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Wednesday, July 16th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Psalms 48:4

The kings got together, they united and came. They took one look and shook their heads, they scattered and ran away. They doubled up in pain like a woman having a baby.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - War;  

Dictionaries:

- Fausset Bible Dictionary - Jehovah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - English Versions;   Greek Versions of Ot;   Joy;   Korah, Korahites;   Psalms;   Sin;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - God;   Korah;   Psalms the book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Bible, the;   Psalms, Book of;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for December 12;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Look! The kings assembled;they advanced together.
Hebrew Names Version
For, behold, the kings assembled themselves, They passed by together.
King James Version
For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.
English Standard Version
For behold, the kings assembled; they came on together.
New Century Version
Kings joined together and came to attack the city.
New English Translation
For look, the kings assemble; they advance together.
Amplified Bible
For, lo, the kings assembled themselves, They [came and] passed by together.
New American Standard Bible
For, behold, the kings arrived, They passed by together.
World English Bible
For, behold, the kings assembled themselves, They passed by together.
Geneva Bible (1587)
For lo, the Kings were gathered, and went together.
Legacy Standard Bible
For, behold, the kings assembled themselves,They passed by together.
Berean Standard Bible
For behold, the kings assembled; they all advanced together.
Contemporary English Version
Kings joined forces to attack the city,
Complete Jewish Bible
In its citadels God has been revealed as a strong defense.
Darby Translation
For behold, the kings assembled themselves, they passed by together;
Easy-to-Read Version
Once some kings met together and planned an attack against this city. They marched toward the city,
George Lamsa Translation
For, lo, the kings were prepared, and they passed by together.
Good News Translation
The kings gathered together and came to attack Mount Zion.
Lexham English Bible
For see, the kings assembled; they advanced together.
Literal Translation
For, lo, the kings met together; they passed by together;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For lo, kynges are gathered, and gone by together.
American Standard Version
For, lo, the kings assembled themselves, They passed by together.
Bible in Basic English
For see! the kings came together by agreement, they were joined together.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
God in her palaces hath made Himself known for a stronghold.
King James Version (1611)
For loe, the kings were assembled: they passed by together.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
For lo kinges did assemble, and passe by together:
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For, behold the kings of the earth were assembled, they came together.
English Revised Version
For, lo, the kings assembled themselves, they passed by together.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For lo! the kyngis of erthe weren gaderid togidere; thei camen into o place.
Update Bible Version
For, look, the kings assembled themselves, They passed by together.
Webster's Bible Translation
For lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.
New King James Version
For behold, the kings assembled, They passed by together.
New Living Translation
The kings of the earth joined forces and advanced against the city.
New Life Bible
For, see, the kings gathered themselves and went up together.
New Revised Standard
Then the kings assembled, they came on together.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For lo! Kings - Met as appointed, Passed by together;
Douay-Rheims Bible
(47-5) For behold the kings of the earth assembled themselves: they gathered together.
Revised Standard Version
For lo, the kings assembled, they came on together.
Young's Literal Translation
For, lo, the kings met, they passed by together,
New American Standard Bible (1995)
For, lo, the kings assembled themselves, They passed by together.

Contextual Overview

1A Psalm of the Sons of Korah God majestic, praise abounds in our God-city! His sacred mountain, breathtaking in its heights—earth's joy. Zion Mountain looms in the North, city of the world-King. God in his citadel peaks impregnable. 4The kings got together, they united and came. They took one look and shook their heads, they scattered and ran away. They doubled up in pain like a woman having a baby. 7You smashed the ships of Tarshish with a storm out of the East. We heard about it, then we saw it with our eyes— In God 's city of Angel Armies, in the city our God Set on firm foundations, firm forever.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Psalms 83:2-8, 2 Samuel 10:6, 2 Samuel 10:14, 2 Samuel 10:16-19, Isaiah 7:1, Isaiah 8:8-10, Isaiah 10:8, Isaiah 29:5-8, Revelation 17:12-14, Revelation 19:20, Revelation 20:8, Revelation 20:9

Reciprocal: Joshua 5:1 - heard Joshua 10:2 - they feared Joshua 10:16 - and hid Judges 5:19 - kings Judges 5:31 - So let 2 Samuel 10:19 - feared 2 Kings 6:11 - Therefore 2 Kings 7:7 - they arose 2 Kings 19:26 - of small power Psalms 2:2 - kings Psalms 76:12 - He shall Isaiah 64:2 - that the nations Jeremiah 21:2 - according Jeremiah 49:37 - to be Lamentations 4:12 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 12:2
I'll make you a great nation and bless you. I'll make you famous; you'll be a blessing. I'll bless those who bless you; those who curse you I'll curse. All the families of the Earth will be blessed through you."
Genesis 28:3
"And may The Strong God bless you and give you many, many children, a congregation of peoples; and pass on the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants so that you will get this land in which you live, this land God gave Abraham."
Genesis 35:11
God continued, I am The Strong God. Have children! Flourish! A nation—a whole company of nations!— will come from you. Kings will come from your loins; the land I gave Abraham and Isaac I now give to you, and pass it on to your descendants.
Genesis 46:3
God said, "I am the God of your father. Don't be afraid of going down to Egypt. I'm going to make you a great nation there. I'll go with you down to Egypt; I'll also bring you back here. And when you die, Joseph will be with you; with his own hand he'll close your eyes."
Genesis 47:27
And so Israel settled down in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property and flourished. They became a large company of people. Jacob lived in Egypt for seventeen years. In all, he lived 147 years.
Exodus 1:11
So they organized them into work-gangs and put them to hard labor under gang-foremen. They built the storage cities Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh. But the harder the Egyptians worked them the more children the Israelites had—children everywhere! The Egyptians got so they couldn't stand the Israelites and treated them worse than ever, crushing them with slave labor. They made them miserable with hard labor—making bricks and mortar and back-breaking work in the fields. They piled on the work, crushing them under the cruel workload.
Deuteronomy 32:8
When the High God gave the nations their stake, gave them their place on Earth, He put each of the peoples within boundaries under the care of divine guardians. But God himself took charge of his people, took Jacob on as his personal concern.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For, lo, the kings were assembled,.... As the princes of the Philistines to seek for David, when in the strong hold of Zion, 2 Samuel 5:17; as the Ethiopians in the time of Asa, 2 Chronicles 14:9; and the Moabites and Ammonites in the times of Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles 20:1; and the kings of Syria and Israel in the times of Ahaz, Isaiah 7:1; and Sennacherib with his princes, who, in his esteem, were kings, in the times of Hezekiah, 2 Kings 18:17; which are instances of the kings, of the nations' gathering together against Zion, the city of Jerusalem, and people of the Jews, who were typical of the church of Christ; and that without success, and to their own confusion and destruction; though this seems to refer to the latter day of the Gospel dispensation, when all the kings of the earth, Pagan, Papal, and Mahometan, will be gathered together at the instigation of Satan, to the battle of the great day of the Lord God Almighty, in a place called Armageddon, where they will be defeated by Christ the King of kings,

Revelation 16:13. Jarchi and Kimchi interpret the passage of Gog and Magog gathering together to fight against Jerusalem, with which compare Revelation 20:8;

they passed by together; either to the battle, as Jarchi explains it; or they passed by Jerusalem, the city of our God, the church, without entering into it, or doing it any harm.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For, lo, the kings were assembled - There is evidently allusion here to some fact that had occurred; some gathering together of kings and their armies, with a view to besiege or attack Jerusalem. The kings referred to, if the allusion here is, as is supposed, to the time of Jehoshaphat, were the kings of Ammon and of Moab, and of Mount Seir, and perhaps others, not particularly mentioned, who came up against Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles 20:1, 2 Chronicles 20:10.

They passed by together - That is, they were smitten with consternation; they were so impressed with the beauty, the majesty, the strength of the city, that they passed along without venturing to attack it. Or, perhaps, the meaning may be, that they were discomfited and overthrown as suddenly “as if” the mere sight of the city had filled their minds with dread, and had made them desist from their intended assault. Compare 2 Chronicles 20:22-25.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 48:4. For, lo, the kings were assembled — Many of the neighbouring potentates, at different times, envied the prosperity of the Jewish nation, and coveted the riches of the temple; but they had no power against it till the cup of Jewish transgression was full. In vain did they assemble - confederate, and invade the land. Saw it - reconnoitered the place; marvelled at its excellence and strength, for they were troubled - struck with fear; hasted away for fear of destruction, for fear took hold on them as pains seize on a woman in travail. Those who came to destroy were glad to make their own escape.


 
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