New American Bible
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Chapter 48
1
1 2 A psalm of the Korahites.
A song.
2
Great is the LORD and highly praised in the
city of our God: The holy mountain,
3
3 fairest of heights, the joy of all the earth,
Mount Zion, the heights of Zaphon, the city of the great king.
4
God is its citadel, renowned as a stronghold.
5
See! The kings assembled, together they
invaded.
6
4 When they looked they were astounded;
terrified, they were put to flight!
7
Trembling seized them there, anguish, like a
woman's labor,
8
5 As when the east wind wrecks the ships of Tarshish!
9
6 What we had heard we now see in the city of
the LORD of hosts, In the city of our God, founded to last forever. Selah
10
O God, within your temple we ponder your
steadfast love.
11
Like your name, O God, your praise reaches the
ends of the earth. Your right hand is fully victorious.
12
Mount Zion is glad! The cities of Judah rejoice
because of your saving deeds!
13
Go about Zion, walk all around it, note the
number of its towers.
14
Consider the ramparts, examine its citadels,
that you may tell future generations:
15
7 "Yes, so mighty is God, our God who leads
us always!"
1 [Psalm 48] A Zion hymn, praising
the holy city as the invincible dwelling place of God. Unconquerable, it is an
apt symbol of God who has defeated all enemies. After seven epithets describing
the city (⇒ Psalm 48:2-3), the psalm describes the
victory by the Divine Warrior over hostile kings (⇒ Psalm
48:4-8). The second half proclaims the dominion of the God of Zion
over all the earth (⇒ Psalm 48:9-12) and invites
pilgrims to announce that God is eternally invincible like Zion itself (13-14).
2 [1] Korahites: Psalm 48: see note
on ⇒ Psalm 42:1.
3 [3] The heights of Zaphon: the
mountain abode of the Canaanite storm-god Baal in comparable texts. To speak of
Zion as if it were Zaphon was to claim for Israel's God what Canaanites claimed
for Baal. Though topographically speaking Zion is only a hill, viewed
religiously it towers over other mountains as the home of the supreme God (cf
⇒ Psalm 68:16-17).
4 [6] When they looked: the kings are
stunned by the sight of Zion, touched by divine splendor. The language is that
of holy war, in which the enemy panics and flees at the sight of divine glory.
5 [8] The ships of Tarshish: large
ships, named after the distant land or port of Tarshish, probably ancient
Tartessus in southern Spain, although other identifications have been proposed.
Cf ⇒ Isaiah 2:16; ⇒ 60:9;
⇒ Jonah 1:3.
6 [9] What we had heard we now see:
the glorious things that new pilgrims had heard about the holy city - its
beauty and awesomeness - - they now see with their own eyes. The seeing here
contrasts with the seeing of the hostile kings in ⇒ Psalm
48:6.
7 [15] So mighty is God: Israel's God
is like Zion in being eternal and invincible. The holy city is therefore a kind
of "sacrament" of God.
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