Psalms 87:5

5 Of Zion it will be said that all nations belong there and that the Almighty will make her strong.

Psalms 87:5 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 87:5

And of Zion it shall be said
The same with the city of God, the church before commended:

this and that man was born in her;
this and that great man, in opposition to a mean person, in the preceding verse: "or a man and man" {d}; men of all sorts, and of different nations, Jews and Gentiles, and great numbers of them:

and the Highest himself shall establish her;
the church of God, though founded by him, and laid on a sure foundation, on the Rock of ages, against which the gates of hell cannot prevail, yet is sometimes fluctuating and unsettled;

it is tossed with tempests,
the persecutions of men, the errors and heresies of false teachers, and the contentions and divisions of its own members; and is not always in one place, but is removed from one place to another, and is obliged to flee into the wilderness; but in the latter day it will be established and settled; it will be a tabernacle that shall not be taken down nor removed; but shall be established for ever, ( Psalms 89:37 ) , and this is the work of God, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, whatever instruments he may make use of, as ministers of the word, and kings of the earth; as it is his work, and his only, to establish particular believers, ( 2 Corinthians 1:21 ) , so it is his to establish the church in general: or it may be rendered, "he shall establish her on high" F5, which will be the case when she is established upon the top of the mountains, and exalted above the hills, ( Isaiah 2:2 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F4 (vyaw vya) "vir et vir", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Vatablus, Gejerus, Michaelis.
F5 So the Targum, and Ainsworth.

Psalms 87:5 In-Context

3 Listen, city of God, to the wonderful things he says about you:
4 "I will include Egypt and Babylonia when I list the nations that obey me; the people of Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia I will number among the inhabitants of Jerusalem."
5 Of Zion it will be said that all nations belong there and that the Almighty will make her strong.
6 The Lord will write a list of the peoples and include them all as citizens of Jerusalem.
7 They dance and sing, "In Zion is the source of all our blessings."
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.