Psalms 48:1

Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Great	גָּ֘ד֤וֹל ga.Dol	H1419	great (in any sense) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
LORD	יְהוָ֣ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
greatly	מְאֹ֑ד me.'Od	H3966	properly · cardinal number, masculine singular absolute
praised	וּמְהֻלָּ֣ל u.me.hu.Lal	H1984	to be clear (orig. of sound · conjunction + verb, pual passive participle, masculine singular absolute
city	בְּעִ֥יר be.'Ir	H5892	a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
God	אֱ֝לֹהֵ֗ינוּ 'e.lo.Hei.nu	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
mountain	הַר har-	H2022	a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · noun, common masculine singular construct
holiness	קָדְשֽׁוֹ ka.de.Sho	H6944	a sacred place or thing · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Micah 4:1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and…
Zechariah 8:3 Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and t…
Isaiah 2:2-3 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shal…
Psalms 96:4 For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.
Psalms 46:4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
Psalms 145:3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.
Revelation 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Psalms 87:3 Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 48:1-7

The psalmist is designing to praise Jerusalem and to set forth the grandeur of that city; but he begins with the praises of God and his greatness (Psa 48:1), and ends with the praises of God and his goodness, Psa 48:14. For, whatever is the subject of our praises, God must be both the Alpha and Omega of them. And, particularly, whatever is said to the honour of the church must redound to the honour of the church's God. What is here said to the honour of Jerusalem is, I. That the King of heaven owns it: it is the city of our God (Psa 48:1), which he chose out of all the cities of Israel to put his name there. Of Zion he said kinder things than ever he said of place upon earth. This is my rest…

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John Gill on Psalms 48:1

Great is the Lord,.... The same that in the foregoing psalm is said to be gone, up to heaven with a shout, to sit on the throne of his holiness, to reign over the Heathen, and to be King over all the earth; who is great, and the Son of the Highest; the great God and our Saviour; great in his person as God-man, God manifest in the flesh, his Father's fellow and equal; and in the perfections of his nature, being of great power, and of great wisdom, and of great faithfulness, and of strict holiness and justice, and of wonderful grace and goodness; great in his works of creation and providence; in his miraculous operations when on earth, and in the work of man's redemption and salvation; great i…

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John Calvin on Psalms 48:1-3

Psalm 48:1-3 1. Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. 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. 3. God in her palaces is known for a defence, [or fortress.] 1. Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised. The prophet, before proceeding to make mention of that special example of the favor of God towards them, to which I have adverted, teaches in general that the city of Jerusalem was happy and prosperous, because God had been graciously pleased to take upon him the charge of defending and preserving it. In this way he separates and distinguishes…

The Church Fathers

He is everywhere great and powerful, but our narrow mind cannot take in the greatness of his divine power and grace. The closer our knowledge gets to God, the more wonderful his majesty appears to be.
— Ambrose of Milan, Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms, On Psalm 48

Often the divine Scripture gives the name "city" not to the building but to the way of life. Accordingly, here too he says the Lord of all was shown to be great through the things done by him in connection with his city, which the elevation of its teachings rendered illustrious as though located on a lofty and mighty hill.
— Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 48:1

While they say "great," they do not go so far as to say how great; no one knows that, after all, so he added as well, "and highly to be praised." There is no limit, you see, to his greatness. What it means, however, is something like this: It is necessary to praise him and sing to him alone, and this to an extraordinary degree; but the need is to sing his praises both for this infinite and incomprehensible greatness of his being and for the excess of his beneficence to us.
— John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 48:1

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Holiness Of God, The · Should be magnified — Should be magnified
Jerusalem · Called: City of God — Called: City of God

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Psalms 48:1

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 48:1-7

John Gill on Psalms 48:1

John Calvin on Psalms 48:1-3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 48:1

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 48:1-7

John Gill on Psalms 48:1

John Calvin on Psalms 48:1-3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 48:1-8

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 48:1-2

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 48:1