Psalm 48

New International Version

Psalm 48^[a]

A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah.

¹Great is the Lord,^(A) and most worthy of praise,^(B)
in the city of our God,^(C) his holy mountain.^(D)

²Beautiful^(E) in its loftiness,
    the joy of the whole earth,
like the heights of Zaphon^[b]^(F) is Mount Zion,^(G)
    the city of the Great King.^(H)
³God is in her citadels;^(I)
    he has shown himself to be her fortress.^(J)

⁴When the kings joined forces,
    when they advanced together,^(K)
⁵they saw her and were astounded;
    they fled in terror.^(L)
⁶Trembling seized^(M) them there,
    pain like that of a woman in labor.^(N)
⁷You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish^(O)
    shattered by an east wind.^(P)

⁸As we have heard,
    so we have seen
in the city of the Lord Almighty,
    in the city of our God:
God makes her secure
    forever.^[c]^(Q)

⁹Within your temple, O God,
    we meditate^(R) on your unfailing love.^(S)
¹⁰Like your name,^(T) O God,
    your praise reaches to the ends of the earth;^(U)
    your right hand is filled with righteousness.
¹¹Mount Zion rejoices,
    the villages of Judah are glad
    because of your judgments.^(V)

¹²Walk about Zion, go around her,
    count her towers,^(W)
¹³consider well her ramparts,^(X)
    view her citadels,^(Y)
that you may tell of them
    to the next generation.^(Z)

¹⁴For this God is our God for ever and ever;
he will be our guide^(AA) even to the end.

Footnotes

Psalm 48:1 In Hebrew texts 48:1-14 is numbered 48:2-15.
Psalm 48:2 Zaphon was the most sacred mountain of the Canaanites.
Psalm 48:8 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.

2 Samuel 3:31-38

New International Version

³¹Then David said to Joab and all the people with him, “Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth^(A) and walk in mourning^(B) in front of Abner.” King David himself walked behind the bier. ³²They buried Abner in Hebron, and the king wept^(C) aloud at Abner’s tomb. All the people wept also.

³³The king sang this lament^(D) for Abner:

“Should Abner have died as the lawless die?
³⁴ Your hands were not bound,
your feet were not fettered.^(E)
You fell as one falls before the wicked.”

And all the people wept over him again.

³⁵Then they all came and urged David to eat something while it was still day; but David took an oath, saying, “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely,^(F) if I taste bread^(G) or anything else before the sun sets!”

³⁶All the people took note and were pleased; indeed, everything the king did pleased them. ³⁷So on that day all the people there and all Israel knew that the king had no part^(H) in the murder of Abner son of Ner.

³⁸Then the king said to his men, “Do you not realize that a commander and a great man has fallen^(I) in Israel this day?

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Matthew 8:18-22

New International Version

The Cost of Following Jesus^(A)

¹⁸When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake.^(B) ¹⁹Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”

²⁰Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man^(C) has no place to lay his head.”

²¹Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

²²But Jesus told him, “Follow me,^(D) and let the dead bury their own dead.”

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