Psalm - 50:5



5 "Gather my saints together to me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice."

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Psalm 50:5.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
Gather ye together his saints to him: who set his covenant before sacrifices.
Gather unto me my godly ones, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice!
Gather ye to Me My saints, Making covenant with Me over a sacrifice.
Let my saints come together to me; those who have made an agreement with me by offerings.
Gather my holy ones together to me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

Gather my saints together unto me - This is an address to the messengers employed for assembling those who are to be judged. Similar language is used by the Saviour Matthew 24:31 : "And he (the Son of Man) shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." The idea is, that God will bring them, or assemble them together. All this is language derived froth the notion of a universal judgment, "as if" the scattered people of God were thus gathered together by special messengers sent out for this purpose. The word "saints" here refers to those who are truly his people. The object - the purpose - of the judgment is to assemble in heaven those who are sincerely his friends; or, as the Saviour expresses it Matthew 24:31, his "elect." Yet in order to this, or in order to determine who "are" his true people, there will be a larger gathering - an assembling of all the dwellers on the earth.
Those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice - Exodus 24:6-7. Compare the notes at Hebrews 9:19-22. The idea here is, that they are the professed people of God; that they have entered into a solemn covenant-relation to him, or have bound themselves in the most solemn manner to be his; that they have done this in connection with the sacrifices which accompany their worship; that they have brought their sacrifices or bloody offerings as a pledge that they mean to be his, and will be his. Over these solemn sacrifices made to him, they have bound themselves to be the Lord's; and the purpose of the judgment now is, to determine whether this was sincere, and whether they have been faithful to their vows. As applied to professed believers under the Christian system, the "idea" here presented would be, that the vow to be the Lord's has been made over the body and blood of the Redeemer once offered as a sacrifice, and that by partaking of the memorials of that sacrifice they have entered into a solemn "covenant" to be his. Nothing more solemn can be conceived than a "covenant" or pledge entered into in such a manner; and yet nothing is more painfully certain than that the process of a judgment will be necessary to determine in what cases it is genuine, for the mere outward act, no matter how solemn, does not of necessity decide the question whether he who performs it will enter into heaven.

Gather my (f) saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by (g) sacrifice.
(f) God in respect to his elect calls the whole body holy, saints and his people.
(g) Who should know that sacrifices are sealed by the covenant between God and his people, and not set religion in it.

Gather my saints together unto me,.... These words are spoken by Christ to the heavens and the earth; that is, to the angels, the ministers of the Gospel, to gather in, by the ministry of the word, his elect ones among the Gentiles; see Matthew 24:30; called his "saints", who had an interest in his favour and lovingkindness, and were sanctified or set apart for his service and glory;
those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice; or, "who have made my covenant by, or on sacrifice" (s); the covenant of grace, which was made with Christ from everlasting, and which was confirmed by his blood and sacrifice; this his people may be said to make with God in him, he being their head, surety, and representative: now these covenant ones he will have gathered in to himself by the effectual calling, which is usually done by the ministry of the word; for this is not to be understood of the gathering of all nations to him, before him as a Judge; but of his special people to him as a Saviour, the "Shiloh", to whom the gathering of the people was to be, Genesis 49:10.
(s) So Pagninus.

my saints-- (Psalm 4:3).
made--literally, "cut"
a covenant, &c.--alluding to the dividing of a victim of sacrifice, by which covenants were ratified, the parties passing between the divided portions (compare Genesis 15:10, Genesis 15:18).

Gather - O ye angels, summon and fetch them to my tribunal. Which is poetically spoken, to continue the metaphor, and representation of the judgment. My saints - The Israelites, whom God had chosen and separated them from all the nations of the earth, to be an holy and peculiar people to himself, and they also had solemnly devoted themselves to God; all which aggravated their apostacy. Those - Who have entered into covenant with me, and have ratified that covenant by sacrifice. This seems to be added, to acquaint them with the proper nature, use and end of sacrifices, which were principally appointed to be signs and seals of the covenant made between God and his people; and consequently to convince them of their great mistake in trusting to their outward sacrifices, when they neglected the very life and soul of them, which was the keeping of their covenant with God.

*More commentary available at chapter level.


Discussion on Psalm 50:5

User discussion of the verse.






*By clicking Submit, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use.