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Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah.
Psalms 87:3 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Glorious things are spoken about you, city of God. Selah.
  • BSB Glorious things are ascribed to you, O city of God. Selah
  • NKJV Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God! Selah
  • NASB Glorious things are spoken of you, City of God. Selah
  • NLT O city of God, what glorious things are said of you! Interlude

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

Glorious things are spoken of the city of God. Zion's praise rests on God's promises concerning her.

Overview

This verse summarizes the psalm's theme: God has declared glorious things over His city. The 'Selah' invites reflection on her honored destiny. These glories are ultimately fulfilled in the heavenly city, whose builder and maker is God, gathered to Christ as described in Hebrews and Revelation.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 19

  • Ezek 37:27–28My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
  • Ezek 36:11–38And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
  • Ps 48:2–3Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.
  • Rev 21:10–27And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
  • Jer 31:12–13Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.
  • Heb 12:22–23But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
  • Rev 14:1And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
  • Isa 59:20And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.
  • Isa 54:2–10Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
  • Isa 12:6Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.
  • Isa 49:14–26But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.
  • Ps 46:4There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
  • Ps 125:1–2They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.
  • Ps 48:11–13Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments.
  • Jer 3:14–17Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
  • Isa 61:3To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
  • Ezek 40:1–49In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in the selfsame day the hand of the LORD was upon me, and brought me thither.
  • Ezek 36:2Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession:
  • Ezek 48:1–35Now these are the names of the tribes. From the north end to the coast of the way of Hethlon, as one goeth to Hamath, Hazarenan, the border of Damascus northward, to the coast of Hamath; for these are his sides east and west; a portion for Dan.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 87:3YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 87:3 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.