The kings of the earth joined forces and advanced against the city.
Parallel translations
- WEB For, behold, the kings assembled themselves, they passed by together.
- KJV For, lo, the kings were assembled, 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.
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 17:12–14The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority as kings, with the beast, for one hour.
- Rev 20:8–9and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
- 2 Sam 10:6–19When the children of Ammon saw that they had become odious to David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth Rehob, and the Syrians of Zobah, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah with one thousand men, and the men of Tob twelve thousand men.
- Isa 7:1In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.
- Isa 8:8–10It will sweep onward into Judah. It will overflow and pass through; it will reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of its wings will fill the width of your land, Immanuel.
- Rev 19:20The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his sight, with which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.
- Ps 83:2–8For, behold, your enemies are stirred up. Those who hate you have lifted up their heads.
- Isa 29:5–8But the multitude of your foes will be like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless ones like chaff that blows away. Yes, it will be in an instant, suddenly.
- Isa 10:8For he says, “Aren’t all of my princes 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.