You have done these things, and I kept silent; you thought I was just like you. But now I rebuke you and accuse you to your face.
Parallel translations
- WEB You 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.
- KJV These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
- NKJV These things you have done, and I kept silent; You thought that I was altogether like you; But I will rebuke you, And set them in order before your eyes.
- NASB “These things you have done and I kept silent; You thought that I was just like you; I will rebuke you and present the case before your eyes.
- NLT While you did all this, I remained silent, and you thought I didn’t care. But now I will rebuke you, listing all my charges against you.
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
Because God kept silent, the wicked wrongly assumed He approved or was like them; now He will confront them openly. His patience is not consent.
Overview
God's delay in judgment had been mistaken for indifference, leading sinners to imagine God shared their loose standards. But His silence was forbearance, not approval, and now He sets their sins plainly before them. This warns that God's patience must not be presumed upon, for a day of reckoning surely comes.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Rom 2:4–5Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?
- Isa 57:11Whom have you dreaded and feared, so that you lied and failed to remember Me or take this to heart? Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear Me?
- Prov 29:1A man who remains stiff-necked after much reproof will suddenly be shattered beyond recovery.
- Ps 94:7–11They say, “The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed.”
- Eccl 12:14For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.
- Ps 90:8You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
- Eccl 8:11–12When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil.
- Isa 42:14“I have kept silent from ages past; I have remained quiet and restrained. But now I will groan like a woman in labor; I will at once gasp and pant.
- Ps 73:11The wicked say, “How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?”
- Ps 50:3Our God approaches and will not be silent! Consuming fire precedes Him, and a tempest rages around Him.
- 1 Cor 4:5Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
- Isa 40:15–18Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered a speck of dust on the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
- Amos 8:7The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget any of their deeds.
- Isa 26:10Though grace is shown to the wicked man, he does not learn righteousness. In the land of righteousness he acts unjustly and fails to see the majesty of the LORD.
- Rev 3:19Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.
- 2 Pet 3:9The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.
- Ps 109:1–3For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O God of my praise, be not silent.
- Num 23:19God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
- Exod 3:14God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
- Ps 50:8I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices, and your burnt offerings are ever before Me.
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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 50:21 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
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