Psalm 48:1-8 – The Greatness Of The City Of God

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 20 Aug 2023

Introduction:

v.1 The Context for praising God: His City

v. 2 The Strategic Situation of God’s City

v. 3 Security by: Yahweh

vs. 4-6 The Story of A Foreign Attack On God’s City Thwarted

v.7 The Ships-Of-Tarshish Incident

v.8 Fulfillment of God’s Promise to David

Psalm 48:1-8 Side-by side comparison of versionsA

LXXB
(Ps. 47)

Brenton (Vaticanus)C

Vulgate (Ps. 47)D

KJVE

NAW

Masoretic TxtF

PeshittaG

1 Ψαλμὸς ᾠδῆς τοῖς υἱοῖς Κορε· [δευτέρᾳ σαββάτου].
2 Μέγας κύριος καὶ αἰνετὸς σφόδρα ἐν πόλει τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν, ὄρει ἁγίῳ αὐτοῦ,

1 A Psalm of praise for the sons of Core [on the second day of the weekH]. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, [in] his holy mountain.

1 canticum psalmi filiis Core [secunda sabbati]
2 magnus Dominus et laudabilis nimis in civitate Dei nostri [in] monte sancto eius

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.

1 {A psalm-song by the sons of Korah.} Great is Yahweh; indeed He is very praiseworthy in the city of our God, the mountain of His holiness,

(א)שִׁיר מִזְמוֹרI לִבְנֵי קֹרַחJ. (ב)גָּדוֹל יְהוָה וּמְהֻלָּל מְאֹדK בְּעִיר אֱלֹהֵינוּL Mהַר קָדְשׁוֹ.



2
רב [הוN] מרן ומשׁבח רורבאית בקריתה דאלהן [וב]טורה קדישׁא

3 ε ῥιζῶν ἀγαλλιάματι πάσης τῆς γῆς. ὄρη Σιων, τὰ πλευρὰ τοῦ βορρᾶ, ἡ πόλις τοῦ βασιλέως τοῦ μεγάλου,

2 The city of the great King is well planted [on] the mount­ain[sO] of Sion, [with the] joy of the whole earth, [on] the sides of the north.

3 X fundatur exultatione universae terrae monte[s] Sion latera aquilonis civitas regis magni

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.

2 the beautiful height. The joy of all the earth is the North sides of Mount Zion – the walled-city of the great king!

(ג)יְפֵה נוֹףP מְשׂוֹשׂQ כָּל הָאָרֶץ הַר צִיּוֹן יַרְכְּתֵי צָפוֹןR קִרְיַתS מֶלֶךְ רָבT.

3 [ו]משׁבחא X חדותא [ב]כלה ארעא טורא דצהיון דבשׁפוליU גרביא קריתה הי דמלכא רבא

4 ὁ θεὸς ἐν ταῖς βάρεσιν αὐτῆς γινώσκεται, ὅταν ἀντι­λαμβάνηται [αὐτῆς].

3 God is known in her palaces, when he undertakes to help [her].

4 Deus in domibus eius cognoscitur cum suscipiet [eam]

3 God is known in her palaces for a refuge.

3 Within her compounds, it is God who is known to be a high-fortress.

(ד) אֱלֹהִים בְּאַרְמְנוֹתֶיהָ נוֹדַעV לְמִשְׂגָּבW.

4 אלהא בסחרתה מודע xעושׁנ[ה]

5 ὅτι ἰδοὺ οἱ βασιλεῖς συνήχ­θησαν, ἤλθοσαν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό·

4 For, behold the kings [of the earthX] were assembled, they came together.

5 quoniam ecce reges congregati sunt convenerunt in unum 

4 For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.

4 For look, the kings were confederated; they passed by together.

(ה) כִּי הִנֵּה Yהַמְּלָכִים נוֹעֲדוּZ עָבְרוּAA יַחְדָּו.

5 מטל דהא מלכא אתטיבו ועברו איך חדא

6 αὐτοὶ ἰδόντες οὕτως ἐθαύμασαν, ἐταράχ­θησαν, ἐσαλεύ­θησαν,

5 They saw, and so they wondered: they were troubled, they were moved.

6 ipsi videntes sic admirati sunt conturbati sunt commoti sunt

5 They X saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away.

5 They themselves saw, consequently they were amazed, they panicked, they dashed away.

(ו) הֵמָּה רָאוּ כֵּן תָּמָהוּ נִבְהֲלוּAB ACנֶחְפָּזוּ.

6 הנון
חזו ותמהו וזעו
X

7 τρόμος ἐπελάβετο αὐτῶν, ἐκεῖ ὠδῖνες ὡς τικτούσης.

6 Trembling took hold on them: there were [the] pang[s] as of a woman in travail.

7 tremor adprehendit eos ibi dolores ut parturientis

6 Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.

6 Trembling seized them there, cramping like a woman giving birth.

(ז) רְעָדָהAD אֲחָזָתַם שָׁםAE חִיל כַּיּוֹלֵדָהAF.

7 [ו]ארתיתא אחד אנון [ו]חבלא איך דילדתא

8 ἐν πνεύματι βιαίῳ συντρίψεις πλοῖα Θαρσις.

7 Thou wilt break the ships of Tharsis with a vehement wind.

8 in spiritu vehementi conteres naves Tharsis

7 Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.

7 With an eastern-storm wind You will shatter the merchant-ships of Tarshish.

(ח) בְּרוּחַ קָדִיםAG תְּשַׁבֵּר אֳנִיּוֹת תַּרְשִׁישׁAH.

8 ברוחא עשׁינתא נתתברן אלפא דתרשׁישׁ

9 καθάπερ ἠκούσαμεν, οὕτως εἴδομεν ἐν πόλει κυρίου τῶν δυνάμεων, ἐν πόλει τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν· ὁ θεὸς ἐθεμελίω­σεν αὐτὴν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. διάψαλμα.

8 As we have heard, so have we also seen, in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God has founded it for ever. Pause.

9 sicut audivimus sic vidimus in civitate Domini virtutum in civitate Dei nostri Deus fundavit eam in aeternum diapsalma 

8 As 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.

8 Just as we have heard, so now we have seen, in the city of Yahweh of army-hosts – in the city of our God: God will establish her for ever! SELAH

(ט) כַּאֲשֶׁר שָׁמַעְנוּ כֵּן רָאִינוּ בְּעִיר יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת בְּעִיר אֱלֹהֵינוּ אֱלֹהִים יְכוֹנְנֶהָAI עַד עוֹלָם סֶלָה.

9 איך דשׁמען הכן חזין בקריתה דמריא חילתנא בקריתה דאלהן אלהא נתקניה עדמא לעלם X


1Cf. the first two historical references to Zion: 2 Samuel 5:7 “Nevertheless, David did capture the stronghold of Zion – that is, the City of David.” (NAW), 1 Kings 8:1 “Now Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the City of David, which is Zion [up to the new temple].” (NKJV)

2Viz. John E. Hartley’s article on “Zion” in the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, p.764.

3Mt. 5:34-35 “And I myself am saying to you not to swear as a whole, neither by heaven (since it is the throne of God), nor by the earth (since it is the footrest under His feet), nor by Jerusalem (since it is ‘the city of the great King’)” (NAW)

42 Chron. 26:9 “And Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the corner buttress of the wall; then he fortified them.” 32:5 “And he [Hezekiah] strengthened himself, built up all the wall that was broken, raised it up to the towers, and built another wall outside; also he repaired the Millo in the City of David…” (NKJV)

5The only other clear instance in the Bible of this word in regards to the physical layout of Jerusalem is Lam. 2:8 “The LORD has purposed to destroy The wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out a line; He has not withdrawn His hand from destroying; Therefore He has caused the rampart and wall to lament; They languished together.” (NKJV) – although Isaiah 26:1 could also be a reference to it.

6These structures in Jerusalem are mentioned in 1 Kings 16:18, 2 Chron. 36:19, Isa. 32:14, 34:13, Jer. 6:1, 9:20, 17:27, Lam. 2:5-7, Hosea 8:14, Amos 2:5. (The whole book of Amos mentions such structures existing in almost all the capitol cities of all the developed nations in the Ancient Near East.)

7John Gill and Charles Spurgeon also agreed with this interpretation in their commentaries.

8gadol instead of rav

9It could also mean that God reveals His protecting power through what the world sees of the Jerusalem’s physical fortifications, although I think that meaning unlikely because it is inconsistent with the theocentric thrust of the psalm.

10Augustine’s commentary analogized even more, seeing in the approach of the gentile kings and their coming undone before Jerusalem a symbol of the non-Christian world coming to hear the Gospel and being convicted of their sin.

AMy original chart includes the NASB, NIV, and ESV, but their copyright restrictions force me to remove them from the publicly-available edition of this chart. (NAW is my translation.) When a translation adds words not in the Hebrew text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use of italics (or greyed-out text), I put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different from all the other translations, I underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original text, I use strikeout. And when a version omits a word which is in the original text, I insert an X. (I also place an X at the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English translation is singular.) I occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between the various editions and versions when there are more than two different translations of a given word. The only known Dead Sea Scrolls containing Psalm 48 are 4Q85 Psalmsc (which contains a fragment of v.14) and 4Q91 Psalmsj (which contains fragments of vs.1-8). Where the DSS is legible and reads the same as the MT, the Hebrew text is colored purple. Where the DSS or Vulgate and Peshitta support the LXX with text not in the MT, I have highlighted with yellow the LXX and its translation into English. Where the Peshitta adds words, I greyed out those words.

BThis Greek New Testament is the 1904 "Patriarchal" edition of the Greek Orthodox Church. The Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine majority text of the GNT and the Textus Receptus are very similar. The Westcott-Hort, Nestle-Aland, and UBS editions are a slightly-different family of GNTs developed in the modern era as a break from the traditional Greek Bible by compiling just a few of the oldest-known manuscripts, but even so, the practical differences in the text between these two editing philosophies are minimal.

CEnglish translation of the Septuagint by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton, 1851. “based upon the text of the Vaticanus” but not identical to the Vaticanus. As published electronically by E-Sword.

DJerome's Latin Vulgate w/ Deuterocanon using Gallican Psalter, 405 AD. As published electronically by E-Sword.

E1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible; public domain. As published electronically by E-Sword.

FFrom the Wiki Hebrew Bible https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%AA%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9D_%D7%9E%D7%96/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA .
DSS text comes from https://downloads.thewaytoyahuweh.com/pdf/dead_sea_scrolls/DSS_-_4Q83Psalmsa.pdf

GThe Leiden Peshitta, Copyright © 2012 by The Peshitta Foundation c/o Leiden University Institute for Religious Studies, as published electronically in BibleWorks.

HAugustine commented that since this was the day of the creation week that the firmament of heaven was created, it went together with redeemed mankind who would inhabit heaven.

IThis is one of the 60 Psalms with the word Mizmor (“Psalm”) in the title, and one of 33 that have the word Shiyr (“song”) in the title, but one of only 10 with both words in the title, the others being Psalms 66; 83; 88, and 108 (which read shiyr mizmor like this title) and 30; 67; 68; 87 and 92 (which reverse the two words in the title to read mizmor shiyr).

JSeptuagint and Vulgate add “during the second [day] of the week,” so it is an ancient tradition for this Psalm to be especially for Mondays!

KThis phrase “great is the LORD and greatly to be praised” is also found in 1 Chron. 16:25; Psalm 96:4, and Psalm 145:3.

L“City of our God” does not occur in the Bible outside this psalm, but “city of God” occurs in Psalm 46:4 and Psalm 87:3.

MThe ancient versions (LXX, Peshitta, Vulgate) add “in” here (and the Peshitta also adds an “and”).

NPeshitta inserts the preposition “our” – which doesn’t change anything substantially.

O“Mountain” is singular in the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus and in Ralphs’ edition of the LXX, but it is plural in the Vulgate and here in Brenton. Augustine interpreted the plural in the Vulgate as indicating that the Gentiles as well as the Jews would become God’s people.

PHapex Legomenon. Delitzsch: “...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.” In a footnote to Calvin’s commentary, Anderson noted that Augustine and Ambrose supported this meaning of “spreading/branching out.” Jewish commentators generally take it to mean “geographically ideal” (according to Cohen’s Soncino Book of Psalms, citing Kimchi and Hirsch), and Calvin followed that direction (as did Anderson, in a footnote to Calvin’s commentary, citing Montanus and Ainsworth in support), although with the caveat that, “When we hear the beauty of the city here celebrated, let us call to our remembrance that spiritual beauty which was added to the natural beauty of the place... that the ark would there abide for ever.”

Q“joy/delight/gladness” This is the only use of this word in the Psalms, but Isaiah uses it a bit (cf. Isaiah 24:8, 11; 32:13-14; 60:15; 62:5; 65:18; 66:10).

RTWOT: “In Canaanite religion the assembly of the gods was thought to meet in the far north. Therefore the Psalmist is using poetic language to show that Zion is the religious center, not only for Israel, but for the entire world.”
NAW: This interpretation would be consistent with what we read in Isaiah 14:13-15 (It might also correspond somewhat with Job 26:7, although that pictures the North as empty, not as full of minor deities.) However, in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, it is merely human foreigners who live in the sides of the north and who muster armies to march south and capture those south of them (Jer. 6:22; 25:32; 31:8; 50:41; Ezek. 32:23; 38:6, 15; 39:2, cf. Zeph. 2:13). But there is one other passage which uses the same word for “sides” and the same word for “north” in reference to Jerusalem, and that is Ezekiel 46:19, where the angel is taking Ezekiel on a tour of the reconstructed temple. Exodus 26 also mentions “north sides” to the tabernacle.
DELITZSCH: “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... forming the connecting link between heaven and earth, which lay in the inaccessible, holy distance and concealment of the extreme north. But... 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.” Cohen agreed, “an account of Jerusalem in its two main divisions: Mount Zion, i.e. Moriah, which lies to the northeast, and the city proper, which is at its foot.”

SThis is differentiated from the other word for “city” (Iyr) used in vs.1 & 8, as a city that is “built up/developed/walled.” The Peshitta makes no distinction between the two words, rendering them all kiryat.

T“the great King; of Christ the King of kings” ~ John Gill. It’s surprising how few commentators said this explicitly.

UBoth Bauscher and Lamsa translated this “slopes,” adding yet another reasonable possibility to the meaning of the phrase.

VNASB, NIV, and ESV interpreted the Niphal stem here as reflexive (“makes Himself known” - which is grammatically possible), whereas KJV and Vulgate and NAW interpreted it as passive (“is known”).

WThe LXX, Vulgate, and Peshitta all abandon the lamed prefix for either a temporal “when” or, in the case of the Peshitta, no preposition, and all add a pronoun at the end of the noun here (“her” in the case of the LXX and Vulgate, and “his” in the case of the Peshitta). Gerald Wilson, in the NIV Application Commentary, suggested that this mishgab describes a “mountain hideout.”

XAlthough not in the Rahlfs edition, this added phrase is found in three Greek manuscripts: Alexandrinus, Lucian Rescription, and Veronensis. It merely clarifies what is already implied in the Hebrew, Latin, and Syriac texts, for if this plurality of kings is “alarmed… panicking... running away” from a well-“established” Jerusalem, they must be foreign kings, not residents.

YThe DSS does not have a definite article here like the MT and LXX do, nor does the Peshitta, but it doesn’t make for a significant difference in meaning whether it is “kings” or “the kings.”
As for who these kings were, commentators are all over the map:
* RASHI & KIMCHI: the eschatological attack of Gog and Magog against Israel.
* GILL: “this seems to refer to the latter day of the Gospel dispensation, when all the kings of the earth, Pagan, Papal, and Mahometan, will be gathered together at the instigation of Satan, to the battle of the great day of the Lord God Almighty, in a place called Armageddon, where they will be defeated by Christ the King of kings, Rev_16:13.”
*BARNES: “The kings referred to, if the allusion here is, as is supposed, to the time of Jehoshaphat, were the kings of Ammon and of Moab, and of Mount Seir, and perhaps others, not particularly mentioned, who came up against Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 20, Psalm 83:3-5).” (Faussett and Delitzsch and Mudge agreed)
* DATTA: “Pre-Exilic, written during the deliverance from Sennacherib’s invasion.” (Kirkpatrick apparently agreed.)
*CALMETThis is apparently the same tempest which struck dismay into the land-forces of Cambyses, and wrecked his fleet which was on the coasts of the Mediterranean sea, opposite to his army near the port of Acco, or the Ptolemais; for Cambyses had his quarters at Ecbatana, at the foot of Mount Carmel; and his army was encamped in the valley of Jezreel.”
*HENRY & SPURGEON applied it generally as a series of events which happened often.
*CALVIN: “It is probable that the psalm is to be referred to the time of king Ahaz, when the city was besieged and the inhabitants brought to the point of utter despair, and when, nevertheless, the siege was suddenly raised, (2 Kings 16:5;)... Jerusalem was preserved from utter destruction only by miraculous aid from heaven.”
*AUGUSTINE: “Behold now those ‘sides of the North,’ see how they come, see how they say, ‘Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord: and He will teach us His way, and we will walk in it’ ... After their marvelling at the miracles and glory of Christ, what followed? ... Whence took trembling hold upon them, but from the consciousness of sins? Let them run then, king after a king; kings, let them acknowledge the King. Therefore saith He elsewhere, ‘Yet have I been set by Him a King upon His holy hill of Sion.’”

ZThe only instance of kings performing the action of this verb is Joshua 11:5 “And when all these kings had met together, they came and camped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.” (But that was not at Jerusalem.)

AADelitzsch (following Henry and Adam Clarke and Calvin) was insistent that this means “conquered,” and that interpretation seems to be supported by the LXX, NIV, and ESV, but Cohen, following Rashi (and Barnes), believed that it meant “passed by without fighting against,” and the KJV and NASB seem to support that interpretation. Gill was undecided between the two meanings.

AB“[T]hey were troubled: as Herod and all Jerusalem were, upon hearing of the birth of Christ (Mat. 2:3); so these kings will be, upon seeing the coming and power of Christ in the latter day, the invincibleness of his church, and their own immediate and utter ruin: this will be the time or the howling of the shepherds, both civil and ecclesiastical, when all hands will be faint, and every man's heart will melt (Zec. 11:2).” ~J. Gill

AC2 Old Latin manuscripts add an “and” before this verb, a few Hebrew manuscripts switch the second and third letters of the word (changing the meaning only slightly from “alarmed/startled/hurried” to “agitated/boiled over”), but the Syriac omits this verb altogether. I like Calvin’s translation “precipitately.”

ADThis word for “trembling” only occurs in the Hebrew O.T. here and in Job 4:14, Ps. 2:11, and Isa. 33:14 (“Sinners in Zion were terrified פָּחֲד֤וּ; trembling gripped the corrupt ones…”).

AE“there” omitted by the Syriac and by Symmachus in his Greek version. It is not essential, but it renders more emphasis.

AFCompare with Isaiah 13:8 “They will be dismayed (from בְהַ֖לְ): pangs and agony (חֲבָלִ) will seize them; they will be in anguish (יְחִיל֑וּן) like a woman birthing…” and 21:3 “Therefore my loins filled with agony (חַלְחָלָ֔ה); pangs (צִירִ֣ים) seized me, like birth pangs; I have been bent from hearing; I have been dismayed from seeing.” (NAW) The phrase “pangs like a woman birthing” is repeated in Jer. 6:24; 22:23; 50:43; and Mic. 4:9.

AGThe more-ancient versions (Septuagint Greek, Vulgate Latin, and Peshitta Syriac) all translated this word “violent.” They also translated it “burning” or “south-wind” in other instances in the O.T., but it appears that the modern consensus of lexicographers has settled on the meaning of “east wind.” Anderson commented in a footnote of Calvin’s commentary: “The east wind in Judea and in the Mediterranean is very tempestuous and destructive. It is also very dry and parching, as well as sudden and terrible in its action. (Gen. 41:6; Ex. 14:21; Ezek. 19:12; 27:26; Job 27:21; Isa. 27:8; Jer. 18:17; Jonah 4:8) ...’Such a wind,’ says Bishop Mant, ‘is well known to the modern mariner by the name of Levanter, and is of the same kind as that spoken of in the twenty-seventh chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, under the name of Euroclydon.’”

AHAugustine considered Tarshish to mean Carthage, Calvin though it meant Tarsus of Cilicia in Asia Minor, Gill thought it meant the Mediterraean “sea in general,” but most modern commentators (e.g. Gerald Wilson) pin Tarshish on the Iberean peninsula of Spain.

AIcf. Psalm 87:5 “And of Zion it will be said, ‘This one and that one were born in her; And the Most High Himself shall establish her.’” (NKJV) What they “heard” was the Davidic Covenant (2 Sam. 7:13, 1 Chron. 22:10, Psalm 89:3-4, Isaiah 9:7), in which God promised to “establish” David’s kingdom “forever.” Now they “see” fulfillment of that promise in their time.

2