For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.
Parallel translations
- WEB For, behold, the kings assembled themselves, they passed by together.
- BSB For behold, the kings assembled; they all advanced together.
- NKJV For behold, the kings assembled, They passed by together.
- NASB ¶For, behold, the kings arrived, They passed by together.
- NLT The kings of the earth joined forces and advanced against the city.
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
Behold, hostile kings assembled and advanced together against the city. It matters because it sets the stage for God's deliverance of His people from united enemies.
Overview
The psalm recalls an occasion when allied kings gathered to threaten Zion. Their combined might seemed formidable. Yet, as the following verses show, their assault collapses before the God who defends His city, a pattern of God's protection that assures His people no enemy alliance can overthrow His purposes in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Rev 17:12–14And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
- Rev 20:8–9And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
- 2 Sam 10:6–19And when the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Bethrehob, and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand footmen, and of king Maacah a thousand men, and of Ishtob twelve thousand men.
- Isa 7:1And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.
- Isa 8:8–10And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.
- Rev 19:20And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
- Ps 83:2–8For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
- Isa 29:5–8Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.
- Isa 10:8For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?
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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 48:4 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.