Psalms 48:1-8

A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah.

1 ^[a]Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain.

2 Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon^[b] is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King.

3 God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress.

4 When the kings joined forces, when they advanced together,

5 they saw her and were astounded; they fled in terror.

6 Trembling seized them there, pain like that of a woman in labor.

7 You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish shattered by an east wind.

8 As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the LORD Almighty, in the city of our God: God makes her secure forever.^[c]

Psalms 48:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 48

\\<>\\. This psalm is entitled a "song psalm", a psalm to be sung vocally; or "a song and psalm" to be sung both vocally and instrumentally; and is one of the spiritual songs the apostle speaks of, Eph 5:19; It was occasioned, as some think, by David's spoiling the Philistines, 2Sa 5:17-21; or, as others, by the deliverance of the people from the Moabites and Ammonites in the times of Jehoshaphat, 2Ch 20:27,28; or, as others, by the deliverance of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from Sennacherib in the times of Hezekiah, 2Ki 19:34,35; though as Kimchi, a celebrated Jewish commentator, owns, it belongs to the times of the Messiah, as the other preceding psalms; and treats of his greatness, and of the praise and glory due to him, and gives large encomiums of his church.

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 86:10; Psalms 96:4; Psalms 99:2; Psalms 135:5; Psalms 147:5; Jeremiah 10:6
• 2. S 2 Samuel 22:4; S 1 Chronicles 16:25; Psalms 18:3
• 3. S Psalms 46:4
• 4. S Deuteronomy 33:19; Psalms 2:6; Psalms 87:1; Isaiah 11:9; Isaiah 32:16; Jeremiah 31:23; Daniel 9:16; Isaiah 2:2-3; Micah 4:1; Zechariah 8:3
• 5. Psalms 50:2; Lamentations 2:15; Ezekiel 16:14
• 6. S Joshua 13:27
• 7. S Psalms 2:6
• 8. Matthew 5:35
• 9. ver 13; Psalms 122:7
• 10. Psalms 18:2; Psalms 46:7
• 11. 2 Samuel 10:1-19
• 12. Exodus 15:16; Isaiah 13:8; Jeremiah 46:5; Daniel 5:9
• 13. S Job 4:14
• 14. S Genesis 3:16
• 15. S Genesis 10:4; S 1 Kings 10:22; 1 Kings 22:48
• 16. S Genesis 41:6; Jeremiah 18:17; Ezekiel 27:26
• 17. Jeremiah 23:6; Zechariah 8:13; Zechariah 14:11; Psalms 87:5

Footnotes

• [a]. In Hebrew texts 48:1-14 is numbered 48:2-15.
• [b]. "Zaphon" was the most sacred mountain of the Canaanites.
• [c]. The Hebrew has "Selah" (a word of uncertain meaning) here.