to revolve · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
Zion
צִ֭יּוֹןTzi.yon
H6726
Tsijon (as a permanent capital) · proper noun, a place name
about
וְהַקִּיפ֑וּהָve.ha.ki.Fu.ha
H5362
to strike with more or less violence (beat · conjunction + verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine plural + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
tell
סִ֝פְר֗וּsif.Ru
H5608
properly · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
towers
מִגְדָּלֶֽיהָmig.da.Lei.ha
H4026
a tower (from its size or height) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine 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
Isaiah 33:18-20 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
Matthew 24:1-2 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
Nehemiah 12:31-40 Then I brought up the princes of Judah upon the wall, and appointed two great companies of them that gave thanks, whereof one went on the ri…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 48:8–end
We have here the good use and improvement which the people of God are taught to make of his late glorious and gracious appearances for them against their enemies, that they might work for their good.
I. Let our faith in the word of God be hereby confirmed. If we compare what God has done with what he has spoken, we shall find that, as we have heard, so have we seen (Psa 48:8), and what we have seen obliges us to believe what we have heard. 1. "As we have heard done in former providences, in the days of old, so have we seen done in our own days." Note, God's latter appearances for his people against his and their enemies are consonant to his former appearances, and should put us in mind of th…
The call to survey Zion, or the Church, as a fortified city, is designed to suggest "how well our God secures His fold." This security is perpetual, and its pledge is His guidance through this life.
Next: Psalms Chapter 49
John Gill on Psalms 48:12
Walk about Zion, and go round about her,.... These words are either an address to the enemies of the church, sarcastically delivered; calling upon them to come, and surround, and besiege Zion, and see what the issue and consequence of it will he, even the same as that of the kings, Psalm 48:4; or to the builders of Zion, as Jarchi observes, to come and take a survey of it, and see what repairs were necessary; or rather to the saints, to the daughters of Judah before mentioned, to take a view of the strength and defence of the church, for their own comfort and encouragement, and to report the same to others for theirs also; for by walking around it may be observed the foundation, the rock and…
Psalm 48:11-14
11. Mount Zion shall rejoice, the daughters [199] of Judah shall be glad, because of thy judgments. 12. Encompass Zion, and go round about her, number her towers. 13. Set your hearts [200] to her walls, exalt her towers, [201] that ye may make report to the generation to come. 14. For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.
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, [202] because they had found from undoubted experience that he was the protector of their welfare. He here makes use of the w…
The Church Fathers
Thence now, by knowledge collecting materials to be the food of contemplation, having embraced nobly the magnitude of knowledge, he advances to the holy recompense of translation hence. For he has heard the Psalm which says: "Encircle Zion, and encompass it, tell upon its towers." For it intimates, I think, those who have sublimely embraced the Word, so as to become lofty towers, and to stand firmly in faith and knowledge.
"Walk about Zion, and embrace her" [Psalm 48:11]. Be it said to them who live ill, in the midst of whom is the people, which has received the mercy of God. In the midst of you is a people living well, "Walk about Zion." But how? "embrace her." Not with scandals, but with love go round about her: that so those who live well in the midst of you ye may imitate, and by imitation of them, be incorporate with Christ, whose members they are. "Walk about Zion, go round about her: speak in the towers thereof." In the height of her bulwarks, set forth the praises thereof.
Those who have wisely surrounded Zion and embraced it spiritually climb up onto its towers. There they tell of it to those not able to ascend its turrets.… Always the insidious foe has his eye on it, to see if he can approach and capture it. For Satan has his armies, and with them he lays siege to souls. He has siege engines that he moves up close to the walls so as to take its towers by force. But you, says the psalm, must preach from the towers.… Preach, proclaim, without intermission, without end. Your enemy does not sleep; he goes round like a raging animal seeking someone to devour. Keep singing the praises of the Lord, for he can smash the lion's teeth and break his jaw to pieces.
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
Towers — Of Babel (Gen. 11:4), Edar (Gen. 35:21), Penuel (Judg. 8:9, 17), Shechem (9:46), David (Cant. 4:4), Lebanon (7:4), Syene (Ezek. 29:10), Hananeel (Zech. 14:10), Siloam (Luke 13:4). There were several…
Cities · Often fortified by art — Often fortified by art
Excellency And Glory Of The Church, The · Consist in its: Strength and defence — Consist in its: Strength and defence
Jerusalem · Called: Zion — Called: Zion
Temple · .ZION — .ZION
Towers · Of Jerusalem remarkable for number, strength, and beauty — Of Jerusalem remarkable for number, strength, and beauty
Walls · Of cities: Had towers built on them — Of cities: Had towers built on them
Zion · worship — worship
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).
(Heb.: 48:13-15) The call is addressed not to the enemies of Jerusalem - for it would be absurd to invite such to look round about upon Jerusalem with joy and gladness - but to the people of Jerusalem itself. From the time of the going forth of the army to the arrival of the news of victory, they have remained behind the walls of the city in anxious expectation. Now they are to make the circuit of the city (הקּיף, still more definite than סבב, Jos 6:3) outside the walls, and examine them and see that its towers are all standing, its bulwark is intact, its palaces are resplendent as formerly. לחילה, "upon its bulwark," = לחילהּ (Zac 9:4), with softened suffix as in Isa 23:17; Psa 45:6, and fr…
towers . . . fortified walls . . . citadels: These structures provide a visual tour of Zion’s strength.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 48:12
Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.
Walk about Zion; often beat her bounds, even as Israel marched around Jericho. With leisurely and careful inspection survey her. And go round about her. Encircle her again and again with loving perambulations. We cannot too frequently or too deeply consider the origin, privileges, history, security, and glory of the church. Some subjects deserve but a passing thought; this is worthy of the most patient consideration. Tell the towers thereof. See if any of them have crumbled, or have been demolished. Is the church of God what she was in doctrine, in strength and in beauty? Her foes counted her towers in envy first, and then in…
