Walk about Zion, and go around her. Number its towers.
Parallel translations
- KJV Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.
- BSB March around Zion, encircle her, count her towers,
- NKJV Walk about Zion, And go all around her. Count her towers;
- NASB Walk around Zion and encircle her; Count her towers;
- NLT Go, inspect the city of Jerusalem. Walk around and count the many towers.
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
The people are invited to inspect Zion's defenses—walls and towers—as evidence of God's protection. Faith looks at the visible signs of His faithfulness.
Overview
Worshipers are told to walk around the city and count its towers, surveying its strong defenses. The point is not pride in masonry but testimony to God's preservation of His people. The intact city becomes a witness to God's protecting care, a lesson to be passed on, as the next verses make clear.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Isa 33:18–20Your heart will meditate on the terror. Where is he who counted? Where is he who weighed? Where is he who counted the towers?
- Matt 24:1–2Jesus went out from the temple, and was going on his way. His disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple.
- Neh 12:31–40Then I brought up the princes of Judah on the wall, and appointed two great companies who gave thanks and went in procession. One went on the right hand on the wall toward the dung gate;
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 48:12 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.