Psalms 48King James Version
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion. Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.
A Zion psalm, celebrating the city of God. Great and greatly praised, beautiful for situation, joy of the whole earth, mount Zion, city of the great King. Kings assembled and fled in terror at the mere sight of it. God is known as a refuge in its palaces. As we heard from the fathers, so we have now seen with our own eyes. Walk about Zion, count her towers, tell it to the next generation. This God is ours forever.
Jerusalem's beauty and inviolability are not architectural achievements but theological testimony: God's presence makes the city what it is and guarantees its permanence.
verse: "For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death." The city's theological meaning is summed in a personal possessive: this God is ours.
Superscription: 'A Song and Psalm for the sons of Korah.' The specific tour of the city's ramparts (vv12-13) suggests the psalm was sung or recited while physically walking the walls, a liturgical act that reinforced theological memory. The 'kings assembled' (v4) event may reference Sennacherib's siege or an earlier coalition attack.
The sons of Korah as singers; the kings who assembled and fled in terror; the daughters of Judah invited to rejoice; the generation following who will be told.
Psalm 48 was part of a group of Zion psalms (46, 48, 76, 84, 87, 122) celebrating Jerusalem as the city of God. Its theology of Jerusalem's inviolability was tested severely by the Babylonian destruction of 586 BC, which generated a theological crisis about God's promises. The New Testament transfers this language to the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb 12:22, Rev 21).
For when you want to feel a connection to something larger and more permanent than your own small life. The community that walks around Zion and counts her towers is saying: this place outlasts me.
1[A Song and Psalm for the sons of Korah.] Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.
2Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.
3God is known in her palaces for a refuge.
4For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.
5They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away.
6Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.
7Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.
8As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah.
9We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple.
10According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.
11Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments.
12Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.
13Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.
14For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.