Psalm 48

¹ Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, in his holy mountain.

² Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the north sides, the city of the great King.

³ God has shown himself in her citadels as a refuge.

⁴ For, behold, the kings assembled themselves, they passed by together.

⁵ They saw it, then they were amazed. They were dismayed. They hurried away.

⁶ Trembling took hold of them there, pain, as of a woman in travail.

⁷ With the east wind, you break the ships of Tarshish.

⁸ As we have heard, so we have seen, in the city of the LORD of Armies, in the city of our God. God will establish it forever. Selah.

⁹ We have thought about your loving kindness, God, in the middle of your temple.

¹⁰ As is your name, God, so is your praise to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is full of righteousness.

¹¹ Let Mount Zion be glad! Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments.

¹² Walk about Zion, and go around her. Number its towers.

¹³ Notice her bulwarks. Consider her palaces, that you may tell it to the next generation.

¹⁴ For this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even to death.

Around Psalm 48

Book context

PsalmsEditorial draft

Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers used in Israel’s worship, written by several people over a long period. Headings name David most often, along with Asaph, the sons of Korah and others. The collection falls into five books, each ending with a short blessing of the LORD (41:13, 72:19, 89:52, 106:48), and it closes with a call for everything that has breath to praise the LORD (150:6). The psalms hold praise, lament, thanksgiving, confession and trust, so readers find words for nearly every season of life.

Why we say this

HisFullGlory editorial · broad consensus · not yet reviewed by a theological reader

From the text itself

Sources

Notes summarise their sources in our own words. Where Christians or scholars disagree, the note says so. Notes are not original-language evidence and do not replace the text.

AI explanation

About Psalms as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

“How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?” A prayer can begin like that, and in the Psalms it does. Four times the poet asks how long, and then, in the same short song, comes the turn: “But I trust in your loving kindness.”

That honesty runs through the whole book. Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers, and it holds praise, thanksgiving, lament, confession, songs for the king, and reflections on wisdom and on God's law. It is arranged in five books and moves, on the whole, from many laments at the start to pure praise at the end.

Joy, fear, anger, guilt and doubt are all spoken to God directly.

Background

The psalms were written and gathered over several centuries. Their headings link about half of them with David and others with Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon and Moses. They were sung in the worship of the temple and later in synagogues and churches.

How Christians read it

Jews and Christians have prayed the Psalms daily for well over two thousand years. The New Testament quotes them more than any other book and reads many as speaking of Christ, among them Psalms 2, 22 and 110. The psalms that call for judgment on enemies are hard to read. Many understand them as handing vengeance over to God instead of taking it oneself.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 19 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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