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48. Psalm 48

¹ Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise,
in the city of our God, his holy mountain.

    ² Beautiful in its loftiness,
   the joy of the whole earth,
like the heights of Zaphon Zaphon was the most sacred mountain of the Canaanites. is Mount Zion,
   the city of the Great King.
³ God is in her citadels;
   he has shown himself to be her fortress.

    ⁴ When the kings joined forces,
   when they advanced together,
⁵ they saw her and were astounded;
   they fled in terror.
⁶ Trembling seized them there,
   pain like that of a woman in labor.
⁷ You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish
   shattered by an east wind.

    ⁸ 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. The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.

    ⁹ Within your temple, O God,
   we meditate on your unfailing love.
¹⁰ Like your name, O God,
   your praise reaches to the ends of the earth;
   your right hand is filled with righteousness.
¹¹ Mount Zion rejoices,
   the villages of Judah are glad
   because of your judgments.

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

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

11 Mount Zion shall rejoice The Psalmist now concludes his exhortation to rejoicing, telling us that Jerusalem and the other cities of Judea shall have cause to commend the righteousness of God, ²⁰²²⁰² “Auront matiere de liesse.” — Fr. “Shall have matter of gladness.” because they had found from undoubted experience that he was the protector of their welfare. He here makes use of the word judgment, because God, who undertook the cause of his Church, openly showed that he was the enemy of her oppressors, and that he would repress their presumption and audacity.