Psalm 48[a]

A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah.

Great is the Lord,(A) and most worthy of praise,(B)
    in the city of our God,(C) his holy mountain.(D)

Beautiful(E) in its loftiness,
    the joy of the whole earth,
like the heights of Zaphon[b](F) is Mount Zion,(G)
    the city of the Great King.(H)
God is in her citadels;(I)
    he has shown himself to be her fortress.(J)

When the kings joined forces,
    when they advanced together,(K)
they saw her and were astounded;
    they fled in terror.(L)
Trembling seized(M) them there,
    pain like that of a woman in labor.(N)
You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish(O)
    shattered by an east wind.(P)

As we have heard,
    so we have seen
in the city of the Lord Almighty,
    in the city of our God:
God makes her secure
    forever.[c](Q)

Within your temple, O God,
    we meditate(R) on your unfailing love.(S)
10 Like your name,(T) O God,
    your praise reaches to the ends of the earth;(U)
    your right hand is filled with righteousness.
11 Mount Zion rejoices,
    the villages of Judah are glad
    because of your judgments.(V)

12 Walk about Zion, go around her,
    count her towers,(W)
13 consider well her ramparts,(X)
    view her citadels,(Y)
that you may tell of them
    to the next generation.(Z)

14 For this God is our God for ever and ever;
    he will be our guide(AA) even to the end.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 48:1 In Hebrew texts 48:1-14 is numbered 48:2-15.
  2. Psalm 48:2 Zaphon was the most sacred mountain of the Canaanites.
  3. Psalm 48:8 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.

48 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.

Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.

God is known in her palaces for a refuge.

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

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

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

Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.

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.

We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple.

10 According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.

11 Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments.

12 Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.

13 Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.

14 For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.

The Promise of Israel’s Return

14 The word of the Lord came to me: 15 “Son of man, the people of Jerusalem have said of your fellow exiles and all the other Israelites, ‘They are far away from the Lord; this land was given to us as our possession.’(A)

16 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary(B) for them in the countries where they have gone.’

17 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.’(C)

18 “They will return to it and remove all its vile images(D) and detestable idols.(E) 19 I will give them an undivided heart(F) and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone(G) and give them a heart of flesh.(H) 20 Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.(I) They will be my people,(J) and I will be their God.(K) 21 But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols,(L) I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.(M)

22 Then the cherubim, with the wheels beside them, spread their wings, and the glory(N) of the God of Israel was above them.(O) 23 The glory(P) of the Lord went up from within the city and stopped above the mountain(Q) east of it. 24 The Spirit(R) lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Babylonia[a] in the vision(S) given by the Spirit of God.

Then the vision I had seen went up from me, 25 and I told the exiles everything the Lord had shown me.(T)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 11:24 Or Chaldea

14 Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

15 Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the Lord: unto us is this land given in possession.

16 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.

17 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

18 And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.

19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:

20 That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

21 But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord God.

22 Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

23 And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.

24 Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.

25 Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the Lord had shewed me.

Read full chapter

12 What we have received is not the spirit(A) of the world,(B) but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom(C) but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.[a] 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God(D) but considers them foolishness,(E) and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit(F) makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for,

“Who has known the mind of the Lord
    so as to instruct him?”[b](G)

But we have the mind of Christ.(H)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 2:13 Or Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual
  2. 1 Corinthians 2:16 Isaiah 40:13

12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.

Read full chapter