For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.
Parallel translations
- WEB For Yahweh has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his habitation.
- BSB For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His home:
- NKJV For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place:
- NASB ¶For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it as His dwelling place.
- NLT For the Lord has chosen Jerusalem; he has desired it for his home.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Yahweh has chosen Zion as His desired habitation. It declares God's gracious choice to dwell among His people in a particular place.
Overview
The psalm turns to God's own choice of Zion as the place He delights to dwell. Divine election, not human merit, establishes God's dwelling. This points to the church and ultimately the new Jerusalem, the dwelling God chooses through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ps 78:68–69But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.
- Heb 12:22But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
- Ps 87:2The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
- Ps 68:16Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever.
- Ps 76:1–2In Judah is God known: his name is great in Israel.
- Ps 48:1–3Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.
- Isa 14:32What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 132:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.