Psalms 46:1

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth. A song.

1 ^[a][b]God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Psalms 46:1 in Other Translations

1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

1 God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.

1 God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him.

1 God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble.

Psalms 46:1 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 46:1

God [is] our refuge and strength
That is, Christ, who is God as well as man, is the "refuge" for souls to fly unto for safety; as for sensible sinners, in a view of danger, wrath, and misery, so for saints, in every time of distress; typified by the cities of refuge, under the legal dispensation; (See Gill on Psalms 9:9); and he it is from whom they have all their spiritual strength, and every renewal and supply of it, to exercise grace, perform duties, withstand enemies, bear the cross patiently, show a fortitude of mind under the sorest distresses, and hold on and out unto the end: in short, he is the strength of their hearts, under the greatest trials, of their lives, amidst the greatest dangers; and of their salvation, notwithstanding all their enemies;

a very present help in trouble;
whether inward or outward, of soul or body; the Lord helps his people under it to bear it, and he helps them out of it in the most proper and seasonable time: they are poor helpless creatures in themselves; nor can any other help them but the Lord, who made heaven and earth; and he helps presently, speedily, and effectually: in the Hebrew text it is, "he is found an exceeding help in trouble" ^F20; in all kind of trouble that the saints come into, the Lord has been found, by experience, to be an exceeding great helper of them; moreover, he is easily and always to be come at, and found by them for their help.

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 (dam aumn) "inventum valde", Michaelis.

Psalms 46:1 In-Context

1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.

5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 9:9; Psalms 14:6; Psalms 37:39; Psalms 61:3; Psalms 73:26; Psalms 91:2,9; Psalms 142:5; Isaiah 33:16; Jeremiah 16:19; Jeremiah 17:17; Joel 3:16; Nahum 1:7
• 2. Psalms 18:1
• 3. Psalms 34:18; Lamentations 3:57; Deuteronomy 4:7
• 4. Psalms 18:6; Luke 1:54
• 5. S Deuteronomy 4:30; Psalms 25:17

Footnotes

• [a]. In Hebrew texts 46:1-11 is numbered 46:2-12.
• [b]. Title: Probably a musical term