Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 27 Aug 2023
Do you ever struggle with anxiety over whether everything is going to turn out all-right? The daily news has a way of raising all kinds of concerns about the evil all around us. And then, when we hit a rough spot ourselves – when things aren’t going well, it is so easy to worry that things will never get better – they’re only going to get worse. And that can throw even the strongest of us into the pit of despair. Then our cynicism about the future starts spilling out over our children, setting them up for the same cycle of anxiety and depression that we’re experiencing. What is the way out of this quagmire? As we’ve seen before, the way out is to lift our eyes up to heaven, where Jesus is, at the right hand of God, and place trust in Him. This is where we can find enduring security, stability, and joy.
The beginning of Psalm 48 introduced the “city of God” which draws its imagery from the city of Jerusalem during the time of the Davidic kings, but we saw how God’s word expands the idea of the “city of God” to stand for believers throughout the world who trust in Jesus, God’s Messiah, the head of the church and the king of God’s city.
NAW
translation of the psalm:
{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, the beautiful height. The
joy of all the earth is the North sides of Mount Zion – the
walled-city of the great king! Within her compounds, it is God who
is known to be a high-fortress. For look, the kings were
confederated; they passed by together. They themselves saw,
consequently they were amazed, they panicked, they dashed away.
Trembling seized them there, cramping like a woman giving birth.
With an eastern-storm wind You will shatter the merchant-ships of
Tarshish. 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
We analysed Your lovingkindness, God, while
close to Your temple. In proportion to your reputation, God, so is
Your praise to the ends of the earth. It is with righteousness that
your right hand is full. Mount Zion will be happy; the daughters of
Judah will rejoice on account of your judicial-rulings, [Yahweh].
Y’all, circulate around Zion, and make a circuit of her; count her
towers; impress upon your hearts her defensive-wall, [and] take the
alleys between her compounds, in order that y’all may recount to
the following generation that this is God – our God – forever
and ever. It is He who will lead us away against death.
In the middle of the psalm, the kings of the world - “they saw” God’s city and panicked and ran, but within the city “we saw” the fulfillment of the promise “we had heard” from God’s word that “He will establish [His city] forever,” and v.9 says we “think/meditate” on that.
Verses 9-11 of Psalm 48 focus particularly on three blessings which God shares with His city: namely His Lovingkindness, His Righteousness, and His Justice. Let’s join in meditating on these three things and use the Psalm to form our response to these blessings which God shares with His city. The first is…
“We analyzed/thought/meditated on Your lovingkindness/mercy/steadfast/unfailing love...”
The Hebrew verb is a little hard to translate, the idea of “likeness” being foremost,
so perhaps it’s describing a mental process of comparison and contrast, or what we might call “analysis.”
(The ancient Greek and Latin and Syriac translations all focus on the aspect of “receiving” this truth by faith, which is also good.)
The true faith is practiced with our brains turned on and thinking about God! While these sons of Korah are at the temple, they are engrossed in a faith-filled, intellectual analysis of God’s love!
Perhaps they were thinking like David did in Psalm 63:3 “Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You.” (NKJV)
or like Paul did in Romans 8:35ff “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ... Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (NKJV)
or John in 1 John 4:7ff “Loved ones, let us love one another, because love is out of God, and every one who loves has been born out of God and is knowing God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this, the love of God in us was revealed: that God has commissioned His Son – an only-child – into the world that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we ourselves loved God, but rather that HE loved us and commissioned His Son [to be] appeasement concerning our sins. Loved ones, if God loved us like that, we ourselves also ought to love each other.” (NAW)
or Jude in Jude 21 “keep yourselves in the love of God, anticipating the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” (NAW)
I don’t mind if your thoughts wander a little bit during the sermon if it’s those kinds of things you’re thinking about!
“Holy men are thoughtful men; they do not suffer God's wonders to pass before their eyes and melt into forgetfulness…” ~C. Spurgeon, 1885 AD
This is how we fight anxiety and despair: with meditation on God’s lovingkindness!
Also note that, although the Sons of Korah could be enjoying any part of the city of God, it is in the temple that they are focused. They are not “rice Christians” who hang around the outskirts of the community of faith simply to receive the benefits of God’s blessings without making any personal commitment to God, NO! they are as close to the holy presence of God as they can get, worshiping Him.
Are you as close as you can get to God’s presence?
Will you turn on some theological juice and meditate on God’s merciful love?
This sounds very much like what happened when Jerusalem was threatened by enemies in 2 Chronicles 20:4-13 “So Judah gathered together to ask help from the LORD; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD. Then [King] Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, and said: ‘O LORD God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, `If disaster comes upon us-- sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine-- we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.' And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir… coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You. Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the LORD.” (NKJV)
“[H]ad they listened to the judgment of carnal sense and reason, they would have been overwhelmed with terror; even as we know that men are in a state of continual uneasiness, and are driven hither and thither by contrary waves, until faith tranquillise their minds, and settle them in true patience… Now, if [the temple,] this symbol or pledge of the presence of God, which was only a shadow, ought to have had such influence upon the minds of true believers under the former dispensation, as to make them hope for life in the midst of death, surely when Christ has now descended amongst us, to unite us much more closely to his Father, we have sufficient ground for continuing in a state of undisturbed tranquillity, although the world should be embroiled in confusion and turned upside down.” ~J. Calvin, 1554, AD
“[T]ake occasion to think much of God's loving-kindness, whenever we meet in the midst of his temple…” ~M. Henry, 1714 AD
The second blessing God shares with the city of God is...
When we are anxious and despairing, we are not very likely to be praising God, so in order to fight back, we need to consider the greatness of God’s name and reputation. “According to your name, O God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth.”
A name carries a reputation.
For instance, name brands of automobiles carry certain reputations: If I say the name “Rolls Royce,” you would probably think, “luxury, expensive, finest quality.” If I say the name “Ford,” you would probably think, “American, tough, practical,” (or maybe you’d think “Found On the Road Dead”), but these names carry reputations.
And the greater the things represented by a name, the greater and more widespread its reputation will be.
Everybody in the world has heard of New York City because, for hundreds of years, it has produced world-class products, world-class scholars, world-class artists, and it is a truly-remarkable city.
But until our town made national news last week for having the hottest temperature in the USA, most people in the world had never heard of Manhattan, Kansas, and now they just think of it as a place they wouldn’t want to live because it gets so hot.
God’s fame-name, however, leaves the reputations of NYC and Rolls Royce in the dust; His name is worthy of being praised by everyone in the entire world. His lovingkindness, Righteousness, and Justice are the solution to every problem the human race has!
You want to talk about news? This is where it’s at!
Exodus 15:11 "Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (NKJV)
1 Chron. 16:35 "Save us, O God of our salvation; Gather us together, and deliver us from the Gentiles, To give thanks to Your holy name, To triumph in Your praise." (NKJV)
Malachi 1:11 “For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, And a pure offering... For I am a great King,” Says the LORD of hosts, “And My name is to be feared among the nations.” (NKJV)
Psalm 22:27 “All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the LORD, And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You.” (NKJV)
Psalm 113:3 “From the rising of the sun to its going down The LORD'S name is to be praised.” (NKJV)
What is it that is so great about God? What makes Him so famous? The second part of v.10 says, “...it is with righteousness that [God’s] right hand is full.”
“Neither saint nor sinner shall find the Lord to be an empty-handed God…” ~C. Spurgeon
The Psalmist has already commented in Psalm 26:10 that the “right hand” of “sinners” “is full of bribes,”
and God complained in Isaiah 1 that the “right hand” of even the “people of Jerusalem” was “full of blood,”
and the book of Revelation 17:4 warns of the woman of Babylon in whose “hand is a cup full of abominations and filthiness and fornication,”
so this is a marvelous thing: in stark contrast to the ways of men, is a God whose hand is full of righteousness!
Psalm 97:2 “...Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.” (NKJV)
Ps. 145:17 “The LORD is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works.” (NKJV)
Psalm 11:7 “Because Yahweh is righteous, He has loved righteous things, [and] His face will see [the] one who is right.” (NAW)
Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (NAW)
Not only is righteousness something in God’s “hand,” it is in His right hand, His preferred hand, showing us that, doing what is right, is not merely something He occasionally does, it is His his favorite thing – it is the thing He is most ready to give away!
And think of who is at God’s right hand in heaven right now: Yes, it is Jesus Christ, our righteousness who, according to Ephesians 1:23, “fills all in all!”
“[T]he righteousness of God is to be understood of his faithfulness which he observes in maintaining and defending his own people… [T]he names of false gods... were renowned among men, although they had done nothing to furnish matter of true praise; but... it was altogether different with respect to the God of Israel: for wherever the report of him was carried, all would understand that he was the deliverer of his people, and that he did not disappoint their hope and desires, nor forsake them in danger.” ~J. Calvin
God’s lovingkindness and His reputation for righteousness and faithfulness are powerful ammunition in your battle against anxiety and depression, but there is one more for your arsenal, and that is...
“Mount Zion will be happy; the daughters of Judah (interpreted by many1 as the “villages” in the suburban areas outside of Jerusalem) will rejoice on account of your judgments/judicial-rulings, [O LORD].”
In Hebrew, the Jussive “let them be glad and rejoice” is spelled the same as the Imperfect tense “they are/will be glad and rejoice,” so either translation is legitimate.
“Joy” and “happiness” are what people experience when God is judge.
The word “judgment” in English might only make you think of “condemnation/punishment,” but the Hebrew word mishpatim embraces all sorts of justice-issues, from achieving social justice and the rights of the oppressed to punishing evildoers.
Unlike practically every human politician who has ever lived, God cannot be corrupted. He will never tolerate injustice. That is reason to rejoice!
“He shall winnow with such art... that not one grain of wheat shall fall into the heap of chaff prepared to be burned, nor one beard of chaff pass to the heap to be laid up in the garner. Be glad, O ye daughters of Judæa, because of the judgments of God that erreth not...” ~Augustine, c.400 AD
Throughout the Psalms we see this testimony of the happiness and rejoicing of God’s people:
1 Chron. 16:31 “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; And let them say among the nations, ‘The LORD reigns.’” (NKJV)
Psalm 31:7 “I will rejoice and be happy there in Your lovingkindness, in which You regarded my low condition and you considered my soul during crises” (NAW)
Psalm 32:11 “Be happy in Yahweh, and rejoice, you who are righteous, and sing out, all of y'all who are justified inside!” (NAW)
Psalm 97:8 “Zion hears and is glad, And the daughters of Judah rejoice Because of Your judgments, O LORD.” (NKJV)
Is that your testimony too? If you are not happy with Christianity, then maybe you need to revisit how corrupt this world is and how perfect God’s justice is!
Verses 12-13 contain the only imperative “you’s” in the psalm, so this is the place to look for application. There are 5 Commands:
The first two commands are synonymous, “Y’all, go/Walk around Zion and make a circuit of her…” These commands makes more sense when we understand what they don’t mean:
They don’t necessarily mean “walk2” – these Hebrew words have more to do with “going around in a circle” than with how it is done, although practically it could be done by walking around the perimeter of the city.
They also do not describe an aimless milling about; this is a purposeful action of “completing a circuit.”
And they don’t mean to avoid a place by “going around” it. These Hebrew words connote engaging with a place: these are the same verbs used to describe Joshua “marching around” Jericho, and to describe foreign kings “surrounding” cities to besiege them.
The next command is, “count/number/tell her towers.”
All three of these first commands seem to be the kind of thing an enemy might do.
The only other place in the Bible where counting towers occurs is in Isaiah 33:18, where enemy Assyrians were counting the towers of Jerusalem, either as part of demanding tribute or as part of their plan to conquer it – maybe both.
Before the exile, “...King Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the corner buttress of the wall.” (2 Chron. 26:9, NKJV) And after the exile, when the Jews rebuilt Jerusalem under Nehemiah, there were “...the tower of the Hundred… the tower of Hananel… the tower of the Ovens… the tower that projects from the King’s upper house… the tower at the Water Gate toward the east… and the great projecting tower.” (Nehemiah 3, NKJV)
The last two commands continue in v.13, “Consider/Mark ye well/lit. impress upon your hearts her bulwark/rampart/defensive-wall, and take the alleys between/consider/view/Go through her palaces/citadels/compounds.”
(The last verb isn’t used anywhere else in the Bible, so it’s anybody’s guess as to exactly what it means, but I suspect it means to amble through the alleyways that separate one compound from another in a middle-eastern city.)
But what is all this for? Why are they commanded to circumnavigate the city, counting its towers and noticing its defensive wall and its fortified houses? Why?
“in order that y’all may recount to the following generation that this is God – our God – forever and ever.”
Some think this refers to a triumph ceremony after a victorious defense of Jerusalem, like what they did in Nehemiah 12. “Let them observe, with wonder, that the towers and bulwarks are all in their full strength... there is not the least damage done to the city by the kings that were assembled against it... Let the daughters of Judah see the towers and bulwarks of Zion, with a pleasure equal to the terror with which the kings their enemies saw them...” ~ M. Henry, 1714 AD
But the application can go even deeper. As God’s people look at their city, its towers and defensive wall and fortifications, they are to see God. Not in a pantheistic way as though they or their buildings were gods, but they should see God3 behind it all as the creator and sustainer of His people – the One whose Lovingkindness, Righteousness, and Justice save and undergird His church. But they must not stop there. They must then declare it to the coming generations.
Psalm 71:18 “...O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come.” (NKJV)
Psalm 78:4 “We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.” (NKJV)
“God would have them to behold, as it were, the marks of his grace engraven wherever they turned themselves, or rather, to recognize him as present in these marks. From this we conclude, that whatever dignity or excellence shines forth in the Church, we are not to consider it otherwise than as the means of presenting God to our view, that we may magnify and praise him in his gifts.” ~J. Calvin
“Let us diligently observe the instances and evidences of the church's beauty, strength, and safety, and faithfully transmit our observations to those that shall come after us… See it founded on Christ, the rock fortified by the divine power, guarded by him that neither slumbers nor sleeps. See what precious ordinances are its palaces, what precious promises are its bulwarks; tell this to the generation following, that they may with purpose of heart espouse its interests and cl[ing] to it.” ~M. Henry
So, how do we share about God’s Lovingkindness, Righteousness, and Justice with the generation to come?
First of all, we share specific information: “This is our God.”
“It is, then, the property of faith to set before us not a confused but a distinct knowledge of God.” ~J. Calvin
How do we do that? With specific information –
giving our children detailed accounts of answers to prayer,
giving our children systematic theology or catechism study,
making lists like this Psalm does of God’s attributes of lovingkindness, righteousness, and Justice.
Don’t say, “You gotta have faith;” say, “This is our God!” Make it specific.
Secondly, make it salvific. Make sure your children know how to get saved and where to find security. The Psalm closes with the emphatic assertion, “It is He who will guide us…” Different translations have different wordings for the end, including “against death/until death/to the end/forever.”
The Hebrew says literally, “against death” (or perhaps “unto death4,” which is the reading of the Geneva, King James, NASB, and NLT).
The ancient Peshitta and the even-more-ancient Dead Sea Scrolls support that reading, as do some of the ancient Latin and Greek translations.
So, even though the NIV & ESV read “forever” (following a few significant manuscripts that read that way), and although it is theologically true that God’s guidance will go “forever” beyond death, the Hebrew author seems to have had something different in mind.
I think that becomes more apparent when we consider the Hebrew verb translated “guide” here, because נחג usually connotes “leading away” from something rather than toward something.
For instance, the previous instance of this verb, in Job 24:3, “They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; They take the widow's ox as a pledge.” (NKJV) That’s the same verb.
However, when the Bible speaks of God’s nurturing guidance in places like Psalm 23:3 “He leads me in paths of righteousness” (or even the Hebrew New Testament version of John 16:13 “when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth”), that is a different Hebrew verb, נחה (instead of נחג).
In Isaiah 49:10 we have the same Hebrew verb indicating “leading away” from problems contrasted with a different Hebrew verb for “leading toward” springs of water: “...heat and sun will not strike them down, for their Compassionate One will lead them away [נחג – lead away from what? From the heat so they don’t get heatstroke!], and He will lead them to [נהל – a different verb] water at springs of water.” (NAW)
So I think that the last verse of Psalm 48 may not actually be picturing God leading His people into eternal prosperity, but rather picturing God “leading them away from death.”
Leading away from death, of course, implies leading toward life, so it’s not contradictory; it’s just a matter of what is being emphasized in this particular verse, and I think that the emphasis here is on God saving His people from what threatens them.
It’s a salvation picture that summarizes what happened when God, in His lovingkindness and righteousness and justice, protected the people in His city from being killed in an enemy attack.
More than that, it is a statement of faith from parents and grandparents, assuring their children and grandchildren that God will continue to protect His people from being wiped out by their enemies, and that the next generations should trust God – and praise God – too!
So, when anxiety creeps into your heart, meditate on God’s lovingkindness, righteousness, and justice, and tell the next generation about what He has done to save you. Say something like Isaiah did in...
Isaiah 26:1-4 “...We have a strong city; He sets up salvation as walls and bulwark... A steadfast mind you will guard in perfect peace, for it trusts in You. Trust in Yahweh forever...!’” (NAW)
Isaiah 33:2-6, 17-22 “...Yahweh is exalted, for He is sitting on high, saturating Zion with justice and righteousness. And He will be a stability of your times, a treasure-trove of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge… Where is the one who counts the towers? The fierce people you will not see - people of difficult speech to hear, of stammering language that there is no understanding. Behold Zion! a walled city of our meeting; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a home at ease, a tent that will never be moved, its stakes will never pull out forever, and none of its ropes will ever be drawn up. Instead the majestic Yahweh will be there; for us there will be a place of rivers – broad-handed streams... For Yahweh is our judge... Yahweh is our king; He Himself will save us.” (NAW)
LXXB
|
Brenton (Vaticanus)C |
Vulgate (Ps. 47)D |
KJVE |
NAW |
Masoretic TxtF |
PeshittaG |
1
Ψαλμὸς ᾠδῆς τοῖς υἱοῖς
Κορε· [δευτέρᾳ σαββάτου]. |
1 A Psalm of praise for the sons of Core [on the second day of the weekI]. 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] |
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 מִזְמוֹרJ לִבְנֵי קֹרַחK. (ב)גָּדוֹל יְהוָה וּמְהֻלָּל מְאֹדL בְּעִיר אֱלֹהֵינוּM Nהַר קָדְשׁוֹ. |
|
3
εὖ |
2
The city of the great King is well
|
3
X |
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 נוֹףS מְשׂוֹשׂT כָּל הָאָרֶץ הַר צִיּוֹן יַרְכְּתֵי צָפוֹןU קִרְיַתV מֶלֶךְ רָבW. |
3 [ו]משׁבחא X חדותא [ב]כלה ארעא טורא דצהיון דבשׁפוליX גרביא קריתה הי דמלכא רבא |
4
ὁ θεὸς ἐν ταῖς βάρεσινY
αὐτῆς γινώσκεται, |
3
God is known in her palaces,
|
4
Deus in domibus eius cognoscitur cum
|
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. |
4 אלהא בסחרתה מודע xעושׁנ[ה] |
|
5
ὅτι ἰδοὺ οἱ βασιλεῖς συνήχθησανAC,
|
4
For, behold the kings [of
the earthAD]
were
assembled,
they |
5
quoniam ecce reges congregati sunt
|
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 AEהַמְּלָכִים נוֹעֲדוּAF עָבְרוּAG יַחְדָּו. |
5 מטל דהא מלכא אתטיבו ועברו איך חדא |
6 αὐτοὶ ἰδόντες οὕτως ἐθαύμασαν, ἐταράχθησαν, ἐσαλεύθησανAH, |
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. |
6
הנון |
|
7
τρόμος
ἐπελάβετο αὐτῶν, ἐκεῖ ὠδῖν |
6 Trembling took hold on them: there were [the] pang[s] as of a woman in travail. |
7
tremor adprehendit eos
ibi dolor |
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. |
7 [ו]ארתיתא אחד אנון [ו]חבלא איך דילדתא |
|
8 ἐν πνεύματι βιαίῳ συντρίψεις πλοῖαAN 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. |
8 ברוחא עשׁינתא נתתברן אלפא דתרשׁישׁ |
|
9
καθάπερ ἠκούσαμεν, οὕτως εἴδομεν
ἐν πόλει κυρίου τῶν δυνάμεων, ἐν
πόλει τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν· ὁ θεὸς
ἐθεμελίω |
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 |
9
sicut audivimus sic vidimus in civitate Domini virtutum in
civitate Dei nostri Deus fundav |
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 יְכוֹנְנֶהָAQ עַד עוֹלָם סֶלָה. |
9 איך דשׁמען הכן חזין בקריתה דמריא חילתנא בקריתה דאלהן אלהא נתקניה עדמא לעלם X |
10 ὑπελάβομενAR, ὁ θεός, τὸ ἔλεός σου ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ ναοῦ σου. |
9
We have
thought of thy mercy, O God, in
the midst of thy |
10 suscepimus Deus misericordiam tuam in medio templiAS tui |
9 We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple. |
9 We analysed Your lovingkindness, God, while close to Your temple. |
דִּמִּינוּ אֱלֹהִים חַסְדֶּךָ בְּקֶרֶב הֵיכָלֶךָ. |
10 סברןAT אלהא לטיבותך בגוה דהיכלך |
11 κατὰ τὸ ὄνομά σου, ὁ θεός, οὕτως καὶ ἡ αἴνεσίς σου ἐπὶ τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς· δικαιοσύνης πλήρης ἡ δεξιά σου. |
10 According to thy name, O God, so is also thy praise to the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness. |
11 secundum nomen tuum Deus sic et laus tua in fines terrae iustitia plena est dextera tua |
10 According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness. |
10 In proportion to your reputation, God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth. It is with righteousness that your right hand is full. |
כְּשִׁמְךָ אֱלֹהִים כֵּן תְּהִלָּתְךָ עַל קַצְוֵי אֶרֶץ צֶדֶק מָלְאָה יְמִינֶךָ. |
11איך שׁמך אלהא הכנא תשׁבחתך עדמאAU לסופיה דארעא זדיקותא מליא ימינך |
12 εὐφρανθήτωAV τὸ ὄρος Σιων, ἀγαλλιάσθωσαν αἱ θυγατέρες τῆς Ιουδαίας ἕνεκεν τῶν κριμάτων σου, [κύριε]. |
11 Let mount Sion rejoice, let the daughters of Judaea exult, because of thy judgments, [O Lord]. |
12 laetetur mons Sion exultent filiae Iudaeae propter iudicia tua [Domine]; |
11 Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments. |
11 Mount Zion will be happy; the daughters of Judah will rejoice on account of your judicial-rulings, [Yahweh]. |
AWיִשְׂמַח הַר צִיּוֹן תָּגֵלְנָה בְּנוֹת יְהוּדָה לְמַעַן מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ. |
12נחדא טורא דצהיון [ו]נדוצן בנת יהודא מטל דיניך [מריא] |
13 κυκλώσατε Σιων καὶ περιλάβετε αὐτήν, διηγήσασθεAX ἐν τοῖς πύργοις αὐτῆς, |
12 Go round about Sion, and encompass her: tell ye her towers. |
13 circumdate Sion et conplectimini eam narrate in turribus eius |
12 Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. |
12 Y’all, circulate around Zion, and make a circuit of her; count her towers; |
סֹבּוּ צִיּוֹן וְהַקִּיפוּהָ סִפְרוּ מִגְדָּלֶיהָ. |
13 תכרכוה [ל]צהיון וחודרוה [ו]מנו מגדליה |
14 θέσθε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν εἰς τὴν δύναμινAY αὐτῆς [καὶ] καταδιέλεσθεAZ τὰς βάρεις αὐτῆς, ὅπως ἂν διηγήσησθε εἰς γενεὰν ἑτέραν. |
13
Mark
ye
well
her strength,
[and]
|
14 ponite corda vestra in virtute eius [et] distribuite domus eius ut enarretis in progeniem alteram |
13 Mark ye well her bulwark[s], consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following. |
13 impress upon your hearts her defensive-wall, [and] take the alleys between her compounds, in order that y’all may recount to the following generation |
שִׁיתוּ לִבְּכֶם BAלְחֵילָה פַּסְּגוּBB אַרְמְנוֹתֶיהָ לְמַעַן תְּסַפְּרוּ לְדוֹר אַחֲרוֹן. |
14 סימו לבכון על חילה [ו]עקורוBC סחרתה דתשׁתעון לדרא אחריא |
15
ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ θεὸς ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν
εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα
[τοῦ αἰῶνος]· αὐτὸς ποιμανεῖ ἡμᾶς
|
14
For this is {GodBD}
our God for ever and ever: he will be
our guide |
15
quoniam hic est Deus Deus noster in aeternum et in saeculum
saeculi ipse |
14 For this God is our God for ever and ever: he X will be our guide even unto death. |
14 that this is God – our God – forever and ever. It is He who will lead us away against death. |
כִּי זֶה אֱלֹהִים אֱלֹהֵינוּBF עוֹלָם וָעֶד הוּא יְנַהֲגֵנוּ עַל מוּתBG. |
15
דהנו
אלהא אלהן לעלם ולעלם עלמין והו נדברני
לעל |
1Ibn Ezra, Calvin, Henry, Fausset, Spurgeon, Cohen, NIV, GWilson
2“Not with sandals, but with love,” commented Augustine.
3“[I]n these external things the blessing of God in some respect shone forth... In making mention here of her towers and walls, we are not to suppose that he would have the minds of the faithful to rest in these things. He rather sets them before us as a mirror in which the character of God may be seen.” ~J. Calvin
4As Christians we see additional meaning in that phrase “unto death” because that is the course Jesus took to save us from spiritual death and give us eternal life. As Philippians 2 says, “He humbled himself... to the point of death, even death by crucifixion, therefore God also highly exalted Him.” (NAW)
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.
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, published in 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
.
GThe Leiden Peshitta, Copyright © 2012 by The Peshitta Foundation c/o Leiden University Institute for Religious Studies, as published electronically in BibleWorks. I have greyed out words that are added to the MT text and colored orange words which are different from the MT.
HFields indicated that Aquila, in his 2nd century AD translation into Greek, and Symmachus, in his 3rd century AD translation into Greek, and others read ‘υμνητος (“sung hymns about”).
IAugustine 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.
JThis 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).
KSeptuagint and Vulgate add “during the second [day] of the week,” so it is an ancient tradition for this Psalm to be especially for Mondays!
LThis 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.
M“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.
NThe ancient versions (LXX, Peshitta, Vulgate) add “in” here (and the Peshitta also adds an “and”).
OPeshitta inserts the preposition “our” – which doesn’t change anything substantially.
PTheodotian agreed with this text, but Aquila rendered it καλω βλαστηματι χαρματι (“good for sprouting of orchards?”) and Symmachus απ’ αρχης αφωρισμενω αγλαισματι (“from the beginning distinguished in height?”)
QAquila, Symmachus, and Origen’s “E” translated this word μηροι (“thighs”).
R“Mountain” is singular in the Hebrew and so it is singular in the Vaticanus, 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.)
SHapex 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 also 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.”
T“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).
UTWOT:
“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: The above
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 ideal
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 (Ezek. 38:6; 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 in his Soncino commentary: “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.”
VThis is different from the other word for “city” (‘iyr) used in vs.1 & 8. This word denotes a city that is “built up/developed/walled.” The Peshitta makes no distinction between the two words, rendering them all kiryat.
W“the great King; of Christ the King of kings” ~ John Gill. (It’s surprising how few commentators said this explicitly.)
XBoth Bauscher and Lamsa translated this “slopes,” adding yet another reasonable possibility to the meaning of the phrase.
YAquila (‘υπερεπαρσιν – highly-exalted place) and Symmachus (βασιλειοις - basilicas) used synonymous words.
ZSymmachus translated more along the lines of the MT with εις οχυρομα (“for a firm place”).
AANASB, 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”).
ABThe LXX, Vulgate, and Peshitta all abandoned the lamed prefix for either a temporal “when” or, in the case of the Peshitta, no preposition, and all added 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.”
ACAquila and Symmachus used the synonym συνεταξαντο (giving a stronger connotation of mobilizing for war) and shaded the meaning of the ensuing verb “went” by adding the prefix δια- (“by” or “through”), which is more like the MT text.
ADAlthough 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.
AEThe
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,
Delitzsch, and Mudge agreed.)
* DATTA: “Pre-Exilic, written
during the deliverance from Sennacherib’s invasion.”
(Kirkpatrick apparently agreed.)
*CALMET
“This
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 the sort of thing which happened often with God’s
people.
*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.’”
AFThe 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.)
AGDelitzsch (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.
AHcf. synonyms from Aquila (εθαμβηθησαν = “astounded”) and Symmachus (εξεπλαηησαν = “shocked”).
AI“[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 of 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
AJ2 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.”
AKThis 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…”).
AL“there” omitted by the Syriac and by Symmachus in his Greek version. It is not essential, but it renders more emphasis.
AMCompare 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.
ANΑquila and Symmachus accurately translated ναυς – larger “ships” rather than the little fishing “boats.”
AOThe 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.’”
APAugustine considered Tarshish to mean Carthage of North Africa, Calvin though it meant Tarsus of Cilicia in Asia Minor, Gill thought it meant the Mediterranean “sea in general,” but most modern commentators (e.g. Gerald Wilson) pin Tarshish on the Iberian peninsula of Spain.
AQcf. 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.
ARAquila = ‘ωμοιωσαμεν (“we became like”), Symmachus = εικασαμεν (“we imagined”)
ASAugustine was following a different Latin version which read “people” here instead of “temple,” and that appears to be what Brenton was following. The Vulgate here reads “temple” (and that is also the reading of Douay’s English translation of the Vulgate).
ATBauscher translated “proclaimed,” Lamsa = “trusted.” The Hebrew word is a little hard to translate, the idea of “likeness” being foremost, perhaps “comparing and contrasting” being the idea here. Cf. the Greek ὑπελάβομεν (lit. “received under”) and the Latin suscepimus (Douay = “received”). Calvin, following Rashi and the Targums, translated it “waited,” and Ibn Ezra & Kimchi translated it “thought.”
AUSyriac, Arabic, and Latin versions used a slightly-different preposition which is centered on the meaning of “unto” rather than the Hebrew preposition which is centered on the meaning of “upon.”
AVAquila and Symmachus disagreed with the Jussive translation of the Septuagint and rendered the verbs in this verse as Indicatives instead of Imperatives in their Greek translations. Similarly, Calvin translated these verbs as Indicative rather than Jussive. This is reflected in the NIV translation.
AWThe Hebrew spelling of this verb can either be Jussive (“let her rejoice”) or Imperfect tense (“she rejoices/she will rejoice”). The commands in the subsequent verses are a different form in Hebrew (plural Imperatives).
AXAquila and Symmachus corrected toward the meaning of the MT with ψηθισατε/αριθμξσατε, which both mean “count.”
AYAquila and Symmachus translated with more specific words for a bulwark (ευποριαν/περιβολον) whereas the Septuagint focused on the simple root meaning of the Hebrew word.
AZLit. “go down through.” Symmachus rendered it διαμετρησατε (“measure thoroughly” - or more figuratively “pace off?”)
BALit.
“set the heart of y’all to.” This Hebrew figure of speech is
also used in Exod. 7:23; 1 Sam. 4:20; 2 Sam. 13:20; Job 7:17; Ps.
62:11; Prov. 22:17; 24:32; 27:23; and Jer. 31:21. Of this, Matthew
Henry commented, “This intimates that the principal bulwarks of
Zion were not the objects of sense, which they might set their eye
upon, but the objects of faith, which they must set their hearts
upon.”
The root of the Hebrew word is “strength,” so the
ancient versions picked up on that root meaning, but the figurative
meaning parallel to “towers” seems to be intended by the author
here, and that is the singular, outer, defensive wall made of earth
or masonry.
BBHapex Legomenon. Holliday refused to hazard a definition for this word in his lexicon. BDB defined it as “pass between” but said that the “meaning is dubious.” So any translation is fair game, but has to fit with the rest of the verse. Syriac interprets it as “below,” Targum interprets it as “above,” Septuagint as “go down through,” and Vulgate as “distribute.” Calvin translated it “exalt.” English translations prior to the mid-20th century went with “observe/behold/consider.” In the mid-19th century, Delitzsch found the word used in B. Baba kamma 81b, to mean “cut through [a vineyard in a part where there is no way leading through it],” and criticized Luther’s translation erhöhen (“extol”) as “a false deduction from the name פּסגּה,” but rather commended Louis de Dieu’s rendering ambulate. This got me thinking about the alleyways that separate one compound from another in a city. All the ancient versions have an “and” before this word.
BCBaucher = “pull down,” Lamsa = “the depth”
BDBrenton omitted this English word, but I have supplied it because it is in the LXX.
BEField’s Hexapla Origenis indicates that there are ancient Latin translations that follow the Hebrew with ad mortem and super mortem, as well as a Greek translation by Aquila (αθανασια) that reads “deathless” (but also notes that Symmachus split the difference between the LXX and Hebrew textual traditions, much like the NIV did, with διηνεκες “ceaselessly.”) Jerome apparently translated it into Latin both ways in his lifetime. Even Augustine (who followed the Vulgate reading) tipped his hat to the other reading, opening his exegesis of this verse by saying, “He protecteth us, being our God, lest we die.” Calvin accepted “unto death.” Some scholars, however, have suggested that it might not be part of Psalm 48 at all, but rather a mis-spelled and misplaced attempt at labeling Psalm 49 (or 48) as an “Alamoth” psalm, but that hypothesis would require an awful lot of tolerance for a really-obvious error, and I find that unlikely.
BFMasoretic cantillation separates “this” from “God” and connects “God” with “our God” https://hb.openscriptures.org/structure/OshbVerse/index.html?b=Ps&c=50&v=1, and the LXX and Vulgate reflect this clearly, so I think the KJV and NIV may be inaccurate in connecting “this” with “God” as an attributive adjective.
BGThe Hebrew, supported by the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls, says literally, “upon death,” and the Peshitta supports that, so, even though the LXX and Vulgate read “forever,” and although it is theologically true that God’s “reign” (Vulgate) and “shepherding” (LXX) will go forever beyond death, the Hebrew text limits us to “death.” (However, not even Jewish rabbis are agreed on the meaning: Kimchi interpreted “until death,” Rashi = “like young children,” Hirsch = “beyond death into immortality,” and Menachem = “for ever.” Calvin’s explanation that one gets the meaning “forever” when you run the two Hebrew words together founders on the facts that a maqef separates the two words and that, even if they were to be run together as עלמות, it would not be translated “forever.” (Where that run-together spelling does occur in the Bible, it is translated either as a musical term – 1 Chron. 15:20 and Psalm 9:1 & 46:1, or as as “secrets” – Job 11:6 and Psalm 44:22, or as “virgins” – Psalm 68:26 and Song of Solomon 1:3 & 6:8. Cf. Delitzsch “עֹלָמֹות, however, as equivalent to αἰῶνες is Mishnic, not Biblical… Probably it is a marginal note of the melody… [as] Hitzig, Reggio… [and] Böttcher [suggested].”) The Hebrew preposition usually means “upon” or “against,” or sometimes “to,” but not “until” (that would be a different Hebrew word: עד). The Verb also usually means “lead away” (cf. the previous instance of the verb in Job 24:3) so it may not be a picture of “leading in” to prosperity, but rather of “leading away” from death, and that would be consistent with the message of this Psalm which is more about salvation from enemy attack than about eternal life.