Psalms 48

The Greatness of God in Zion

1

A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.

1 Yahweh [is] great and very worthy of praise in the city of our God, in his {holy mountain}.

2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, [is] {Mount Zion}, {in the far north}, [the] city of [the] great king.

3 God [is] in her citadels; he is known as a [high] stronghold.

4 For see, the kings assembled; they advanced together.

5 {They themselves saw} [it], so they were astonished. They were terrified; they ran off.

6 Trembling seized them there-- pain as of a woman in labor.

7 With an east wind you shatter the ships of Tarshish.

8 As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of Yahweh of hosts, in the city of our God. God will establish her forever. Selah

9 We have pondered your loyal love, O God, in the midst of your temple.

10 As [is] your name, O God, so [is] your praise to [the] ends of [the] earth. Your right hand is full of righteousness.

11 Let {Mount Zion} rejoice; let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments.

12 Walk about Zion and circle it; count her towers.

13 {Consider well} her ramparts. Go through her citadels so that you can tell [the] next generation

14 that this [is] God, our God forever and ever. {He himself} will guide us until death.

Psalms 48 Commentary

Chapter 48

The glories of the church of Christ.

Verses 1-7 Jerusalem is the city of our God: none on earth render him due honour except the citizens of the spiritual Jerusalem. Happy the kingdom, the city, the family, the heart, in which God is great, in which he is all. There God is known. The clearer discoveries are made to us of the Lord and his greatness, the more it is expected that we should abound in his praises. The earth is, by sin, covered with deformity, therefore justly might that spot of ground, which was beautified with holiness, be called the joy of the whole earth; that which the whole earth has reason to rejoice in, that God would thus in very deed dwell with man upon the earth. The kings of the earth were afraid of it. Nothing in nature can more fitly represent the overthrow of heathenism by the Spirit of the gospel, than the wreck of a fleet in a storm. Both are by the mighty power of the Lord.

Verses 8-14 We have here the improvement which the people of God are to make of his glorious and gracious appearances for them. Let our faith in the word of God be hereby confirmed. Let our hope of the stability of the church be encouraged. Let our minds be filled with good thoughts of God. All the streams of mercy that flow down to us, must be traced to the fountain of His loving-kindness. Let us give to God the glory of the great things he has done for us. Let all the members of the church take comfort from what the Lord does for his church. Let us observe the beauty, strength, and safety of the church. Consider its strength; see it founded on Christ the Rock, fortified by the Divine power, guarded by Him who neither slumbers nor sleeps. See what precious ordinances are its palaces, what precious promises are its bulwarks, that you may be encouraged to join yourselves to it: and tell this to others. This God, who has now done such great things for us, is unchangeable in his love to us, and his care for us. If he is our God, he will lead and keep us even to the last. He will so guide us, as to set us above the reach of death, so that it shall not do us any real hurt. He will lead us to a life in which there shall be no more death.

Footnotes

• [a]. The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm; the English verse number is reduced by one
• [b]. Literally "mountain of holiness"
• [c]. Literally "the mountain of Zion"
• [d]. Literally "far of north"; the word translated "north" could refer to Mount Zaphon
• [e]. That is, preparing for battle
• [f]. Literally "They, they saw"
• [g]. A few Hebrew manuscripts read "like an east wind [that] shatters"
• [h]. That is, ships [that can sail to] Tarshish, i.e. well built, able to traverse great distances
• [i]. Literally "the mountain of Zion"
• [j]. Literally "Set your heart to"
• [k]. Literally "he, he will ..."

Chapter Summary

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.