6 The nations were angry, the kingdoms were moved; at the sound of his voice the earth became like wax.
For the Lord, the God of armies, is he at whose touch the land is turned to water, and everyone in it will be given up to sorrow; all of it will be overflowing like the River, and will go down again like the River of Egypt;
The mountains are shaking because of him, and the hills flowing away; the earth is falling to bits before him, the world and all who are in it.
And they said to Joshua, Truly, the Lord has given all the land into our hands; and all the people of the land have become like water because of us.
And said to them, It is clear to me that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has come on us;
And I saw a great white seat, and him who was seated on it, before whose face the earth and the heaven went in flight; and there was no place for them.
And the stars of heaven were falling to the earth, like green fruit from a tree before the force of a great wind. And the heaven was taken away like the roll of a book when it is rolled up; and all the mountains and islands were moved out of their places.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; and in that day the heavens will be rolled up with a great noise, and the substance of the earth will be changed by violent heat, and the world and everything in it will be burned up. Seeing then that all these things are coming to such an end, what sort of persons is it right for you to be, in all holy behaviour and righteousness, Looking for and truly desiring the coming of the day of God, when the heavens will come to an end through fire, and the substance of the earth will be changed by the great heat?
The mountains saw you and were moved with fear; the clouds were streaming with water: the voice of the deep was sounding; the sun did not come up, and the moon kept still in her place. At the light of your arrows they went away, at the shining of your polished spear.
Before him went disease, and flames went out at his feet. From his high place he sent shaking on the earth; he saw and nations were suddenly moved: and the eternal mountains were broken, the unchanging hills were bent down; his ways are eternal.
See, the days will come, says the Lord, when the ploughman will overtake him who is cutting the grain, and the crusher of the grapes him who is planting seed; and sweet wine will be dropping from the mountains, and the hills will be turned into streams of wine.
And he said, The Lord will give a lion's cry from Zion, his voice will be sounding from Jerusalem; and the fields of the keepers of sheep will become dry, and the top of Carmel will be wasted away.
So, as a prophet, give out these words among them, and say to them, The voice of the Lord will be sounding like a lion from on high; he will send out his voice from his holy place, like the loud voice of a lion, against his flock; he will give a cry, like those who are crushing the grapes, against all the people of the earth.
O let the heavens be broken open and come down, so that the mountains may be shaking before you, As when fire puts the brushwood in flames, or as when water is boiling from the heat of the fire: to make your name feared by your haters, so that the nations may be shaking before you; While you do acts of power for which we are not looking, and which have not come to the ears of men in the past.
Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, The prayer you have made to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, has come to my ears. This is the word which the Lord has said about him: In the eyes of the virgin daughter of Zion you are shamed and laughed at; the daughter of Jerusalem has made sport of you. Against whom have you said evil and bitter things? and against whom has your voice been loud and your eyes lifted up? even against the Holy One of Israel. You have sent your servants with evil words against the Lord, and have said, With all my war-carriages I have come up to the top of the mountains, to the inmost parts of Lebanon; and its tall cedars will be cut down, and the best trees of its woods: I will come up into his highest places, into his thick woods. I have made water-holes and taken their waters, and with my foot I have made all the rivers of Egypt dry. Has it not come to your ears how I did it long before, purposing it in times long past? Now I have given effect to my design, so that by you strong towns might be turned into masses of broken walls. This is why their townsmen had no power, they were broken and put to shame; they were like the grass of the field, or a green plant; like the grass on the house-tops, which a cold wind makes waste. But I have knowledge of your getting up and your resting, of your going out and your coming in. Because your wrath against me and your pride have come to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my cord in your lips, and I will make you go back by the way you came. And this will be the sign to you: you will get your food this year from what comes up of itself, and in the second year from the produce of the same; and in the third year you will put in your seed, and get in the grain, and make vine-gardens, and take of their fruit. And those of Judah who are still living will again take root in the earth, and give fruit. For from Jerusalem those who have been kept safe will go out, and those who are still living will go out of Mount Zion: by the fixed purpose of the Lord of armies this will be done. For this cause the Lord says about the king of Assyria, He will not come into this town, or send an arrow against it; he will not come before it with arms, or put up an earthwork against it. By the way he came he will go back, and he will not get into this town. For I will keep this town safe, for my honour, and for the honour of my servant David. And the angel of the Lord went out and put to death in the army of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand men: and when the people got up early in the morning, there was nothing to be seen but dead bodies.
How great is your fall from heaven, O shining one, son of the morning! How are you cut down to the earth, low among the dead bodies! For you said in your heart, I will go up to heaven, I will make my seat higher than the stars of God; I will take my place on the mountain of the meeting-place of the gods, in the inmost parts of the north. I will go higher than the clouds; I will be like the Most High. But you will come down to the underworld, even to its inmost parts. Those who see you will be looking on you with care, they will be in deep thought, saying, Is this the troubler of the earth, the shaker of kingdoms?
Have knowledge, O peoples, and be in fear; give ear, all you far-off parts of the earth: Let your designs be formed, and they will come to nothing; give your orders, and they will not be effected: for God is with us.
For see! those who make war on you are out of control; your haters are lifting up their heads. They have made wise designs against your people, talking together against those whom you keep in a secret place. They have said, Come, let us put an end to them as a nation; so that the name of Israel may go out of man's memory. For they have all come to an agreement; they are all joined together against you: The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagarites; Gebal and Ammon and Amalek; the Philistines and the people of Tyre; Assur is joined with them; they have become the support of the children of Lot. (Selah.)
To him who goes or the clouds of heaven, the heaven which was from earliest times; he sends out his voice of power.
Why are the nations so violently moved, and why are the thoughts of the people so foolish? The kings of the earth have taken their place, and the rulers are fixed in their purpose, against the Lord, and against the king of his selection, saying, Let their chains be broken, and their cords taken from off us. Then he whose seat is in the heavens will be laughing: the Lord will make sport of them.
And early in the morning they got up and went out to the waste land of Tekoa: and when they were going out, Jehoshaphat took his station and said to them, Give ear to me, O Judah and you people of Jerusalem: have faith in the Lord your God and you will be safe; have faith in his prophets and all will go well for you. And after discussion with the people, he put in their places those who were to make melody to the Lord, praising him in holy robes, while they went at the head of the army, and saying, May the Lord be praised, for his mercy is unchanging for ever. And at the first notes of song and praise the Lord sent a surprise attack against the children of Ammon and Moab and the people of Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were overcome. And the children of Ammon and Moab made an attack on the people of Mount Seir with a view to their complete destruction; and when they had put an end to the people of Seir, everyman's hand was turned against his neighbour for his destruction. And Judah came to the watchtower of the waste land, and looking in the direction of the army, they saw only dead bodies stretched on the earth; no living man was to be seen.
And Zerah the Ethiopian, with an army of a million, and three hundred war-carriages, came out against them to Mareshah. And Asa went out against him, and they put their forces in position in the valley north of Mareshah. And Asa made prayer to the Lord his God and said, Lord, you only are able to give help against the strong to him who has no strength; come to our help, O Lord our God, for our hope is in you, and in your name we have come out against this great army. O Lord, you are our God; let not man's power be greater than yours. So the Lord sent fear on the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah; and the Ethiopians went in flight. And Asa and the people who were with him went after them as far as Gerar; and so great was the destruction among the Ethiopians that they were not able to get their army together again, for they were broken before the Lord and before his army; and they took away a great amount of their goods.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 46
Commentary on Psalms 46 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 46
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 Sa. 8), and the rest which God gave him from all his enemies round about. We are here taught,
We may, in singing it, apply it either to our spiritual enemies, and be more than conquerors over them, or to the public enemies of Christ's kingdom in the world and their threatening insults, endeavouring to preserve a holy security and serenity of mind when they seem most formidable. It is said of Luther that, when he heard any discouraging news, he would say, Come let us sing the forty-sixth psalm.
To the chief musician for the sons of Korah. A song upon Alamoth.
Psa 46:1-5
The psalmist here teaches us by his own example.
Observe here,
Psa 46:6-11
These verses give glory to God both as King of nations and as King of saints.