Psalms 48
48
Psalm 48
A song; a psalm by Korah’s descendants.
1The Lord is great.
He should be highly praised.
His holy mountain is in the city of our God.
2Its beautiful peak is the joy of the whole earth.
Mount Zion is on the northern ridge.
It is the city of the great king.
3God is in its palaces.
He has proved that he is a stronghold.
4The kings have gathered.
They marched together.
5 ⌞When⌟ they saw ⌞Mount Zion⌟,
they were astonished.
They were terrified and ran away in fear.
6Trembling seized them
like the trembling that a woman experiences during labor.
7With the east wind you smash the ships of Tarshish.
8The things we had only heard about, we have now seen
in the city of the Lord of Armies,
in the city of our God.
God makes Zion stand firm forever. Selah
9Inside your temple we carefully reflect on your mercy, O God.
10Like your name, O God,
your praise ⌞reaches⌟ to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
11Let Mount Zion be glad
and the cities of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments.
12Walk around Zion.
Go around it.
Count its towers.
13Examine its embankments.
Walk through its palaces.
Then you can tell the next generation,
14“This God is our God forever and ever.
He will lead us beyond death.”
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Psalms 48: GW
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Psalms 48
48
The Splendor of the Invincible City
1A psalm of the Korahites.#Korahites: see note on Ps 42:1. A song.
I
2Great is the Lord and highly praised
in the city of our God:#Ps 96:4; 145:3.
His holy mountain,
3fairest of heights,
the joy of all the earth,#Ps 50:2; Lam 2:15.
Mount Zion, the heights of Zaphon,#The heights of Zaphon: the mountain abode of the Canaanite storm-god Baal in comparable texts. To speak of Zion as if it were Zaphon was to claim for Israel’s God what Canaanites claimed for Baal. Though topographically speaking Zion is only a hill, viewed religiously it towers over other mountains as the home of the supreme God (cf. Ps 68:16–17).#Is 14:13.
the city of the great king.
II
4God is in its citadel,
renowned as a stronghold.
5See! The kings assembled,
together they advanced.
6#When they looked: the kings are stunned by the sight of Zion, touched by divine splendor. The language is that of holy war, in which the enemy panics and flees at the sight of divine glory.When they looked they were astounded;
terrified, they were put to flight!#Jgs 5:19.
7Trembling seized them there,
anguish, like a woman’s labor,#Ex 15:14; Jer 4:31.
8As when the east wind wrecks
the ships of Tarshish!#The ships of Tarshish: large ships, named after the distant land or port of Tarshish, probably ancient Tartessus in southern Spain, although other identifications have been proposed, cf. Is 2:16; 60:9; Jon 1:3.
III
9#What we had heard we have now seen: the glorious things that new pilgrims had heard about the holy city—its beauty and awesomeness—they now see with their own eyes. The seeing here contrasts with the seeing of the hostile kings in Ps 48:6.What we had heard we have now seen
in the city of the Lord of hosts,
In the city of our God,
which God establishes forever.
Selah
10We ponder, O God, your mercy
within your temple
11Like your name, O God,
so is your praise to the ends of the earth.#Mal 1:11.
Your right hand is fully victorious.
12Mount Zion is glad!
The daughters of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments!#Ps 97:8.
IV
13Go about Zion, walk all around it,
note the number of its towers.
14Consider the ramparts, examine its citadels,
that you may tell future generations:#Ps 22:31–32; 71:18.
15That this is God,
our God for ever and ever.#Our God for ever and ever: Israel’s God is like Zion in being eternal and invincible. The holy city is therefore a kind of “sacrament” of God.
He will lead us until death.
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