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F E AT U R E S
PSALM 46:8 | 929
10 Listen, daughter, and pay careful attention:
Forget your people a and your father’s house.
11 Let the king be enthralled by your beauty;
honor b him, for he is your lord. c
12 The city of Tyre will come with a gift, a d
people of wealth will seek your favor.
13 All glorious e is the princess within her chamber;
her gown is interwoven with gold.
14 In embroidered garments she is led to the king; f
her virgin companions follow her —
those brought to be with her.
15 Led in with joy and gladness,
they enter the palace of the king.
45:10 a Dt 21:13
45:11 b Ps 95:6
c Isa 54:5
45:12 d Ps 22:29;
Isa 49:23
45:13 e Isa 61:10
45:14 f SS 1:4
45:17 g Mal 1:11
h Ps 138:4
46:1 i Ps 9:9; 14:6
j Dt 4:7
46:2 k Ps 23:4 l Ps 82:5
m Ps 18:7
46:3 n Ps 93:3
46:4 o Ps 48:1, 8;
Isa 60:14
46:5 p Isa 12:6;
Eze 43:7 q Ps 37:40
r
s
46:6 Ps 2:1 Ps 68:32
t Mic 1:4
46:7 u 2Ch 13:12
v Ps 9:9
46:8 w Ps 66:5
x Isa 61:4
16 Your sons will take the place of your fathers;
you will make them princes throughout the land.
17 I will perpetuate your memory through all generations; g
therefore the nations will praise you h for ever and ever.
Psalm 46 b
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah.
According to alamoth. c A song.
1 God is our refuge i and strength,
an ever-present j help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, k though the earth give way l
and the mountains fall m into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar n and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging. d
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city
of God, o
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, p she will not fall;
God will help q her at break of day.
6 Nations r are in uproar, kingdoms s fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts. t
20,000 verse-
by-verse study
notes
7 The Lord Almighty is with us; u
the God of Jacob is our fortress. v
8 Come and see what the Lord has done, w
the desolations x he has brought on the earth.
a
d
b In Hebrew texts 46:1-11 is numbered 46:2-12.
c Title: Probably a musical term
12 Or A Tyrian robe is among the gifts
3 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verses 7 and 11.
45:10 – 12 your people . . . Tyre. May suggest
that the bride is a foreigner.
45:16 Your sons . . . princes. With his bride, the
king will possibly have sons to carry on his
legacy, and they will represent him as princes
throughout the land.
45:17 your memory. The psalmist, who has
claimed special skills as a writer (v. 1), comes
full circle to assure the king that he will help
to guarantee his memory in perpetuity. na-
tions. The nations who rebelled against the
Lord and his anointed (Ps 2) would now praise
the king forever. The worldwide vision of Ps
67 is also reflected here.
sometimes called the “psalms of Zion” (Pss
48; 76; 84; 87; 122; 132). Four of the seven are
psalms of the sons of Korah (Pss 46; 48; 84;
87). On the importance of Zion, see notes on
2:6; 9:11.
The psalm begins by affirming God as his
people’s refuge and strength over all of cre-
ation (vv. 1 – 3) and then highlights the impor-
tance of Zion, the “city of God” (v. 4), as the
so-called capital of God’s earthly kingdom
(vv. 4 – 6). The refrain (vv. 7,11) brackets the
final affirmations that God is also over all the
nations (vv. 8 – 10).
46:1 refuge. The theme of refuge sounded at
the beginning of the Psalter (see note on 2:12)
Ps 46 God Is Our Refuge and Strength. This is prominent in this psalm (vv. 1,7,11).
psalm responds to the laments of Pss 42 – 44 46:3 waters roar and foam. See note on 93:3.
by affirming that God is Israel’s refuge, 46:4 a river. There is no river in Jerusalem,
strength, and fortress, sovereign over nature so the reference here is symbolic: such a
and nations. It also responds to Ps 45 by refo- river would sustain Jerusalem (in contrast to
cusing attention on God rather than the king. the raging waters of v. 3). Ezek 47:1 – 12 and
It inspired Martin Luther’s hymn “A Mighty Rev 22:1 – 2 also speak of a river of life flow-
Fortress Is Our God.” It is the first of what are ing from Jerusalem. city of God. Mount Zion
9780310450405_int_03a_job_ps_NIV_BTSB_FINAL.indd 929
(Jerusalem), the place God chose to place his
name (Deut 12:5 – 7), the earthly “capital” of
God’s kingdom (see notes on 2:6; 9:11). holy
place. See note on 84:1. Most High. See note
on 7:8.
46:6 God’s power is on display: with even a
simple raised voice, nations are rebuked, the
earth melts. This is reminiscent of the power
of God’s word in creation in Gen 1 (“And God
said”).
46:7 The Lord. Only the second time that
Book II of the Psalter (Pss 42 – 72) uses God’s
personal name (the first is in 42:8). See note
on 8:1 for the significance of this name. Al-
mighty. See note on 24:10, referring to all of
the heavenly forces, whether simply to the
sun, moon, and stars or to angelic forces.
The term highlights the Lord’s omnipotence
over all things. the God of Jacob is our for-
tress. The refrain, repeated in v. 11, affirms the
theme of refuge as well as the Lord’s pres-
ence with his people (see note on 18:1 – 2).
Jacob. See note on 135:4.
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