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Selected Verse: Psalms 48:1 - Strong Concordance
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Ps 48:1 |
Strong Concordance |
A Song [07892] and Psalm [04210] for the sons [01121] of Korah [07141]. Great [01419] is the LORD [03068], and greatly [03966] to be praised [01984] in the city [05892] of our God [0430], in the mountain [02022] of his holiness [06944]. |
|
King James |
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. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
This is a spirited Psalm and song (compare Psa 30:1), having probably been suggested by the same occasion as the foregoing. It sets forth the privileges and blessings of God's spiritual dominion as the terror of the wicked and joy of the righteous. (Psa 48:1-14)
to be praised--always: it is an epithet, as in Psa 18:3.
mountain of his holiness--His Church (compare Isa 2:2-3; Isa 25:6-7, Isa 25:10); the sanctuary was erected first on Mount Zion, then (as the temple) on Moriah; hence the figure. |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Great is the Lord - That is, he is high and exalted; he is a Being of great power and glory. He is not weak and feeble, like the idols worshipped by other nations. He is able to defend his people; he has shown his great power in overthrowing the mighty forces that were gathered together against the city where he dwells.
And greatly to be praised - Worthy to be praised. In his own nature, he is worthy of adoration; in interposing to save the city from its foes, he has shown that he is worthy of exalted praise.
In the city of our God - Jerusalem. In the city which he has chosen for his abode, and where his worship is celebrated. See the notes at Psa 46:4. This praise was especially appropriate there:
(a) because it was a place set apart for his worship;
(b) because he had now interposed to save it from threatened ruin.
In the mountain of his holiness - His holy mountain; either Mount Zion, if the psalm was composed before the building of the temple - or more probably here Mount Moriah, on which the temple was reared. The names Zion, and Mount Zion, however, were sometimes given to the entire city. Compare the notes at Isa 2:2-3. |
Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
(Heb.: 48:2-9) Viewed as to the nature of its subject-matter, the Psalm divides itself into three parts. We begin by considering the three strophes of the first part. The middle strophe presents an instance of the rising and falling caesural schema. Because Jahve has most marvellously delivered Jerusalem, the poet begins with the praise of the great King and of His Holy City. Great and praised according to His due (מהלּל as in Psa 18:4) is He in her, is He upon His holy mountain, which there is His habitation. Next follow, in Psa 48:3, two predicates of a threefold, or fundamentally only twofold, subject; for ירכּתי צפון, in whatever way it may be understood, is in apposition to הר־ציּון. The predicates consequently refer to Zion-Jerusalem; for קרית מלך רב is not a name for Zion, but, inasmuch as the transition is from the holy mountain to the Holy City (just as the reverse is the case in Psa 48:2), Jerusalem; ὅτι πόλις ἐστὶ τοῦ μεγάλου βασιλέως, Mat 5:35. Of Zion-Jerusalem it is therefore said, it is יפה נוף, beautiful in prominence or elevation (נוף from נוּף, Arabic nâfa, nauf, root נף, the stronger force of נב, Arab. nb, to raise one's self, to mount, to come sensibly forward; just as יפה also goes back to a root יף, Arab. yf, wf, which signifies "to rise, to be high," and is transferred in the Hebrew to eminence, perfection, beauty of form), a beautifully rising terrace-like height;
(Note: Luther with Jerome (departing from the lxx and Vulgate) renders it: "Mount Zion is like a beautiful branch," after the Mishna-Talmudic נוף, a branch, Maccoth 12a, which is compared also by Saadia and Dunash. The latter renders it "beautiful in branches," and refers it to the Mount of Olives.)
and, in the second place, it is the joy (משׂושׂ) of the whole earth. It is deserving of being such, as the people who dwell there are themselves convinced (Lam 2:15); and it is appointed to become such, it is indeed such even now in hope, - hope which is, as it were, being anticipatorily verified. but in what sense does the appositional ירכּתי צפון follow immediately upon הר־ציּון? Hitzig, Ewald, Hengstenberg, Caspari (Micha, p. 359), and others, are of opinion that the hill of Zion is called the extreme north with reference to the old Asiatic conception of the mountain of the gods - old Persic Ar-bur'g (Al-bur'g), and also called absolutely hara or haraiti,
(Note: Vid., Spiegel, Erân, S. 287f.)
old Indian Kailâsa and Mêru
(Note: Vide Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde, ii. 847.)
- forming the connecting link between heaven and earth, which lay in the inaccessible, holy distance and concealment of the extreme north. But the poet in no way betrays the idea that he applies this designation to Zion in an ideal sense only, as being not inferior to the extreme north (Bertheau, Lage des Paradieses, S. 50, and so also S. D. Luzzatto on Isa 14:13), or as having taken the place of it (Hitzig). That notion is found, it is true, in Isa 14:13, in the mouth of the king of the Chaldeans; but, with the exception of the passage before us, we have no trace of the Israelitish mind having blended this foreign mythological style of speech with its own. We therefore take the expression "sides of the north" to be a topographical designation, and intended literally. Mount Zion is thereby more definitely designated as the Temple-hill; for the Temple-hill, or Zion in the narrower sense, formed in reality the north-eastern angle or corner of ancient Jerusalem. It is not necessarily the extreme north (Eze 38:6; Eze 39:2), which is called ירכתי צפון; for ירכּתים are the two sides, then the angle in which the two side lines meet, and just such a northern angle was Mount Moriah by its position in relation to the city of David and the lower city.
Psa 48:3
(Heb.: 48:4) Psa 48:3, where the pointing is rightly נודע, not נודע, shows that the praise sung by the poet is based upon an event in contemporary history. Elohim has made Himself known by the loftily built parts
(Note: lxx: ἐν ταῖς βάρεσιν αὐτῆς, on which Gregory of Nyssa remarks (Opera, Ed. Paris, t. i. p. 333): βάρεις λέγει τάς τῶν οἰκοδομημάτων περιγραφεὶς ἐν τετραγώνῳ τῷ σχήματι.)
of Jerusalem (Psa 122:7) למשׂגּב (the ל that is customary with verbs of becoming and making), i.e., as an inaccessible fortress, making them secure against any hostile attack. The fact by which He has thus made Himself known now immediately follows. המּלכים points to a definite number of kings known to the poet; it therefore speaks in favour of the time of peril and war in the reign of Jehoshaphat and against that in the reign of Hezekiah. נועד is reciprocal: to appoint themselves a place of meeting, and meet together there. עבר, as in Jdg 11:29; Kg2 8:21, of crossing the frontier and invasion (Hitzig), not of perishing and destruction, as in Psa 37:36, Nah 1:12 (De Wette); for נועדו requires further progress, and the declaration respecting their sudden downfall does not follow till later on. The allies encamped in the desert to Tekoa, about three hours distant from Jerusalem. The extensive view at that point extends even to Jerusalem: as soon as they saw it they were amazed, i.e., the seeing and astonishment, panic and confused flight, occurred all together; there went forth upon them from the Holy City, because Elohim dwells therein, a חרדּת אלהים (Sa1 14:15), or as we should say, a panic or a panic-striking terror. Concerning כּן as expressive of simultaneousness, vid., on Hab 3:10. כּאשׁר in the correlative protasis is omitted, as in Hos 11:2, and frequently; cf. on Isa 55:9. Trembling seized upon them there (שׁם, as in Psa 14:5), pangs as of a woman in travail. In Psa 48:8, the description passes over emotionally into the form of address. It moulds itself according to the remembrance of a recent event of the poet's own time, viz., the destruction of the merchant fleet fitted out by Jehoshaphat in conjunction with Ahaziah, king of Israel (Kg1 22:49; Ch2 20:36.). The general meaning of Psa 48:8 is, that God's omnipotence is irresistible. Concerning the "wind of the east quarter," which here, as in Eze 27:26, causes shipwreck, vid., on Job 27:21. The "ships of Tarshish," as is clear from the context both before and after, are not meant literally, but used as a figure of the worldly powers; Isaiah (Isa 33) also compares Assyria to a gallant ship. Thus, then, the church can say that in the case of Jerusalem it has, as an eye-witness, experienced that which it has hitherto only heard from the tradition of a past age (ראה and שׁמע as in Job 42:5), viz., that God holds it erect, establishes it, for ever. Hengstenberg observes here, "The Jerusalem that has been laid in ruins is not that which the psalmist means; it is only its outward form which it has put off" [lit. its broken and deserted pupa]. It is true that, according to its inner and spiritual nature, Jerusalem continues its existence in the New Testament church; but it is not less true that its being trodden under foot for a season in the kairoi' ethnoo'n no more annuls the promise of God than Israel's temporary rejection annuls Israel's election. The Holy City does not fall without again rising up. |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
The city - In Jerusalem. Mountain - In his holy mountain. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Great is the Lord - This verse should be joined to the last verse of the preceding Psalm, as it is a continuation of the same subject; and indeed in some of Kennicott's MSS. it is written as a part of the foregoing. That concluded with He is greatly exalted; this begins with Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; i.e., He should be praised according to his greatness; no common praise is suited to the nature and dignity of the Supreme God.
In the city of our God - That is, in the temple; or in Jerusalem, where the temple was situated.
The mountain of his holiness - Mount Moriah, on which the temple was built. The ancient city of Jerusalem, which David took from the Jebusites, was on the south of Mount Zion, on which the temple was built, though it might be said to be more properly on Mount Moriah, which is one of the hills of which Mount Zion is composed. The temple therefore was to the north of the city, as the psalmist here states, Psa 48:2 : "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King." But some think that it is the city that is said to be on the north, and Reland contends that the temple was on the south of the city. |
10 For in this mountain [02022] shall the hand [03027] of the LORD [03068] rest [05117], and Moab [04124] shall be trodden down [01758] under him, even as straw [04963] is trodden down [01758] for the dunghill [01119] [04087] [04325].
6 And in this mountain [02022] shall the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635] make [06213] unto all people [05971] a feast [04960] of fat things [08081], a feast [04960] of wines on the lees [08105], of fat things [08081] full of marrow [04229], of wines on the lees [08105] well refined [02212].
7 And he will destroy [01104] in this mountain [02022] the face [06440] of the covering [03875] cast over [03874] all people [05971], and the vail [04541] that is spread [05259] over all nations [01471].
2 And it shall come to pass in the last [0319] days [03117], that the mountain [02022] of the LORD'S [03068] house [01004] shall be established [03559] in the top [07218] of the mountains [02022], and shall be exalted [05375] above the hills [01389]; and all nations [01471] shall flow [05102] unto it.
3 And many [07227] people [05971] shall go [01980] and say [0559], Come [03212] ye, and let us go up [05927] to the mountain [02022] of the LORD [03068], to the house [01004] of the God [0430] of Jacob [03290]; and he will teach [03384] us of his ways [01870], and we will walk [03212] in his paths [0734]: for out of Zion [06726] shall go forth [03318] the law [08451], and the word [01697] of the LORD [03068] from Jerusalem [03389].
3 I will call [07121] upon the LORD [03068], who is worthy to be praised [01984]: so shall I be saved [03467] from mine enemies [0341].
1 A Song [07892] and Psalm [04210] for the sons [01121] of Korah [07141]. Great [01419] is the LORD [03068], and greatly [03966] to be praised [01984] in the city [05892] of our God [0430], in the mountain [02022] of his holiness [06944].
2 Beautiful [03303] for situation [05131], the joy [04885] of the whole earth [0776], is mount [02022] Zion [06726], on the sides [03411] of the north [06828], the city [07151] of the great [07227] King [04428].
3 God [0430] is known [03045] in her palaces [0759] for a refuge [04869].
4 For, lo, the kings [04428] were assembled [03259], they passed by [05674] together [03162].
5 They saw [07200] it, and so they marvelled [08539]; they were troubled [0926], and hasted away [02648].
6 Fear [07461] took hold [0270] upon them there, and pain [02427], as of a woman in travail [03205].
7 Thou breakest [07665] the ships [0591] of Tarshish [08659] with an east [06921] wind [07307].
8 As we have heard [08085], so have we seen [07200] in the city [05892] of the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635], in the city [05892] of our God [0430]: God [0430] will establish [03559] it for [05704] ever [05769]. Selah [05542].
9 We have thought [01819] of thy lovingkindness [02617], O God [0430], in the midst [07130] of thy temple [01964].
10 According to thy name [08034], O God [0430], so is thy praise [08416] unto the ends [07099] of the earth [0776]: thy right hand [03225] is full [04390] of righteousness [06664].
11 Let mount [02022] Zion [06726] rejoice [08055], let the daughters [01323] of Judah [03063] be glad [01523], because of thy judgments [04941].
12 Walk about [05437] Zion [06726], and go round about [05362] her: tell [05608] the towers [04026] thereof.
13 Mark [07896] ye well [03820] her bulwarks [02430], consider [06448] her palaces [0759]; that ye may tell [05608] it to the generation [01755] following [0314].
14 For this God [0430] is our God [0430] for ever [05769] and ever [05703]: he will be our guide [05090] even unto death [04192].
1 A Psalm [04210] and Song [07892] at the dedication [02598] of the house [01004] of David [01732]. I will extol [07311] thee, O LORD [03068]; for thou hast lifted me up [01802], and hast not made my foes [0341] to rejoice [08055] over me.
2 And it shall come to pass in the last [0319] days [03117], that the mountain [02022] of the LORD'S [03068] house [01004] shall be established [03559] in the top [07218] of the mountains [02022], and shall be exalted [05375] above the hills [01389]; and all nations [01471] shall flow [05102] unto it.
3 And many [07227] people [05971] shall go [01980] and say [0559], Come [03212] ye, and let us go up [05927] to the mountain [02022] of the LORD [03068], to the house [01004] of the God [0430] of Jacob [03290]; and he will teach [03384] us of his ways [01870], and we will walk [03212] in his paths [0734]: for out of Zion [06726] shall go forth [03318] the law [08451], and the word [01697] of the LORD [03068] from Jerusalem [03389].
4 There is a river [05104], the streams [06388] whereof shall make glad [08055] the city [05892] of God [0430], the holy [06918] place of the tabernacles [04908] of the most High [05945].
5 I have heard [08085] of thee by the hearing [08088] of the ear [0241]: but now mine eye [05869] seeth [07200] thee.
21 The east [06921] wind carrieth him away [05375], and he departeth [03212]: and as a storm hurleth [08175] him out of his place [04725].
26 Thy rowers [07751] have brought [0935] thee into great [07227] waters [04325]: the east [06921] wind [07307] hath broken [07665] thee in the midst [03820] of the seas [03220].
8 As we have heard [08085], so have we seen [07200] in the city [05892] of the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635], in the city [05892] of our God [0430]: God [0430] will establish [03559] it for [05704] ever [05769]. Selah [05542].
36 And he joined [02266] himself with him to make [06213] ships [0591] to go [03212] to Tarshish [08659]: and they made [06213] the ships [0591] in Eziongeber [06100].
49 Then said [0559] Ahaziah [0274] the son [01121] of Ahab [0256] unto Jehoshaphat [03092], Let my servants [05650] go [03212] with thy servants [05650] in the ships [0591]. But Jehoshaphat [03092] would [014] not.
8 As we have heard [08085], so have we seen [07200] in the city [05892] of the LORD [03068] of hosts [06635], in the city [05892] of our God [0430]: God [0430] will establish [03559] it for [05704] ever [05769]. Selah [05542].
5 There were they in great [06343] fear [06342]: for God [0430] is in the generation [01755] of the righteous [06662].
9 For as the heavens [08064] are higher [01361] than the earth [0776], so are my ways [01870] higher [01361] than your ways [01870], and my thoughts [04284] than your thoughts [04284].
2 As they called [07121] them, so they went [01980] from them [06440]: they sacrificed [02076] unto Baalim [01168], and burned incense [06999] to graven images [06456].
10 The mountains [02022] saw [07200] thee, and they trembled [02342]: the overflowing [02230] of the water [04325] passed by [05674]: the deep [08415] uttered [05414] his voice [06963], and lifted up [05375] his hands [03027] on high [07315].
15 And there was trembling [02731] in the host [04264], in the field [07704], and among all the people [05971]: the garrison [04673], and the spoilers [07843], they also trembled [02729], and the earth [0776] quaked [07264]: so it was a very great [0430] trembling [02731].
12 Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068]; Though they be quiet [08003], and likewise many [07227], yet thus shall they be cut down [01494], when he shall pass through [05674]. Though I have afflicted [06031] thee, I will afflict [06031] thee no more.
36 Yet he passed away [05674], and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought [01245] him, but he could not be found [04672].
21 So Joram [03141] went over [05674] to Zair [06811], and all the chariots [07393] with him: and he rose [06965] by night [03915], and smote [05221] the Edomites [0123] which compassed him about [05437], and the captains [08269] of the chariots [07393]: and the people [05971] fled [05127] into their tents [0168].
29 Then the Spirit [07307] of the LORD [03068] came upon Jephthah [03316], and he passed over [05674] Gilead [01568], and Manasseh [04519], and passed over [05674] Mizpeh [04708] of Gilead [01568], and from Mizpeh [04708] of Gilead [01568] he passed over [05674] unto the children [01121] of Ammon [05983].
7 Peace [07965] be within thy walls [02426], and prosperity [07962] within thy palaces [0759].
3 God [0430] is known [03045] in her palaces [0759] for a refuge [04869].
3 God [0430] is known [03045] in her palaces [0759] for a refuge [04869].
2 And I will turn thee back [07725], and leave but the sixth part [08338] of thee, and will cause thee to come up [05927] from the north [06828] parts [03411], and will bring [0935] thee upon the mountains [02022] of Israel [03478]:
6 Gomer [01586], and all his bands [0102]; the house [01004] of Togarmah [08425] of the north [06828] quarters [03411], and all his bands [0102]: and many [07227] people [05971] with thee.
13 For thou hast said [0559] in thine heart [03824], I will ascend [05927] into heaven [08064], I will exalt [07311] my throne [03678] above [04605] the stars [03556] of God [0410]: I will sit [03427] also upon the mount [02022] of the congregation [04150], in the sides [03411] of the north [06828]:
13 For thou hast said [0559] in thine heart [03824], I will ascend [05927] into heaven [08064], I will exalt [07311] my throne [03678] above [04605] the stars [03556] of God [0410]: I will sit [03427] also upon the mount [02022] of the congregation [04150], in the sides [03411] of the north [06828]:
15 All that pass [05674] by clap [05606] their hands [03709] at thee [01870]; they hiss [08319] and wag [05128] their head [07218] at the daughter [01323] of Jerusalem [03389], saying, Is this the city [05892] that men call [0559] The perfection [03632] of beauty [03308], The joy [04885] of the whole earth [0776]?
35 Nor [3383] by [1722] the earth [1093]; for [3754] it is [2076] his [846] footstool [4228] [5286]: neither [3383] by [1519] Jerusalem [2414]; for [3754] it is [2076] the city [4172] of the great [3173] King [935].
2 Beautiful [03303] for situation [05131], the joy [04885] of the whole earth [0776], is mount [02022] Zion [06726], on the sides [03411] of the north [06828], the city [07151] of the great [07227] King [04428].
3 God [0430] is known [03045] in her palaces [0759] for a refuge [04869].
4 The sorrows [02256] of death [04194] compassed [0661] me, and the floods [05158] of ungodly men [01100] made me afraid [01204].
2 Beautiful [03303] for situation [05131], the joy [04885] of the whole earth [0776], is mount [02022] Zion [06726], on the sides [03411] of the north [06828], the city [07151] of the great [07227] King [04428].