What Does Psalm 50:4 Mean in the King James?

He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.

Psalm 50:4 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The summons makes the judgment cosmic and public, drawing heaven above and earth below into the hearing of God’s people.

THE MEANING

Your life stands within a world God calls into the open when he judges his people. Belonging to him does not place anyone outside that accounting.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that being God’s people exempts a person from judgment dissolves here: the summons explicitly includes his people.

THE ROOT

יִקְרָא

yiqra

GROWS FROM

קרא

Call out, summon, proclaim, or name.

Qara can mean to call, proclaim, or name; one verb holds both summoning and declaring. Here the heavens and earth become the assembled hearing of judgment, rather than mere scenery around it.

ALSO GROWS

miqra: Convocation or appointed assembly; also a reading.

מִקְרָא

This branch shows how a call can gather an assembly, fitting the verse’s summons of the whole created order.

qeri'ah: Calling, proclamation, or reading aloud.

קְרִיאָה

Calling can also be public declaration; heaven and earth are brought within the hearing of God’s judgment.

לָדִין

ladin

GROWS FROM

דין

Judge or adjudicate a case.

“judge” in this verse is ladin. The word points to judgment as an active hearing and decision, not merely a label placed on someone. Its root keeps the image concrete: God’s people stand within a case brought into the open.

ALSO GROWS

din: Judgment, justice, or a legal case.

דִּין

This noun makes the courtroom sense of the verse visible: the people are being brought before judgment.

dan: He judged; a form of the verb from the same root.

דָּן

The verbal form shows judgment as an action being carried out, which is what the summons prepares for.

THE PATTERN

God’s judgment is public and comprehensive: creation is called into the hearing, and peoples are gathered before him.

Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

Deuteronomy 32:1 · KJVHeaven and earth are addressed as the listening audience for words that expose the people’s condition.

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

Isaiah 1:2 · KJVThe whole created order is called to hear God’s case against his people.

And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

Matthew 25:32 · KJVThe judgment scene gathers all nations before the judge, extending the pattern into the New Testament.

THE THREAD

And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.

Psalm 50:6 · KJV

Verse 4 calls heaven into the scene; this verse gives heaven a speaking role, declaring God’s righteousness. The summons is part of a public hearing in which creation itself bears witness to the judgment.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us