And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.
Parallel translations
- WEB The heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah.
- BSB And the heavens proclaim His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge. Selah
- NKJV Let the heavens declare His righteousness, For God Himself is Judge. Selah
- NASB And the heavens declare His righteousness, For God Himself is judge. Selah
- NLT Then let the heavens proclaim his justice, for God himself will be the judge. Interlude
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
The heavens proclaim God's righteousness, for He Himself is Judge. His verdict is perfectly just.
Overview
Heaven declares God's righteousness because God personally presides as Judge—there is no higher court. The 'Selah' invites reflection on the certainty and justice of His judgment. That the Judge of all the earth does right gives believers both warning and comfort, for the same righteous Judge is their Redeemer in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 97:6The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.
- Ps 89:5And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.
- Ps 75:7But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.
- Rev 19:2For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
- Rom 14:9–12For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
- Ps 9:16The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
- Rev 20:11–12And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
- Gen 18:25That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
- Ps 7:3–5O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands;
- 2 Cor 5:10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
- Rom 2:5But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
- John 5:22–23For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
- Rev 16:5–7And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
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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 50:6 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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