God Speaks
“Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, your God. Psalm 50:7 · Berean Standard Bible
God directly addresses His people Israel and tells them to listen carefully because He's about to show them where they've gone wrong.
This is the moment the courtroom scene has been building toward. God is speaking directly to His covenant people. 'I will testify against you' isn't a threat—it's a legal statement. He's presenting evidence.
God, directly addressing His people through the psalmist
This echoes the role of the prophets who came in God's name to testify against injustice and unfaithfulness. God always gives His people a chance to hear the truth about themselves before judgment falls.
God directly addresses Israel, announcing He will speak to testify against their failures—yet this testimony comes from their covenant partner, not an external accuser.
The direct address 'Hear, O My people' (šim'û 'ammî) marks the transition to God's formal indictment speech. The first-person divine voice dominates verses 7-22, employing the prophetic oracle form. The phrase 'I will testify against you' (wa-ʾâʿîd-bəkā) uses the term ʿûd (to witness/testify), establishing forensic language. Notably, God simultaneously identifies Himself as covenant partner ('your God'—Elohekā) even while testifying against them, emphasizing that judgment flows from relationship, not alienation.
God's direct judicial pronouncement, now explicitly marked as divine speech.
This direct confrontation recalls the prophetic lawsuit form used by Hosea, Micah, and Isaiah—where God's complaint against Israel emerges from betrayed covenant relationship. It establishes the pattern that judgment is pedagogical, intended to restore rather than merely condemn.
5“Gather to Me My saints, who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”
6And the heavens proclaim His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge.
7“Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, your God.
8I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices, and your burnt offerings are ever before Me.
9I have no need for a bull from your stall or goats from your pens,
Read all of Psalm 50 — The Mighty One summons the earth and calls heaven as witness. He doesn't need your sacrifices — He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
This page covers one. BibleKey does all 31,102 — tap any verse for its meaning, any word for its Hebrew or Greek root, and keep reading without leaving the chapter.
NIV, NLT, NKJV, KJV and the Berean — plus the Catholic NLT-CE and Douay-Rheims, with the full deuterocanon in the reading order.
Tap any of the 31,102 for what it means, and any word for its Hebrew or Greek root, without leaving the chapter.
Start recording at church and put your phone away. You get the transcript, the key moments, and every verse referenced.
Say what's sitting on your heart and hear it back as a real prayer, in a warm voice. Keep the ones that land.
The whole Bible in a year — five chapters a day, five days a week, weekends off. Built to be finished.
A verse each morning with its meaning, how it lands today, something to sit with, and a prayer to close it.
Not just the famous ones. BibleKey is free on iPhone and iPad.
Download on the App StoreFree on iPhone & iPad