Psalms 48:1-14

Psalms 42:72

Gordon Churchyard

Words in boxes are from the Bible.

Words marked with a *star are described in the word list at the end.

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The City of God

Psalms 46; Psalms 47 and 48

Jesus said, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you killed the *prophets and put to death the people that (God) sent to you. I often wanted to bring you together, *like a mother bird that brings her young birds together under her *wings. But you would not come". (Matthew 23:37) (A *prophet speaks for God. A *wing is what a bird flies with.)

The Story of Psalms 46; Psalms 47 and 48

We do not know who wrote these 3 psalms. We do not know when their author wrote them. (The author is the person that writes something.) What we do know is that something happened that saved the city of Jerusalem. What was it?

We are not sure, but many Christians and Jews think that it was when Sennacherib attacked Jerusalem. This was in 701 *BC. BC means "years Before Christ came to the earth". Sennacherib was the king of Assyria. Assyria was a strong country, and an enemy of Jerusalem. Assyria attacked Jerusalem in 701 *BC. But God *protected the city. (*Protect is another word for "keep safe".) One night, 185 000 Assyrian soldiers died. We do not know why. It was a strange illness, but we do not know what it was. This is what the Bible says in 2 Kings 19:34-36:

v​​34 (God said) ‘I will *protect this city and I will save it. (I will do this) for myself and for my servant David’.

v​​35 So, it happened that night that the *angel of the *LORD went out. In the place where the Assyrians were, he killed 185 000 (of them). When the others woke up in the morning, they saw all the dead bodies.

v​​36 So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, went away. He went and returned to Nineveh, where he lived.

If Psalms 46:48 are from this date, then perhaps the author was the *prophet Isaiah. Many of the words in these psalms are also words that Isaiah used in his book, but not many other Bible writers used.

But it does not matter who wrote these psalms. What is important is that they tell us that God can *protect his city. The city of Jerusalem is a picture of God’s people. God can *protect his own people! If you want to know more about Jerusalem, read Psalms 87 in this set of psalms.

Psalms 48

(This is) a song.
(It is) a psalm for the (music) leader.

v1 The *LORD is great. He really is worth our *praise.
His *holy mountain is in the city of our God.

v2 Mount Zion is in a beautiful place,
and it makes the whole world very happy.
It is the city of the Great King.
(It is also called) the High Place of Zaphon.

v3 God was in its *defences and he made them very safe.

v4 (This was) when we saw the kings meeting each other.
They crossed (into our country) together.

v5 (Then) they saw (something) that really surprised them.
It made them very frightened (so that) they hurried away!

v6 They were so afraid that they felt pain
*like a woman having a baby.

v7 It was *like the east wind that destroys great ships,
(*like those from) Tarshish.

v8 We have seen in the city of the *LORD of Everything
that it was just as people told us.
(They told us that) God would keep the city of our God
safe *for ever! *SELAH

v9 When we are inside your *temple, God, we think of your kind love.

v10 Your name reaches to the ends of the world
so that (people) give you *praise.
Your right hand is full of the good things that you do.

v11 Because of the things that you decide to do:
• Mount Zion will be very happy
• the daughters of Judah will *praise you.

v12 Walk all round Zion, go to every side of it.
Count the *towers,

v13 think about its strong buildings and make a note of its *defences.
Then you may describe it to your children.

v14 For this God is our God *for ever and ever.
He will be our guide until we die.

What Psalms 48 means

Verses 1 – 2: The *holy mountain is Mount Zion, where they built the *temple. But, in this psalm, the *holy mountain is all the city of Jerusalem. They had built it on the edge of high land, so when you came to it, it looked beautiful. The High Place of Zaphar was where all old religions thought that their god came to the earth. The *psalmist is saying that there is only one Zaphar, and only one God: Jerusalem is the real Zaphar, and the *LORD is the real God.

Verses 3 – 8: The kings in verse 4 were the leaders of the Assyrian army. (Look at The Story of Psalms 46; Psalms 47 and 48 again.) They attacked Jerusalem, but God kept his city safe, and the people that were in it. The kings saw something that frightened them away. We do not know what it was. Perhaps it was the 185 000 dead bodies! God did this just as easily as he could send a wind to destroy a ship! Tarshish was a place in Spain that had the biggest ships in the world at that time. The people living in Jerusalem saw that what they had heard was true: God will keep his people safe! But they must believe in him, obey him and love him. Later, when the Jews did not do these things, God did not keep their city safe.

Verses 9 – 13: After the war was over, the *psalmist tells the people to remember what happened. They were to look at all the places that God had made safe. Then they could tell their children what had happened, and the places where it had happened. This would help their children to believe, obey and love God also. The Bible teaches us that it is important to tell our children what God has done for us.

Verse 14: "God will be our guide until we die" means that he will lead if we will follow him. "*for ever and ever" means "always". After we die, we will be with God if we believe, obey and love him.

Something to do

1. If you have a Bible, read Isaiah chapter 37. It will tell you more about Sennacherib’s attack on Jerusalem.

2. How many names for God can you find in Psalms 46; Psalms 47 and 48?

3. Learn to say Psalms 48:14 by heart. "By heart" means that you can say it without looking at the words.

4. Read about the *temple, and the *sons of Korah, in Psalms 4 and 43.

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level A (1200 words)

July 2001

prophet ~ someone who speaks for God (makes a prophecy).
like ~ another word for ‘as’.
wings ~ what a bird uses to fly with.
BC ~ years Before Christ came to the earth.
protect ~ stop an enemy hurting or killing someone.
protect ~ stop an enemy hurting or killing someone.
angel ~ a servant of God (usually) in heaven.
heaven ~ the home of God.
LORD ~ a special name for God; only his people use it (look after Psalm 25 in Psalms 1-41).
lord ~ someone with authority (with a capital L a name for God, look after Psalm 25 in Psalms 1-41).
praise ~ (noun, or being something) words that say that someone or something is very good.
praise ~ (verb, or doing something) say that someone or something is very good.
holy ~ very very good; only God is really holy (because he always obeys his rules); Jerusalem was holy because people worshipped God there.
worship ~ say that someone is very wonderful.
defences ~ safe walls and buildings.
temple ~ a special building where people worship God.
worship ~ say that someone is very wonderful.
tower ~ a tall, safe building made of stone and/or wood.
psalmist ~ the person that wrote a psalm.'sons of Korah ~ the people that sang in the Temple (look in Psalm 43).
temple ~ a special building where people worship God.
worship ~ say that someone is very wonderful.'