Psalms 50:16

Bible in Basic English (1941)

But to the sinner, God says, What are you doing, talking of my laws, or taking the words of my agreement in your mouth?

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וְלָ֤רָשָׁ֨ע ׀ אָ֘מַ֤ר אֱלֹהִ֗ים מַה־לְּ֭ךָ לְסַפֵּ֣ר חֻקָּ֑י וַתִּשָּׂ֖א בְרִיתִ֣י עֲלֵי־פִֽיךָ׃

Transliteration

And-to-the-rasha amar Elohim what-to-you to-sapper chuqqai and-tissa beriti upon-picha

Grammar Details

• *rasha*: adjective, masculine, singular - wicked
• *amar*: verb, Qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular - he said
• *Elohim*: noun, masculine, plural - God/gods
• *sapper*: verb, Piel infinitive construct - to declare/tell
• *chuqqai*: noun, masculine, plural with 1st person singular suffix - my statutes
• *tissa*: verb, Qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular - you take up
• *beriti*: noun, feminine, singular with 1st person singular suffix - my covenant
• *picha*: noun, masculine, singular with 2nd person masculine singular suffix - your mouth

Word Meanings

• *sapper*: declare/recount/tell
• *tissa*: take up/lift up/bear
• *beriti alei-picha*: my covenant on your mouth/mention my covenant

Referenced Verses

• Ps 78:36-38 : 36 But their lips were false to him, and their tongues were untrue to him; 37 And their hearts were not right with him, and they did not keep their agreement with him. 38 But he, being full of pity, has forgiveness for sin, and does not put an end to man: frequently turning back his wrath, and not being violently angry.
• Prov 26:7 : 7 The legs of one who has no power of walking are hanging loose; so is a wise saying in the mouth of the foolish.
• Isa 1:11-15 : 11 What use to me is the number of the offerings which you give me? says the Lord; your burned offerings of sheep, and the best parts of fat cattle, are a weariness to me; I take no pleasure in the blood of oxen, or of lambs, or of he-goats. 12 At whose request do you come before me, making my house unclean with your feet? 13 Give me no more false offerings; the smoke of burning flesh is disgusting to me, so are your new moons and Sabbaths and your holy meetings. 14 Your new moons and your regular feasts are a grief to my soul: they are a weight in my spirit; I am crushed under them. 15 And when your hands are stretched out to me, my eyes will be turned away from you: even though you go on making prayers, I will not give ear: your hands are full of blood.
• Isa 29:13 : 13 And the Lord said, because this people come near to me with their mouths, and give honour to me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and their fear of me is false, a rule given them by the teaching of men;
• Isa 48:1-2 : 1 Give ear to this, O family of Jacob, you who are named by the name of Israel, and have come out of the body of Judah; who take oaths by the name of the Lord, and make use of the name of the God of Israel, but not truly and not in good faith. 2 For they say that they are of the holy town, and put their faith in the God of Israel: the Lord of armies is his name.
• Isa 48:22 : 22 There is no peace, says the Lord, for the evil-doers.
• Isa 55:6-7 : 6 Make search for the Lord while he is there, make prayer to him while he is near: 7 Let the sinner give up his way, and the evil-doer his purpose: and let him come back to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for there is full forgiveness with him.
• Isa 58:1-7 : 1 Make a loud cry, do not be quiet, let your voice be sounding like a horn, and make clear to my people their evil doings, and to the family of Jacob their sins. 2 Though they make prayer to me every day, and take pleasure in the knowledge of my ways: like a nation which has done righteousness, and has not given up the rules of their God, they make requests to me for the right orders, it is their delight to come near to God. 3 They say, Why have we kept ourselves from food, and you do not see it? why have we kept ourselves from pleasure, and you take no note of it? If, in the days when you keep from food, you take the chance to do your business, and get in your debts; 4 If keeping from food makes you quickly angry, ready for fighting and giving blows with evil hands; your holy days are not such as to make your voice come to my ears on high. 5 Have I given orders for such a day as this? a day for keeping yourselves from pleasure? is it only a question of the bent head, of putting on haircloth, and being seated in the dust? is this what seems to you a holy day, well-pleasing to the Lord? 6 Is not this the holy day for which I have given orders: to let loose those who have wrongly been made prisoners, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the crushed go free, and every yoke be broken? 7 Is it not to give your bread to those in need, and to let the poor who have no resting-place come into your house? to put a robe on the unclothed one when you see him, and not to keep your eyes shut for fear of seeing his flesh?
• Jer 7:4-7 : 4 Put no faith in false words, saying, The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, are these. 5 For if your ways and your doings are truly changed for the better; if you truly give right decisions between a man and his neighbour; 6 If you are not cruel to the man from a strange country, and to the child without a father, and to the widow, and do not put the upright to death in this place, or go after other gods, causing damage to yourselves: 7 Then I will let you go on living in this place, in the land which I gave to your fathers in the past and for ever.
• Ezek 18:27 : 27 Again, when the evil-doer, turning away from the evil he has done, does what is ordered and right, he will have life for his soul.
• Ezek 20:37-38 : 37 And I will make you go under the rod and will make you small in number: 38 Clearing out from among you all those who are uncontrolled and who are sinning against me; I will take them out of the land where they are living, but they will not come into the land of Israel: and you will be certain that I am the Lord.
• Matt 7:3-5 : 3 And why do you take note of the grain of dust in your brother's eye, but take no note of the bit of wood which is in your eye? 4 Or how will you say to your brother, Let me take out the grain of dust from your eye, when you yourself have a bit of wood in your eye? 5 You false one, first take out the bit of wood from your eye, then will you see clearly to take out the grain of dust from your brother's eye.
• Matt 7:22-23 : 22 A great number will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, were we not prophets in your name, and did we not by your name send out evil spirits, and by your name do works of power? 23 And then will I say to them, I never had knowledge of you: go from me, you workers of evil.
• John 4:24 : 24 God is Spirit: then let his worshippers give him worship in the true way of the spirit.
• Acts 19:13-16 : 13 But some of the Jews who went from place to place driving out evil spirits, took it on themselves to make use of the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, I give you orders, by Jesus, whom Paul is preaching. 14 And there were seven sons of a man named Sceva, a Jew and a chief priest, who did this. 15 And the evil spirit, answering, said to them, I have knowledge of Jesus, and of Paul, but who are you? 16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was, jumping on them, was stronger than the two of them, and overcame them, so that they went running from that house, wounded and without their clothing.
• Rom 2:17-24 : 17 But as for you who have the name of Jew, and are resting on the law, and take pride in God, 18 And have knowledge of his desires, and are a judge of the things which are different, having the learning of the law, 19 In the belief that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those in the dark, 20 A teacher of the foolish, having in the law the form of knowledge and of what is true; 21 You who give teaching to others, do you give it to yourself? you who say that a man may not take what is not his, do you take what is not yours? 22 You who say that a man may not be untrue to his wife, are you true to yours? you who are a hater of images, do you do wrong to the house of God? 23 You who take pride in the law, are you doing wrong to the honour of God by behaviour which is against the law? 24 For the name of God is shamed among the Gentiles because of you, as it is said in the holy Writings.
• 1 Cor 9:27 : 27 But I give blows to my body, and keep it under control, for fear that, after having given the good news to others, I myself might not have God's approval.
• Heb 8:9 : 9 Not like the agreement which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand, to be their guide out of the land of Egypt; for they did not keep the agreement with me, and I gave them up, says the Lord.
• 2 Pet 2:15 : 15 Turning out of the true way, they have gone wandering in error, after the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who was pleased to take payment for wrongdoing;
• Ps 25:14 : 14 The secret of the Lord is with those in whose hearts is the fear of him; he will make his agreement clear to them.