Bible Strands
Psalms 50:12
If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and the fullness thereof.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Israel in a covenant lawsuit to correct their ritual assumptions. He speaks immediately after noting His ownership of every wild creature to establish that He requires nothing from them.
The words — The Hebrew תֵּבֵל (tevel) denotes the inhabited world, paired with מְלֹאָהּ (me'olāh) meaning its fullness or contents. These terms function as a direct claim of absolute ownership over all creation.
The thread — This declaration of universal possession appears in Deuteronomy 10:14 and Psalm 24:1, where Yahweh claims the earth and everything in it. Exodus 19:5 similarly grounds Israel’s covenant status in God’s sovereign ownership of all nations.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to acknowledge that ritual offerings cannot supply the Creator with anything He lacks. It demands the abandonment of transactional worship in favor of recognizing divine self-sufficiency.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
Cross-references
- Exodus 19:5 Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine.
- Deuteronomy 10:14 Behold, to the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, and the earth and everything in it.
- Psalms 24:1 A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein.
- 1 Corinthians 10:26 for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”
- Job 41:11 Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.
- Psalms 115:15 May you be blessed by the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
- Psalms 145:15 The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in season.
- Genesis 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”
- Genesis 8:17 Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—birds, livestock, and everything that crawls upon the ground—so that they can spread out over the earth and be fruitful and multiply upon it.”
- Genesis 1:11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind.” And it was so.