Mazmur 50:3-5

50:3 Our God approaches and is not silent; ¹ 

consuming fire goes ahead of him

and all around him a storm rages. ² 

50:4 He summons the heavens above,

as well as the earth, so that he might judge his people. ³ 

50:5 He says: ⁴ 

“Assemble my covenant people before me, ⁵ 

those who ratified a covenant with me by sacrifice!” ⁶ 

Mazmur 103:19

103:19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven;

his kingdom extends over everything. ⁷ 

Wahyu 20:11

The Great White Throne

20:11 Then ⁸  I saw a large ⁹  white throne and the one who was seated on it; the earth and the heaven ¹⁰  fled ¹¹  from his presence, and no place was found for them.

[50:3]  ¹ tn According to GKC 322 §109.e, the jussive (note the negative particle אַל, ’al) is used rhetorically here “to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen.”

[50:3]  ² tn Heb “fire before him devours, and around him it is very stormy.”

[50:4]  ³ tn Or perhaps “to testify against his people.”

[50:4]  sn The personified heavens and earth (see v. 1 as well) are summoned to God’s courtroom as witnesses against God’s covenant people (see Isa 1:2). Long before this Moses warned the people that the heavens and earth would be watching their actions (see Deut 4:26; 30:19; 31:28; 32:1).

[50:5]  ⁴ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. God’s summons to the defendant follows.

[50:5]  ⁵ tn Or “Gather to me my covenant people.” The Hebrew term חָסִיד (khasid, “covenant people”) elsewhere in the psalms is used in a positive sense of God’s loyal followers (see the note at Ps 4:3), but here, as the following line makes clear, the term has a neutral sense and simply refers to those who have outwardly sworn allegiance to God, not necessarily to those whose loyalty is genuine.

[50:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “the cutters of my covenant according to sacrifice.” A sacrifice accompanied the covenant-making ceremony and formally ratified the agreement (see Exod 24:3-8).

[103:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “his kingdom rules over all.”

[20:11]  ⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[20:11]  ⁹ tn Traditionally, “great,” but μέγας (megas) here refers to size rather than importance.

[20:11]  ¹⁰ tn Or “and the sky.” The same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky,” and context usually determines which is meant. In this apocalyptic scene, however, it is difficult to be sure what referent to assign the term.

[20:11]  ¹¹ tn Or “vanished.”

[20:11]  sn The phrase the earth and the heaven fled from his presence can be understood (1) as visual imagery representing the fear of corruptible matter in the presence of God, but (2) it can also be understood more literally as the dissolution of the universe as we know it in preparation for the appearance of the new heaven and new earth (Rev 21:1).