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Psalms 48

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Great is the Lord in Zion 1–3

1
A Song and Psalm for the sons of Korah. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. ​
2
Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. ​
3
God is known in her palaces for a refuge.

God Defends Jerusalem from Kings 4–8

4
For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together. ​
5
They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away.
6
Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.
7
Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. ​
8
As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah. ​

Worshiping God's Righteousness 9–11

9
We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple. ​
10
According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness. ​
11
Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments.

A Call to Inspect the Holy City 12–14

12
Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. ​
13
Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following. ​
14
For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Psalm 48

Verse 1

the city of our God — ‘Greatly’ is me’od, exceedingly, so the LORD is ‘greatly to be praised’ (halal). The place is ‘the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness’ (har qodsho). Micah speaks of the same hill: ‘the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains’ (Mic 4:1).

Verse 2

Beautiful for situation — Yapheh is fair and nof, ‘elevation’, a word found only here. Zion is ‘the joy of the whole earth’ and ‘the city of the great King’, as Jesus calls Jerusalem (Matt 5:35). Ps 50:2 says of the same place, ‘Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.’

Verse 4

the kings were assembled — Ya’ad is to meet by appointment, and ‘passed by together’ (abar yachad) says they moved on as one. The next verses state what became of them: ‘They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away’ (v.5), and ‘Fear took hold upon them there’ (v.6).

Verse 7

the ships of Tarshish — The ‘ships of Tarshish’ are the kind Jehoshaphat built ‘to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Eziongeber’ (1 Kgs 22:48). The wind that breaks them is the ‘east wind’ (qadim), God’s instrument also in Ex 14:21, and in Jer 18:17, ‘I will scatter them as with an east wind’.

Verse 8

As we have heard, so have we seen — What the fathers told (Ps 44:1, ‘We have heard with our ears’) the singers now see in the ‘city of the LORD of hosts’. ‘Establish’ is kun, to make firm. Ps 87:5 gives the same promise: ‘the highest himself shall establish her’. Selah marks a pause.

Verse 9

We have thought of thy lovingkindness — Damah is to compare or consider, to turn a thing over in the mind. The subject of the meditation is chesed, God’s covenant love, thought upon ‘in the midst of thy temple’ (heykal). Ps 26:3 also keeps it in view: ‘thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes.’

Verse 10

According to thy name — ‘Praise’ is tehillah, from the verb of v.1, and it is as wide as his name: ‘unto the ends of the earth’. Malachi says the same: ‘my name shall be great among the Gentiles’ (Mal 1:11). ‘Right hand’ is yamin, the hand of power, and it is ‘full of righteousness’ (tsedeq).

Verse 12

tell the towers thereof — Sabab is to go around and naqaph to circle, and ‘tell’ is saphar, to count, as in Isa 33:18, ‘where is he that counted the towers?’ The walkers are told to look at the towers (migdal) of the city whose kings fled (vv.4–6).

Verse 13

Mark ye well her bulwarks — Literally ‘set your heart’ (shith leb) to her bulwarks (chel, a rampart). ‘Consider’ is pasag, found only here in the KJV text. The purpose is ‘that ye may tell it to the generation following’, as in Ps 78:4, ‘shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD’.

Verse 14

he will be our guide — Nahag is to lead a flock, as in Ps 78:52, ‘guided them in the wilderness like a flock’. ‘For ever and ever’ is olam va’ed, the words of Ps 45:6 and 17, and the guidance continues ‘even unto death’. Isa 58:11 promises the same: ‘the LORD shall guide thee continually.’