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.