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Psalm 46 · a question people ask

"There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad" (46:4). Which city, and which river?

In the text

The psalm doesn't name either. It calls the city "the city of God" and "the holy place of the tents of the Most High" (46:4), and says, "God is within her. She shall not be moved. God will help her at dawn" (46:5). It gives the river no name, and it doesn't say where the river runs from. Psalm 48, also titled for the sons of Korah (Psalm 48:1), names its city: "Mount Zion, on the north sides, the city of the great King" (Psalm 48:2). Psalm 46 doesn't use that name, and these notes don't name the psalm's city or its river beyond the psalm's own words.

The verses

“There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad, the holy place of the tents of the Most High. God is within her. She shall not be moved. God will help her at dawn.”
Psalm 46:4-5 · World English Bible
“A Song. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, in his holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the north sides, the city of the great King.”
Psalm 48:1-2 · 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