Catholic Commentary on Psalm 48

"Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain." (Psalm 48:1)

The City of God

Psalm 48 is a hymn to the city of Jerusalem as the place of God's dwelling, and it has been sung for three thousand years. Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain. Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King. The theological geography of Psalm 48 is cosmic: Jerusalem is not merely a political capital but the place where heaven and earth meet, the city of the Great King, the joy of the whole earth.

The nations assembled against Zion but were struck with terror and fled. This is the pattern: whatever power arrays itself against the city of God will be broken before its walls. St. Augustine wrote his great work "The City of God" largely as a meditation on this psalm and its contrast with the earthly city of Rome, which had been sacked in 410 AD. The earthly city falls. The city of God endures. The Church, in Augustine's reading, is the city of God on pilgrimage through time toward its heavenly destination.

Walk Around Zion

The psalm ends with an instruction: Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers, consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation. For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end. The physical walk around the city's walls is an act of meditation: seeing, counting, considering, so that the next generation can be told. The practice of passing on faith is here grounded in the practice of attentive contemplation. See what God has built. Then tell it to your children.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, the practice of walking around Zion is the practice of contemplating what God has done in the history of the Church. Read it. Know it. Walk around its towers and count its ramparts. Then tell the next generation. The greatness of God is visible in the history of his city, if we take time to see it.

Prayer

Great is the Lord, most worthy of praise in the city of our God. He will be our guide even to the end. Walk with us, Lord. Guard your city. And give us the words to tell the next generation of your greatness and your faithfulness. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

48
Broken Bondage
A song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
 
1 Great is the LORD,
and greatly to be praised
in the city of our God,
His holy mountain.
2 Beautiful in loftiness,
the joy of all the earth,
like the peaks of Zaphon * 48:2 Or in the far north; the most sacred mountain of the Canaanites was Zaphon is Mount Zion,
the city of the great King.
3 God is in her citadels;
He has shown Himself to be a fortress.
 
4 For behold, the kings assembled;
they all advanced together.
5 They saw and were astounded;
they fled in terror.
6 Trembling seized them there,
anguish like a woman in labor.
7 With a wind from the east
You wrecked the ships of Tarshish.† 48:7 Or a fleet of trading ships
 
8 As we have heard, so we have seen
in the city of the LORD of Hosts,
in the city of our God:
God will establish her forever.
Selah
9 Within Your temple, O God,
we contemplate Your loving devotion.
10 Your name, O God, like Your praise,
reaches to the ends of the earth;
Your right hand is full of righteousness.
11 Mount Zion is glad,
the daughters ‡ 48:11 Or the villages of Judah rejoice,
on account of Your judgments.
 
12 March around Zion, encircle her,
count her towers,
13 consider her ramparts, tour her citadels,
that you may tell the next generation.
14 For this God is our God forever and ever;
He will be our guide even till death.§ 48:14 Or He will guide us beyond death

*48:2 48:2 Or in the far north; the most sacred mountain of the Canaanites was Zaphon

†48:7 48:7 Or a fleet of trading ships

‡48:11 48:11 Or the villages

§48:14 48:14 Or He will guide us beyond death

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