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.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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 despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
- Isa 57:11And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? have not I held my peace even of old, and thou fearest me not?
- Prov 29:1He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.
- Ps 94:7–11Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
- Eccl 12:14For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
- Ps 90:8Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
- Eccl 8:11–12Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
- Isa 42:14I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
- Ps 73:11And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?
- Ps 50:3Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
- 1 Cor 4:5Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
- Isa 40:15–18Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
- Amos 8:7The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.
- Isa 26:10Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.
- Rev 3:19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
- 2 Pet 3:9The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
- Ps 109:1–3Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise;
- Num 23:19God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
- Exod 3:14And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
- Ps 50:8I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually 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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