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Psalm 46 · a question people ask

"Come, see the LORD’s works, what desolations he has made on the earth" (46:8). Is the psalm celebrating destruction?

In the text

The psalm goes straight on: "He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots in the fire" (46:9). What that verse says is broken, shattered and burned is the bow, the spear and the chariots, and what it says ceases is wars. The psalm says no more about the desolations than these two verses. Desolations is shammot, which Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "waste, appalment". The psalm doesn't name a war, a people or a place, and these notes apply the verses to none. Then God speaks: "I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted on the earth" (46:10).

The verses

“Come, see the LORD’s works, what desolations he has made on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots in the fire. “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted on the earth.””
Psalm 46:8-10 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 46

Psalm 46: Be still, and know

"Be still, and know that I am God" (46:10) is God speaking, to more than one person, with the nations in view. And the refuge of 46:1 and the refuge of the refrain (46:7, 46:11) are two different Hebrew words, machseh and misgav.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions