Psalms 48:1-10

1 The LORD is great. He should be highly praised. His holy mountain is in the city of our God.

2 Its beautiful peak is the joy of the whole earth. Mount Zion is on the northern ridge. It is the city of the great king.

3 God is in its palaces. He has proved that he is a stronghold.

4 The kings have gathered. They marched together.

5 [When] they saw [Mount Zion], they were astonished. They were terrified and ran away in fear.

6 Trembling seized them like the trembling that a woman experiences during labor.

7 With the east wind you smash the ships of Tarshish.

8 The things we had only heard about, we have now seen in the city of the LORD of Armies, in the city of our God. God makes Zion stand firm forever. Selah

9 Inside your temple we carefully reflect on your mercy, O God.

10 Like your name, O God, your praise [reaches] to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with righteousness.

Psalms 48:1-10 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.