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Psalm 50:3
Our God comes, and does not keep silent. A fire devours before him. It is very stormy around him.
1A Psalm by Asaph. The Mighty One, God, the LORD, speaks, and calls the earth from sunrise to sunset.
2Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines out.
3Our God comes, and does not keep silent. A fire devours before him. It is very stormy around him.
4He calls to the heavens above, to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5“Gather my saints together to me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
Notice
Fire and storm unsettle a comfortable picture of God: the one his people call their own comes to speak and to judge them.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
How does the devouring fire challenge your expectations of what God's presence should feel like?
Write on thisWhat changes in your reading when you see that God comes to judge his own people?
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Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Exodus 14:14The LORD will fight for you, and you shall be still.”Both passages describe God taking action; Exodus tells the people to be still, while the psalm declares that God will speak.
Psalm 97:3A fire goes before him, and burns up his adversaries on every side.Both psalms describe fire going before God and consuming what lies ahead; Psalm 97 names his adversaries.
Hebrews 12:29for our God is a consuming fire.Devouring fire marks God's coming in the psalm, while Hebrews describes God himself as a consuming fire.
Daniel 7:10A fiery stream issued and came out from before him. Thousands of thousands ministered to him. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The judgment …Fire proceeds before God in both scenes, and both settings place that fire in the presence of judgment.
Isaiah 65:6“Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will repay, yes, I will repay into their bosomGod refuses silence in both passages; Isaiah makes explicit that his speech comes with repayment.
1 Kings 19:11He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” Behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the …Both scenes include violent weather before God, though Kings states that the LORD was not in the wind.
Psalm 21:9You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath. The fire shall devour them.Both passages describe devouring fire associated with the LORD; Psalm 21 names wrath and those consumed by it.
Psalm 50:21You have done these things, and I kept silent. You thought that I was just like you. I will rebuke you, and accuse you in front of your eyes.The declaration that God does not keep silent becomes a direct warning of rebuke later in the same psalm.
2 Peter 3:12looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, which will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent …Both passages link divine coming with destructive fire, though Peter describes the burning heavens and melting elements.
Numbers 16:35Fire came out from the LORD, and devoured the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense.Devouring fire goes out before God in the psalm; Numbers records fire from the LORD killing those who offered incense.
Exodus 19:16On the third day, when it was morning, there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of an exceedingly loud trumpet; and …Storm surrounds God's coming in the psalm; thunder and lightning accompany the trembling people in Exodus.
Leviticus 10:2Fire came out from before the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.Both texts describe fire devouring before the LORD; Leviticus records people dying in that fire.
Where this verse fits
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One step
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Encouragement
The God who gathers his covenant people also comes to judge them. Belonging to him carries weight: he speaks with authority even to his own people.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).