Discovery BoxPsalms 48:1-14
ContextA song, a psalm by the Korahites.
48:1 The Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise
in the city of our God, 2 his holy hill.
48:2 It is lofty and pleasing to look at, 3
a source of joy to the whole earth. 4
Mount Zion resembles the peaks of Zaphon; 5
it is the city of the great king.
48:3 God is in its fortresses;
he reveals himself as its defender. 6
48:4 For 7 look, the kings assemble; 8
they advance together.
48:5 As soon as they see, 9 they are shocked; 10
they are terrified, they quickly retreat. 11
48:6 Look at them shake uncontrollably, 12
like a woman writhing in childbirth. 13
48:7 With an east wind
you shatter 14 the large ships. 15
48:8 We heard about God’s mighty deeds, now we have seen them, 16
in the city of the Lord, the invincible Warrior, 17
in the city of our God.
God makes it permanently secure. 18 (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. 19
You execute justice! 20
48:11 Mount Zion rejoices;
the towns 21 of Judah are happy, 22
because of your acts of judgment. 23
48:12 Walk around 24 Zion! Encircle it!
Count its towers!
48:13 Consider its defenses! 25
Walk through 26 its fortresses,
so you can tell the next generation about it! 27
[48:1] 1 sn Psalm 48. This so-called “Song of Zion” celebrates the greatness and glory of the Lord’s dwelling place, Jerusalem. His presence in the city elevates it above all others and assures its security.
[48:1] 2 sn The city of our God is Jerusalem, which is also referred to here as “his holy hill,” that is, Zion (see v. 2, as well as Isa 66:20; Joel 2:1; 3:17; Zech 8:3; Pss 2:6; 15:1; 43:3; 87:1; Dan 9:16).
[48:2] 3 tn Heb “beautiful of height.” The Hebrew term נוֹף (nof, “height”) is a genitive of specification after the qualitative noun “beautiful.” The idea seems to be that Mount Zion, because of its lofty appearance, is pleasing to the sight.
[48:2] 4 sn A source of joy to the whole earth. The language is hyperbolic. Zion, as the dwelling place of the universal king, is pictured as the world’s capital. The prophets anticipated this idealized picture becoming a reality in the eschaton (see Isa 2:1-4).
[48:2] 5 tn Heb “Mount Zion, the peaks of Zaphon.” Like all the preceding phrases in v. 2, both phrases are appositional to “city of our God, his holy hill” in v. 1, suggesting an identification in the poet’s mind between Mount Zion and Zaphon. “Zaphon” usually refers to the “north” in a general sense (see Pss 89:12; 107:3), but here, where it is collocated with “peaks,” it refers specifically to Mount Zaphon, located in the vicinity of ancient Ugarit and viewed as the mountain where the gods assembled (see Isa 14:13). By alluding to West Semitic mythology in this way, the psalm affirms that Mount Zion is the real divine mountain, for it is here that the
[48:3] 6 tn Heb “he is known for an elevated place.”
[48:4] 7 tn The logical connection between vv. 3-4 seems to be this: God is the protector of Zion and reveals himself as the city’s defender – this is necessary because hostile armies threaten the city.
[48:4] 8 tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 4-6 are understood as descriptive. In dramatic style (note הִנֵּה, hinneh, “look”) the psalm describes an enemy attack against the city as if it were occurring at this very moment. Another option is to take the perfects as narrational (“the kings assembled, they advanced”), referring to a particular historical event, such as Sennacherib’s siege of the city in 701
[48:5] 9 tn The object of “see” is omitted, but v. 3b suggests that the
[48:5] 10 tn Heb “they look, so they are shocked.” Here כֵּן (ken, “so”) has the force of “in the same measure.”
[48:5] 11 tn The translation attempts to reflect the staccato style of the Hebrew text, where the main clauses of vv. 4-6 are simply juxtaposed without connectives.
[48:6] 12 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.).
[48:6] 13 tn Heb “[with] writhing like one giving birth.”
[48:7] 14 tn The switch to the imperfect, as well as the introduction of the ship metaphor, perhaps signals a change to a generalizing tone; the
[48:7] 15 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
[48:8] 16 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.
[48:8] 17 tn Heb “the
[48:8] 18 tn Or “God makes it secure forever.” The imperfect highlights the characteristic nature of the generalizing statement.
[48:10] 19 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.
[48:10] 20 tn Heb “your right hand is full of justice.” The “right hand” suggests activity and power.
[48:11] 21 tn Heb “daughters.” The reference is to the cities of Judah surrounding Zion (see Ps 97:8 and H. Haag, TDOT 2:336).
[48:11] 22 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.)
[48:11] 23 sn These acts of judgment are described in vv. 4-7.
[48:12] 24 tn The verb forms in vv. 12-13 are plural; the entire Judahite community is addressed.
[48:13] 25 tn Heb “set your heart to its rampart.”
[48:13] 26 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.”
[48:13] 27 sn The city’s towers, defenses, and fortresses are outward reminders and tangible symbols of the divine protection the city enjoys.
[48:14] 28 tn Heb “for this is God, our God, forever and ever.” “This” might be paraphrased, “this protector described and praised in the preceding verses.”
[48:14] 29 tn The imperfect highlights the characteristic nature of the generalizing statement.
[48:14] 30 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.
