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Sunday, September 22nd, 2024
the Week of Proper 20 / Ordinary 25
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New Living Translation

Psalms 87:1

A song. A psalm of the descendants of Korah.

On the holy mountain stands the city founded by the Lord .

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Church;   House;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Foundation;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Korah;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Zion;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Jerusalem;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Psalms, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Holy Spirit;   Korah, Korahites;   Priests and Levites;   Psalms;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Navel;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Jerusalem;   Korah;   Psalms the book of;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Foundation;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Eschatology of the Old Testament (with Apocryphal and Apocalyptic Writings);   Jesus Christ (Part 1 of 2);   Psalms, Book of;  

Parallel Translations

Legacy Standard Bible
His foundation is in the holy mountains.
New American Standard Bible (1995)

A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A Song.

His foundation is in the holy mountains.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
God loueth the gates of Sion more then all the dwellynges of Iacob:
Darby Translation

Of the sons of Korah. A Psalm. A Song.

His foundation is in the mountains of holiness.
New King James Version
His foundation is in the holy mountains.
Literal Translation
For the Sons of Korah. A Psalm. A Song. His foundation is in the holy mountains.
Easy-to-Read Version

A song of praise from the Korah family.

The Lord built his city on the holy hills.
World English Bible
<> His foundation is in the holy mountains.
King James Version (1611)
[A Psalme or song for the sonnes of Korah.] His foundation is in the holy mountaines.
King James Version
His foundation is in the holy mountains.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Hir foundacions are vpo the holy hilles: the LORDE loueth the gates of Sion more, the all ye dwelliges of Iacob.
THE MESSAGE
A Korah Psalm He founded Zion on the Holy Mountain— and oh, how God loves his home! Loves it far better than all the homes of Jacob put together! God's hometown—oh! everyone there is talking about you!
Amplified Bible
His foundation is on the holy mountain.
American Standard Version

A Psalm of the sons of Korah; a Song.

His foundation is in the holy mountains.
Bible in Basic English
This house is resting on the holy mountain.
Update Bible Version
A Psalm of the sons of Korah; a Song. His foundation is in the holy mountains.
Webster's Bible Translation
A Psalm [or] Song for the sons of Korah. His foundation [is] in the holy mountains.
New English Translation

Written by the Korahites; a psalm, a song.

The Lord 's city is in the holy hills.
Contemporary English Version

(A psalm and a song by the people of Korah.)

Zion was built by the Lord on the holy mountain,
Complete Jewish Bible
A psalm of the sons of Korach. A song: On the holy mountains is [the city's] foundation.
Geneva Bible (1587)
A Psalme or song committed to the sonnes of Korah. God layde his foundations among the holy mountaines.
George Lamsa Translation
HER foundations are on his holy mountain.
Hebrew Names Version
<
> His foundation is in the holy mountains.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
A Psalm of the sons of Korah; a Song. His foundation is in the holy mountains.
New Life Bible
The city God built stands on the holy mountains.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
His foundations are in the holy mountains.
English Revised Version
A Psalm of the sons of Korah; a Song. His foundation is in the holy mountains.
Berean Standard Bible
A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A Song. His foundation is on the holy mountains.
New Revised Standard

Of the Korahites. A Psalm. A Song.

On the holy mount stands the city he founded;
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
His foundation, is in the holy mountains:
Douay-Rheims Bible
(86-1) <For the sons of Core, a psalm of a canticle.> The foundations thereof are the holy mountains:
Lexham English Bible

Of the sons of Korah. A psalm. A song.

His foundation is on the holy mountains.
English Standard Version

A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. A Song.

On the holy mount stands the city he founded;
New American Standard Bible
His foundation is in the holy mountains.
New Century Version

A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.

The Lord built Jerusalem on the holy mountain.
Good News Translation
The Lord built his city on the sacred hill;
Christian Standard Bible®

A psalm of the sons of Korah. A song.

His foundation is on the holy mountains.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The title of the sixte and eiytetithe salm. `The salm of the song of the sones of Chore.
Young's Literal Translation
By sons of Korah. -- A Psalm, a song. His foundation [is] in holy mountains.
Revised Standard Version
A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. A Song. On the holy mount stands the city he founded;

Contextual Overview

1

A song. A psalm of the descendants of Korah.

On the holy mountain stands the city founded by the Lord .
2 He loves the city of Jerusalem more than any other city in Israel. 3 O city of God, what glorious things are said of you! Interlude

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

for: or, of

His: 2 Chronicles 3:1, Isaiah 28:16, Matthew 16:18, 1 Corinthians 3:10, 1 Corinthians 3:11, Ephesians 2:20-22, 1 Peter 2:4-8

the holy: Psalms 48:1, Psalms 48:2, Psalms 68:16, Psalms 121:1, Isaiah 2:2, Isaiah 2:3, Isaiah 56:7, Zechariah 8:3, 2 Peter 1:18

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 14:21 - the city 2 Chronicles 32:19 - the God Psalms 15:1 - holy Psalms 68:15 - of God Psalms 99:9 - his holy Psalms 122:2 - General Isaiah 14:32 - the Lord Jeremiah 31:23 - and mountain Daniel 9:16 - thy holy Joel 2:1 - in my Zephaniah 3:11 - because of my holy John 4:20 - and ye

Gill's Notes on the Bible

His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Jewish writers connect these words with the title of the psalm, and make the sense to be this; "the foundation" or argument "of it", the psalm, "is concerning the holy mountains" of Zion and Jerusalem; so Aben Ezra, Jarchi, and Kimchi; and the Targum joins them together thus,

"by the hands of the sons of Korah is said a song, which is founded by the mouth of the fathers that were of old:''

but the words are a part of the song or psalm, which begins in an abrupt manner, just as Song of Solomon 1:2 and may be rendered either "its foundation", or "his foundation", and refer either to the church, or to the Lord, and the sense is the same either way; for the church's foundation is also the Lord's foundation, a foundation of his laying; see Isaiah 14:32 and is laid "in the holy mountains"; alluding to the mountains of Zion and Moriah, where the temple stood, a type of the church; or to the mountains about Jerusalem, by which also the church is frequently signified; and by those, in a mystical and spiritual sense, may be meant the purposes and decrees of God, which are as mountains of brass, Zechariah 6:1, they are like the ancient mountains for the antiquity of them, and are high, and not to be reached and searched into, and are firm, solid, and immoveable; and are also holy, particularly the decree of election, that source of all true holiness, which has sanctification for its end and means; and is the foundation of the church, which supports and secures it, and stands sure, 2 Timothy 2:19, also the covenant of grace, which is sure and immoveable, and in which are provisions for holiness, internal and external; and is the foundation and security of the church, and all believers; but especially Jesus Christ, the Rock of ages, is meant, the Holy One of Israel, the sure foundation laid in Zion: some interpret these holy mountains of the holy apostles, who were in an high and eminent station in the church, and were doctrinally foundations, as they ministerially laid Christ, as the only foundation; see Ephesians 2:20, it may be rendered, "among the holy mountains" w; and so may regard, as Cocceius explains it, the several kingdoms and provinces of the world in which the Gospel shall be preached; and the church shall be established and settled in the latter day even upon the tops of mountains, which shall become holy to the Lord, Isaiah 2:2.

w בהררי קדש "inter montes sanctitatis", Junius Tremellius so Ainsworth.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

His foundation - This is an abrupt commencement of the psalm. The adjective “his” has been supposed by some to refer to the psalm itself, and this expression has been considered to be a part of the title to the psalm, meaning that the foundation of the psalm is the holy mountain where the praises of God were celebrated; that is Zion. This, however, is a forced and unnatural interpretation. The most obvious explanation is to refer it to God, and the meaning is, that his “foundation,” or that which he had founded and established, to wit, the place for his worship, or for the institutions of religion, was in the holy mountains of Jerusalem. It would seem that the psalmist was contemplating the city - looking on its walls, and its palaces, and especially on the place which had been reared for the worship of God, and that he breaks out in this abrupt manner, by saying that this was what God had founded; that here he had established his home; that here was the place where he was worshipped, and where he dwelt; that this was the place which he loved more than all the other places where the descendants of Jacob dwelt.

Is in the holy mountains - The mountains of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is surrounded by hills, and within the city itself there were the hills of Zion, Moriah, Acra, and Bezethah; See the notes at Matthew 2:1. These sacred hills God had selected as the place of his solemn worship - of his own abode. Compare the notes at Psalms 48:1-2.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

PSALM LXXXVII

The nature and glorious privileges of Zion and Jerusalem, 1-3.

No other city to be compared to this, 4.

The privilege of being born in it, 5, 6.

Its praises celebrated, 7.


NOTES ON PSALM LXXXVII

The title, A Psalm or Song for the sons of Korah, gives us no light into the author or meaning of this Psalm. It begins and ends so abruptly that many have thought it to be only a fragment of a larger Psalm. This opinion is very likely. Those who suppose it to have been made when Jerusalem was rebuilt and fortified, imagine it to have been an exclamation of the author on beholding its beauty, and contemplating its privileges. If this opinion be allowed, it will account for the apparent abruptness in the beginning and end. As to its general design it seems to have been written in praise of Jerusalem; and those who are for mystic meanings think that it refers to the Christian Church; and, on this supposition it is interpreted by several writers, both ancient and modern. To pretend to have found out the true meaning would be very absurd. I have done the best I could to give its literal sense.

Verse Psalms 87:1. His foundation is in the holy mountains. — Jerusalem was founded on the mountains or hills of Zion and Moriah. The after increase of the population obliged the inhabitants to inclose all the contiguous hills; but Zion and Moriah were the principal. We know that ancient Rome was built on seven hills.


 
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