Text -- Psalms 48:6-14 (NET)

48:6 Look at them shake uncontrollably, like a woman writhing in childbirth. 48:7 With an east wind you shatter the large ships. ships. 48:8 We heard about God’s mighty deeds, now we have seen them, in the city of the Lord, the invincible Warrior, in the city of our God. God makes it permanently secure. (Selah) 48:9 We reflect on your loyal love, O God, within your temple. 48:10 The praise you receive as far away as the ends of the earth is worthy of your reputation, O God. You execute justice! 48:11 Mount Zion rejoices; the towns of Judah are happy, because of your acts of judgment. 48:12 Walk around Zion! Encircle it! Count its towers! 48:13 Consider its defenses! Walk through its fortresses, so you can tell the next generation about it! 48:14 For God, our God, is our defender forever! He guides us!

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Psa 48:6

¹ tn Heb “trembling seizes them there.” The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here, as often in poetic texts, to point “to a spot in which a scene is localized vividly in the imagination” (BDB 1027 s.v.).

² tn Heb “[with] writhing like one giving birth.”

sn The language of vv. 5-6 is reminiscent of Exod 15:15.

NET Notes: Psa 48:7

¹ tn The switch to the imperfect, as well as the introduction of the ship metaphor, perhaps signals a change to a generalizing tone; the Lord typically shatters these large ships, symbolic of the human strength of hostile armies (see the following note on “large ships”). The verb שָׁבַר (shavar, “break”) appears in the Piel here (see Pss 29:5; 46:9). In the OT it occurs thirty-six times in the Piel, always with multiple objects (the object is either a collective singular or grammatically plural or dual form). The Piel may highlight the repetition of the pluralative action, or it may suggest an intensification of action, indicating repeated action comprising a whole, perhaps with the nuance “break again and again, break in pieces.” Another option is to understand the form as resultative: “make broken” (see IBHS 404-7 §24.3).

² tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish.” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to and from the distant western port of Tarshish. These ships, which were the best of their class, here symbolize the mere human strength of hostile armies, which are incapable of withstanding the Lord’s divine power (see Isa 2:16).

NET Notes: Psa 48:8

¹ tn Heb “As we have heard, so we have seen.” The community had heard about God’s mighty deeds in the nation’s history. Having personally witnessed his saving power with their own eyes, they could now affirm that the tradition was not exaggerated or inaccurate.

² tn Heb “the Lord of hosts.” The title “Lord of hosts” here pictures the Lord as a mighty warrior-king who leads armies into battle (see Pss 24:10; 46:7, 11).

³ tn Or “God makes it secure forever.” The imperfect highlights the characteristic nature of the generalizing statement.

NET Notes: Psa 48:10

¹ tn Heb “like your name, O God, so [is] your praise to the ends of the earth.” Here “name” refers to God’s reputation and revealed character.

² tn Heb “your right hand is full of justice.” The “right hand” suggests activity and power.

NET Notes: Psa 48:11

¹ tn Heb “daughters.” The reference is to the cities of Judah surrounding Zion (see Ps 97:8 and H. Haag, TDOT 2:336).

² tn The prefixed verbal forms are understood as generalizing imperfects. (For other examples of an imperfect followed by causal לְמַעַן [lÿma’an], see Ps 23:3; Isa 49:7; 55:5.) Another option is to interpret the forms as jussives, “Let Mount Zion rejoice! Let the towns of Judah be happy!” (cf. NASB, NRSV; note the imperatives in vv. 12-13.)

³ sn These acts of judgment are described in vv. 4-7.

NET Notes: Psa 48:12

¹ tn The verb forms in vv. 12-13 are plural; the entire Judahite community is addressed.

NET Notes: Psa 48:13

¹ tn Heb “set your heart to its rampart.”

² tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word translated “walk through,” which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain. Cf. NEB “pass…in review”; NIV “view.”

³ sn The city’s towers, defenses, and fortresses are outward reminders and tangible symbols of the divine protection the city enjoys.

NET Notes: Psa 48:14

¹ tn Heb “for this is God, our God, forever and ever.” “This” might be paraphrased, “this protector described and praised in the preceding verses.”

² tn The imperfect highlights the characteristic nature of the generalizing statement.

³ tn In the Hebrew text the psalm ends with the words עַל־מוּת (’al-mut, “upon [unto?] dying”), which make little, if any, sense. M. Dahood (Psalms [AB], 1:293) proposes an otherwise unattested plural form עֹלָמוֹת (’olamot; from עוֹלָם, ’olam, “eternity”). This would provide a nice parallel to עוֹלָם וָעֶד (’olam va’ed, “forever”) in the preceding line, but elsewhere the plural of עוֹלָם appears as עֹלָמִים (’olamim). It is preferable to understand the phrase as a musical direction of some sort (see עַל־מוּת [’al-mut] in the superscription of Ps 9) or to emend the text to עַל־עֲלָמוֹת (’al-’alamot, “according to the alamoth style”; see the heading of Ps 46). In either case it should be understood as belonging with the superscription of the following psalm.