If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
Parallel translations
- KJV If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
- BSB If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and the fullness thereof.
- NKJV “If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all its fullness.
- NASB “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and everything it contains.
- NLT If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for all the world is mine and everything in it.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
If God were hungry He would not need to tell humans, for the whole world is His. He depends on no one.
Overview
With gentle irony God states that even if He had needs, He would not turn to His creatures, since everything already belongs to Him. The point dismantles any view of sacrifice as feeding God. True worship honors God's all-sufficiency rather than presuming to meet a divine lack.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Exod 19:5Now 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 the earth is mine;
- Deut 10:14Behold, to Yahweh your God belongs heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that is therein.
- Ps 24:1–2A Psalm by David. The earth is Yahweh’s, with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell therein.
- 1 Cor 10:26–28for “the earth is the Lord’s, and its fullness.”
- Job 41:11Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.
- Ps 115:15–16Blessed are you by Yahweh, who made heaven and earth.
- Gen 8:17Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, including birds, livestock, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply on the earth.”
- Ps 145:15–16The eyes of all wait for you. You give them their food in due season.
- Gen 1:28–30God 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 birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
- Gen 1:11–12God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth”; and it was so.
- Ps 104:24Yahweh, how many are your works! In wisdom have you made them all. The earth is full of your riches.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 50:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.