:11-12(v12)God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the…
Genesis 9:2-3(v10)The fear of you and the dread of you will be on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the sky. Everything that moves along the…
Genesis 31:9(v10)Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock, and given them to me.
Job 39:13-18(v11)“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly; but are they the feathers and plumage of love? For she leaves her eggs on the earth, warms them in…
Job 40:15-24(v10)“See now, behemoth, which I made as well as you. He eats grass as an ox. Look now, his strength is in his thighs. His force is in the…
Psalms 104:12(v11)The birds of the sky nest by them. They sing among the branches.
Psalms 104:24(v12)Yahweh, how many are your works! In wisdom, you have made them all. The earth is full of your riches.
Psalms 147:9(v11)He provides food for the livestock, and for the young ravens when they call.
Isaiah 56:9(v11)All you animals of the field, come to devour, all you animals in the forest.
Ezekiel 14:15-16(v11)“If I cause evil animals to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it is made desolate, so that no man may pass through because of…
Matthew 10:29-31(v11)“Aren’t two sparrows sold for an assarion coin? Not one of them falls on the ground apart from your Father’s will, but the very hairs of…
38 distinct cross-references across this passage (39 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn v99 I will take no calf out thy house…
9 I will take no calf out thy house Two reasons are given in this and the succeeding verses to prove that he cannot set any value upon sacrifices. The first is, that supposing him to depend upon these, he needs not to be indebted for them to man, having all the fullness of the earth at his command; and the second, that he requires neither food nor drink as we do for the support of our infirm natures. Upon the first of these he insists in the ninth and three following verses, where he adverts to his own boundless possessions, that he may show his absolute independence of human offerings. He then points at the wide distinction betwixt himself and man, the latter being dependent for a frail subsistence upon meat and drink, while he is the self-existent One, and communicates life to all beside. There may be nothing new in the truths here laid down by the Psalmist; but, considering the strong propensity we have by nature to form our estimate of God from ourselves, and to degenerate into a carnal worship, they convey a lesson by no means unnecessary, and which contains profound wisdom, that man can never benefit God by any of his services, as we have seen in Psalm 16:2, “My goodness extendeth not unto thee.” In the second place, God says that he does not require any thing for his own us but that, as he is sufficient in his own perfection, he has consulted the good of man in all that he has enjoined. We have a passage in Isaiah to a similar effect,
“The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me, and where is the place of my rest? For all these things hath mine hand made.” — (Isaiah 66:1, 2,)
Read full note →
In these words
God asserts his absolute independence; for while the world had a beginning, he himself was from eternity. From this it follows, that as he subsisted when there was nothing without him which could contribute to his fullness, he must have in himself a glorious all-sufficiency.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv10, 13Though he did delight in sacrifice, yet had he…
Though he did delight in sacrifice, yet had he no need of man’s help thereunto.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv9–13Psa 50:9 I will take no bullock out of…
Psa 50:9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, [nor] he goats out of thy folds.
Ver. 9. I will take no bullock out of thy house, &c.] q.d. Keep them to thyself, I need them not; thou settest a high price upon them, and thinkest to ingratiate with me by them; I value them not, nay, I loathe them, Sordet in conspectu Iudicis quod fulget in conspectu operantis. "That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God," Luk 16:15. Displeasing service is double dishonour.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv9–13But be not so vain and foolish as to…
But be not so vain and foolish as to imagine that thou dost lay any obligations upon me by thy sacrifices; or that I required them because I had need of them, or took any pleasure in them for themselves, or for my own satisfaction by them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv9–13I will take no bullock out of thy house,....…
I will take no bullock out of thy house,.... That is, will accept of none; such sacrifices being no more agreeable to the will of God, Heb 10:5; the "bullock" is mentioned, that being a principal creature used in sacrifice; as also the following,
nor he goats out of thy folds; the reasons follow.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv9, 11Bullock - Be not so foolish, as to imagine…
Bullock - Be not so foolish, as to imagine that thou dost lay any obligations upon me by thy sacrifices.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv10, 12, 13Verse 10. Every beast of the forest is mine]…
Verse 10. Every beast of the forest is mine] Can ye suppose that ye are laying me under obligation to you, when ye present me with a part of my own property?
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv9–13I will take no bullock out of thy house…
I will take no bullock out of thy house - Bullocks were offered regularly in the Hebrew service and sacrifice Exo 29:11, Exo 29:36; Lev 4:4; 1Ki 18:23, 1Ki 18:33; and it is with reference to this that the language is used here. In obedience to the law it was right and proper to offer such sacrifices; and the design here is not to express disapprobation of these offerings in themselves considered. On this subject - on the external compliance with the law in this respect - God says Psa 50:8 that he had no cause to complain against them. It was only with respect to the design and the spirit with which they did this, that the language in this verse and the following verses is used. The idea which it is the purpose of these verses to suggest is, that God did not “need” such offerings; that they were not to be made “as if” he needed them; and that if he needed such he was not “dependent” on them, for all the beasts of the earth and all the fowls of the mountains were his, and could be taken for that purpose; and that if he took what was claimed to be theirs - the bullocks and the goats - he did not wrong them, for all were his, and he claimed only his own.
Nor he-goats out of thy folds - Goats were also offered in sacrifice. Lev 3:12; Lev 4:24; Lev 10:16 : Num 15:27.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn v1313. Will I eat the flesh of bulls—Such gross…
13. Will I eat the flesh of bulls—Such gross ideas of worship as linger in the mere forms, as if God delighted in them, arise from gross ideas of God, and this is the source of corruption in all heathenism and false religions.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv11–1311. The wild beasts of the field] A peculiar…
11. The wild beasts of the field] A peculiar phrase, found only in another Asaphite Psalm (Psa_80:13), meaning probably all that moveth in the field, including the ‘creeping thing’ (Gen_1:24 f).
are mine] Lit., are with me, i.e. are in my sight (P.B.V.), or, in my mind (R.V. marg.).
Read full note →
12f. If God had need of sustenance, He would not be dependent upon man for it: but a spiritual Being needs no material support.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv9–11(9-18) Notice the fine tone of irony that pervades…
(9-18) Notice the fine tone of irony that pervades this rebuke, the best weapon against ritualistic errors.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv9–13I will take no bullock out of thy house,…
I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds. The offerings of those who offer amiss will not be accepted. God declines to receive them.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon1885 · Public DomainOn vv9–13Ver. 9. I will take no bullock out of…
Ver. 9. I will take no bullock out of thy house. Foolishly they dreamed that bullocks with horns and hoofs could please the Lord, when indeed he sought for hearts and souls. Impiously they fancied that Jehovah needed these supplies, and that if they fed his altar with their fat beasts, he would be content. What he intended for their instruction, they made their confidence. They remembered not that "to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." Nor he goats out of thy folds. He mentions these lesser victims as if to rouse their common sense to see that the great Creator could find not satisfaction in mere animal offerings. If he needed these, he would not appeal to their scanty stalls and folds; in fact, he here refuses to take so much as one, if they brought them under the false and dishonouring view, that they were in themselves pleasing to him. This shows that the sacrifices of the law were symbolical of higher and spiritual things, and were not pleasing to God except under their typical aspect. The believing worshipper looking beyond the outward was accepted, the unspiritual who had no respect to their meaning was wasting his substance, and blaspheming the God of heaven.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v12If I were hungry, I would not tell thee:…
Psa_50:12
If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is Mine, and the fulness thereof.
Read full note →
The owner of the world
I. There must be a growing knowledge of God amongst men. Men once thought that God could be hungry, and that offerings of wheat, goats, etc., would appease His appetite: but when this psalm was written they had advanced far beyond this in their knowledge of God. And we now have no such idea. Science, learning, and the study of the life of Jesus, have classified and enlarged our ideas of God and Gods workings. Then we ought not to be afraid to say, The teachings of our fathers, the associations of the old theology of creeds must be modified. We must not allow our spiritual life to be controlled by leading strings held in dead hands. We must be ready to stand in the light of the revealed character of God, and accept our impulses and conclusions from that.
II. A statement of the rights of God over the world promotes that knowledge, How many of those who read inscribed on the portico of the Royal Exchange, The earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof, ever ponder the large meaning of these words. All natural things are His. How we prize that which is ours--from our first childrens toys to our possessions now that we are come to mature age. And because this feeling of ownership is in us we know that it is in God. And not only the things, but the energies in them, are His. And all things that men produce, for they come out of the fulness of Gods world. What, then, can He wish for from us but that we come to know Him and to love and honour Him as we should? Therefore remember--
(1) All property is held from God. We are but His stewards.
(2) Everything in the world is a witness to God.
(3) God is the sustainer of all things. (D. O. Watt, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv9, 12areas surrounded by walls in which sheep and goats…
folds
areas surrounded by walls in which sheep and goats are kept
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the cattle on a thousand hills
The phrase "on a thousand hills" does not represent the total number of cattle that God owns. The number is an exaggeration that emphasizes that God owns all of the cattle in the world. The verb may be supplied from the previous phrase. AT: "all the cattle in the world are mine" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization and Ellipsis)
thousand hills
"1,000 hills" (See: Numbers)
I know all the birds
Here the word "know" implies ownership. AT: "I own all the birds" (See: Idiom and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On v9 9 I will take no calf out thy house…
9 I will take no calf out thy house Two reasons are given in this and the succeeding verses to prove that he cannot set any value upon sacrifices. The first is, that supposing him to depend upon these, he needs not to be indebted for them to man, having all the fullness of the earth at his command; and the second, that he requires neither food nor drink as we do for the support of our infirm natures. Upon the first of these he insists in the ninth and three following verses, where he adverts to his own boundless possessions, that he may show his absolute independence of human offerings. He then points at the wide distinction betwixt himself and man, the latter being dependent for a frail subsistence upon meat and drink, while he is the self-existent One, and communicates life to all beside. There may be nothing new in the truths here laid down by the Psalmist; but, considering the strong propensity we have by nature to form our estimate of God from ourselves, and to degenerate into a carnal worship, they convey a lesson by no means unnecessary, and which contains profound wisdom, that man can never benefit God by any of his services, as we have seen in Psalm 16:2, “My goodness extendeth not unto thee.” In the second place, God says that he does not require any thing for his own us but that, as he is sufficient in his own perfection, he has consulted the good of man in all that he has enjoined. We have a passage in Isaiah to a similar effect,
“The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me, and where is the place of my rest? For all these things hath mine hand made.” — (Isaiah 66:1, 2,)
Read full note →
In these words
God asserts his absolute independence; for while the world had a beginning, he himself was from eternity. From this it follows, that as he subsisted when there was nothing without him which could contribute to his fullness, he must have in himself a glorious all-sufficiency.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv10, 13 Though he did delight in sacrifice, yet had he…
Though he did delight in sacrifice, yet had he no need of man’s help thereunto.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv9–13 Psa 50:9 I will take no bullock out of…
Psa 50:9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, [nor] he goats out of thy folds.
Ver. 9. I will take no bullock out of thy house, &c.] q.d. Keep them to thyself, I need them not; thou settest a high price upon them, and thinkest to ingratiate with me by them; I value them not, nay, I loathe them, Sordet in conspectu Iudicis quod fulget in conspectu operantis. "That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God," Luk 16:15. Displeasing service is double dishonour.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv9–13 But be not so vain and foolish as to…
But be not so vain and foolish as to imagine that thou dost lay any obligations upon me by thy sacrifices; or that I required them because I had need of them, or took any pleasure in them for themselves, or for my own satisfaction by them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv9–13 I will take no bullock out of thy house,....…
I will take no bullock out of thy house,.... That is, will accept of none; such sacrifices being no more agreeable to the will of God, Heb 10:5; the "bullock" is mentioned, that being a principal creature used in sacrifice; as also the following,
nor he goats out of thy folds; the reasons follow.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv9, 11 Bullock - Be not so foolish, as to imagine…
Bullock - Be not so foolish, as to imagine that thou dost lay any obligations upon me by thy sacrifices.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv10, 12, 13 Verse 10. Every beast of the forest is mine]…
Verse 10. Every beast of the forest is mine] Can ye suppose that ye are laying me under obligation to you, when ye present me with a part of my own property?
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv9–13 I will take no bullock out of thy house…
I will take no bullock out of thy house - Bullocks were offered regularly in the Hebrew service and sacrifice Exo 29:11, Exo 29:36; Lev 4:4; 1Ki 18:23, 1Ki 18:33; and it is with reference to this that the language is used here. In obedience to the law it was right and proper to offer such sacrifices; and the design here is not to express disapprobation of these offerings in themselves considered. On this subject - on the external compliance with the law in this respect - God says Psa 50:8 that he had no cause to complain against them. It was only with respect to the design and the spirit with which they did this, that the language in this verse and the following verses is used. The idea which it is the purpose of these verses to suggest is, that God did not “need” such offerings; that they were not to be made “as if” he needed them; and that if he needed such he was not “dependent” on them, for all the beasts of the earth and all the fowls of the mountains were his, and could be taken for that purpose; and that if he took what was claimed to be theirs - the bullocks and the goats - he did not wrong them, for all were his, and he claimed only his own.
Nor he-goats out of thy folds - Goats were also offered in sacrifice. Lev 3:12; Lev 4:24; Lev 10:16 : Num 15:27.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v13 13. Will I eat the flesh of bulls—Such gross…
13. Will I eat the flesh of bulls—Such gross ideas of worship as linger in the mere forms, as if God delighted in them, arise from gross ideas of God, and this is the source of corruption in all heathenism and false religions.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv11–13 11. The wild beasts of the field] A peculiar…
11. The wild beasts of the field] A peculiar phrase, found only in another Asaphite Psalm (Psa_80:13), meaning probably all that moveth in the field, including the ‘creeping thing’ (Gen_1:24 f).
are mine] Lit., are with me, i.e. are in my sight (P.B.V.), or, in my mind (R.V. marg.).
Read full note →
12f. If God had need of sustenance, He would not be dependent upon man for it: but a spiritual Being needs no material support.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv9–11 (9-18) Notice the fine tone of irony that pervades…
(9-18) Notice the fine tone of irony that pervades this rebuke, the best weapon against ritualistic errors.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv9–13 I will take no bullock out of thy house,…
I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds. The offerings of those who offer amiss will not be accepted. God declines to receive them.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv9–13 Ver. 9. I will take no bullock out of…
Ver. 9. I will take no bullock out of thy house. Foolishly they dreamed that bullocks with horns and hoofs could please the Lord, when indeed he sought for hearts and souls. Impiously they fancied that Jehovah needed these supplies, and that if they fed his altar with their fat beasts, he would be content. What he intended for their instruction, they made their confidence. They remembered not that "to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." Nor he goats out of thy folds. He mentions these lesser victims as if to rouse their common sense to see that the great Creator could find not satisfaction in mere animal offerings. If he needed these, he would not appeal to their scanty stalls and folds; in fact, he here refuses to take so much as one, if they brought them under the false and dishonouring view, that they were in themselves pleasing to him. This shows that the sacrifices of the law were symbolical of higher and spiritual things, and were not pleasing to God except under their typical aspect. The believing worshipper looking beyond the outward was accepted, the unspiritual who had no respect to their meaning was wasting his substance, and blaspheming the God of heaven.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee:…
Psa_50:12
If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is Mine, and the fulness thereof.
Read full note →
The owner of the world
I. There must be a growing knowledge of God amongst men. Men once thought that God could be hungry, and that offerings of wheat, goats, etc., would appease His appetite: but when this psalm was written they had advanced far beyond this in their knowledge of God. And we now have no such idea. Science, learning, and the study of the life of Jesus, have classified and enlarged our ideas of God and Gods workings. Then we ought not to be afraid to say, The teachings of our fathers, the associations of the old theology of creeds must be modified. We must not allow our spiritual life to be controlled by leading strings held in dead hands. We must be ready to stand in the light of the revealed character of God, and accept our impulses and conclusions from that.
II. A statement of the rights of God over the world promotes that knowledge, How many of those who read inscribed on the portico of the Royal Exchange, The earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof, ever ponder the large meaning of these words. All natural things are His. How we prize that which is ours--from our first childrens toys to our possessions now that we are come to mature age. And because this feeling of ownership is in us we know that it is in God. And not only the things, but the energies in them, are His. And all things that men produce, for they come out of the fulness of Gods world. What, then, can He wish for from us but that we come to know Him and to love and honour Him as we should? Therefore remember--
(1) All property is held from God. We are but His stewards.
(2) Everything in the world is a witness to God.
(3) God is the sustainer of all things. (D. O. Watt, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv9, 12 areas surrounded by walls in which sheep and goats…
folds
areas surrounded by walls in which sheep and goats are kept
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the cattle on a thousand hills
The phrase "on a thousand hills" does not represent the total number of cattle that God owns. The number is an exaggeration that emphasizes that God owns all of the cattle in the world. The verb may be supplied from the previous phrase. AT: "all the cattle in the world are mine" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization and Ellipsis)
thousand hills
"1,000 hills" (See: Numbers)
I know all the birds
Here the word "know" implies ownership. AT: "I own all the birds" (See: Idiom and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
cow
house
goat
beast
know
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv9–10 50:9 Unlike pagan gods, God does not need food;…
50:9 Unlike pagan gods, God does not need food; instead, he wants his people to serve him with a right heart (50:14-15).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.