23 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Psalms 46 To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth. The word "Alamoth" is thought by some, as Aben Ezra, to be the beginning of a song, to which this psalm was set; and by others a high tune, such as virgins express; and by others the name of musical instruments, as Jarchi and Kimchi; which seems most...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
God [is] our refuge and strength,.... That is, Christ, who is God as well as man, is the "refuge" for souls to fly unto for safety; as for sensible sinners, in a view of danger, wrath, and misery, so for saints, in every time of distress; typified by the cities of refuge, under the legal dispensation; [See comments on Psalms 9:9]; and he it is...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
This psalm encourages us to hope and trust in God, and his power, and providence, and gracious presence with his church in the worst of times, and directs us to give him the glory of what he has done for us and what he will do: probably it was penned upon occasion of David's victories over the neighbouring nations (2 Sam. viii.), and the rest...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. All creatures have their places of refuge. “ As for the stork, the fir trees are her house. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies.” All men also have their places of refuge, though some are “refuges of lies.” But God is our refuge and strength,”...
Spurgeon - Treasury of David - Charles H. Spurgeon
Ver. 1. God is our refuge and strength. Not our armies, or our fortresses. Israel's boast is in Jehovah, the only living and true God. Others vaunt their impregnable castles, placed on inaccessible rocks, and secured with gates of iron, but God is a far better refuge from distress than all these: and when the time comes to carry the war into the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore will not we fear,...., The consideration of the Lord's being the refuge, strength, and help of his people, in all times of trouble and distress, has a great influence on their faith and confidence, and makes them intrepid and fearless in the midst of the greatest dangers: nor indeed have they any reason to be afraid of men or devils,...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Here we have, you perceive, a mention of the greatest convulsions of nature, yet the believer fears not. Doubtless, too, these...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[Though] the waters thereof roar [and] be troubled,.... The noise of which causes men's hearts to fail them for fear, Lu 21:25; [though] the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. All these figurative expressions denote the hurlyburlies, confusions, and disorders that have been or will be in the world; amidst all which the people of God have...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Selah. We may well pause, and renew our confidence in the God who never has failed us, and who never will fail any who trust him.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[There] is a river,.... The allusion is either to the river Kidron, which ran by Jerusalem; or to the waters of Shiloah, which by different courses and branches, ran through the city of Jerusalem, and supplied the several parts of it with water, to the joy and comfort of its inhabitants: but the words are to be understood in a figurative sense, as...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
There to a river, the stream whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the most High. Whatever river may have been in the psalmist’s mind, it was the symbol of sovereign grace, flowing freshly and freely from the sacred fountain of eternal love, to make glad the people of God. And now we have the inspired Book,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
God [is] in the midst of her,.... The church and people of God; not merely by his essence, power, and providence, as he is in the midst of the world; but by his gracious presence, and which always continues, though not always perceived; and is a sufficient antidote against all fear of men and devils; she shall not be moved; though the earth may;...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The Hebrew expression is, “at the turning of the morning,” our marginal reading gives it, “when the morning appeareth.” “God shall help her at the turning of the morning.” At that period when the night is the blackest, just before the light begins to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The Heathen raged,.... As they did at Christ's first coming, against him, his Gospel, and people; and which continued during the three first centuries; and then the Pagan kingdoms belonging to the Roman empire were removed; since then another sort of Heathens, the Papists, have raged, in violent persecutions and bloodshed of the saints and martyrs...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. God hath but to speak, and his stoutest foe shall dissolve like snow when the sun shineth upon it.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The Lord of hosts [is] with us,.... The Targum is, "the Word of the Lord of hosts". He whose name is Immanuel, which is, by interpretation, "God with us", Matthew 1:23; who is King of kings, and Lord of lords; who has all creatures in heaven and earth at his command, whom all the hosts of angels obey; he is on the side of his people, and therefore...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. Here the psalmist invites us to behold what God has done in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Come, behold the works of the Lord,.... Of nature and grace, especially those of Providence; both in a way of judgment, as in this verse; and of mercy, as in Psalms 46:9. These words are an address of the psalmist to his friends, as Apollinarius supplies it; or of the church to the fearful among them, who were dismayed at the commotions and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the earth,.... As at the birth of Christ, the Prince of peace, in the times of Augustus Caesar, when there was a general peace in the world, though it did not last long; and in the times of Constantine, signified by silence in heaven for half an hour, Revelation 8:1; when for a while there was a cessation...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Be still, and know that I [am] God,.... These words are thought by some to be spoken by the Lord to the nations of the world, to "cease from war", as the Targum renders the words; or from going up any more against Jerusalem, as Jarchi interprets them; and that they were spoken to them before the breaking of their bows, c. as Aben Ezra observes or...