Psalms 48:1-7

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.

Psalms 48:1-7 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.