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 Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon
2 beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King.
2 breathtaking in its heights - earth's joy. Zion Mountain looms in the North, city of the world-King.
2 Beautiful in elevation, The joy of the whole earth, Is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, The city of the great King.
2 It is high and magnificent; the whole earth rejoices to see it! Mount Zion, the holy mountain, is the city of the great King!
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
2 From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
2 From the dazzle of Zion, God blazes into view.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth.
2 From Mount Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines in glorious radiance.
(Read Psalm 50:1-6)
This psalm is a psalm of instruction. It tells of the coming of Christ and the day of judgment, in which God will call men to account; and the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of judgement. All the children of men are concerned to know the right way of worshipping the Lord, in spirit and in truth. In the great day, our God shall come, and make those hear his judgement who would not hearken to his law. Happy are those who come into the covenant of grace, by faith in the Redeemer's atoning sacrifice, and show the sincerity of their love by fruits of righteousness. When God rejects the services of those who rest in outside performances, he will graciously accept those who seek him aright. It is only by sacrifice, by Christ, the great Sacrifice, from whom the sacrifices of the law derived what value they had, that we can be accepted of God. True and righteous are his judgments; even sinners' own consciences will be forced to acknowledge the righteousness of God.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 48:2
Commentary on Psalm 48:1-7
(Read Psalm 48:1-7)
Jerusalem is the city of our God: none on earth render him due honour except the citizens of the spiritual Jerusalem. Happy the kingdom, the city, the family, the heart, in which God is great, in which he is all. There God is known. The clearer discoveries are made to us of the Lord and his greatness, the more it is expected that we should abound in his praises. The earth is, by sin, covered with deformity, therefore justly might that spot of ground, which was beautified with holiness, be called the joy of the whole earth; that which the whole earth has reason to rejoice in, that God would thus in very deed dwell with man upon the earth. The kings of the earth were afraid of it. Nothing in nature can more fitly represent the overthrow of heathenism by the Spirit of the gospel, than the wreck of a fleet in a storm. Both are by the mighty power of the Lord.