Psalm 48:6

6 trembling took them. There sorrows, as of a woman travailing of child; (for panic, or trembling, took hold of them there. And sorrows, like when a woman laboureth with child;)

Psalm 48:6 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 48:6

Fear took hold upon them there
That is, either when they came up to the city, and passed by it, and saw what they did; or, as Kimchi observes, in the place where they thought to have made a great slaughter; that is, in Armageddon, ( Revelation 16:16 ) ; so upon the slaughter of the seven thousand names of men, or men of name and renown, such as the kings here assembled, the remnant will be frightened, ( Revelation 11:13 ) ;

[and] pain, as of a woman in travail;
this figure is made use of elsewhere, when the destruction of Babylon and the coming of Christ are spoken of; see ( Isaiah 13:8 ) ( 1 Thessalonians 5:2 1 Thessalonians 5:3 ) .

Psalm 48:6 In-Context

4 For lo! the kings of (the) earth were gathered together (against it); they came into one place.

5 They seeing, so wondered; they were troubled, they were moved (al)together, (But when they saw it, they wondered about it/they were full of wonder, or amazement; and they were troubled, and ran away,)

6 trembling took them. There sorrows, as of a woman travailing of child; (for panic, or trembling, took hold of them there. And sorrows, like when a woman laboureth with child;)

7 in a great spirit thou shalt all-break the ships of Tarshish. (or when a great east wind all-breaketh the ships from Tarshish.)

8 As we heard, so we saw, in the city of the Lord of virtues, in the city of our God; God hath founded that city [into] without end. (All that we had heard about, we saw with our own eyes, in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God; and God hath established that city forever.)