Psalm 48

1. Great is the LORD! Him greatly laud  / Within the city of our God!  / To Him your thankful praises render.  / His holy mountain soars in splendor.  / Joy and pride of all the earth,  / She proclaims her Maker’s worth.  / In the north the city towers;  / There the great King shows His powers.  / He, her sure defense, will ever  / Be her strength, forsake her never.

2. Like lions, sharpening their claws,  / Her mighty foes made common cause.  / But when those kings her walls surrounded  / They stood aghast and were astounded.  / Stunned and shaken by the sight,  / They in panic took to flight,  / And the pain that made them tremble  / Throes of travail did resemble.  / Ships of Tarshish Thou hast scattered:  / By the east wind they were shattered.

3. As we have heard, so have we seen  / Here in the city, God’s domain,  / Which He establishes forever.  / The LORD of hosts forsakes it never.  / In Thy temple we have thought  / On the peace Thy hand has brought,  / And Thy steadfast love we ponder.  / As Thy Name, O God of wonder,  / So Thy praise, Thy exaltation,  / Reaches earth’s remotest nation.  / W. van der Kamp, 1972; rev.