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Psalm 48:5

They saw it, then they were amazed. They were dismayed. They hurried away.

3God has shown himself in her citadels as a refuge.
4For, behold, the kings assembled themselves, they passed by together.
5They saw it, then they were amazed. They were dismayed. They hurried away.
6Trembling took hold of them there, pain, as of a woman in travail.
7With the east wind, you break the ships of Tarshish.
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← Psalm 48:4Psalm 48:6 →
Notice

The assembled kings hurry away in dismay, a sudden reversal that challenges how much weight you give to human power before God.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What changes when you read the kings’ dismay after the statement that God is a refuge?

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Where does human power seem immovable to you, and how does these kings’ retreat challenge that impression?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

4 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Exodus 14:24In the morning watch, the LORD looked out on the Egyptian army through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and confused the Egyptian army.Both passages show gathered forces thrown into confusion or dismay in a setting where God acts against them.
Exodus 14:25He took off their chariot wheels, and they drove them heavily; so that the Egyptians said, “Let’s flee from the face of Israel, for the LORD fights for them …The kings hurry away, and the Egyptians urge flight, with both retreats set against God’s defense of his people.
2 Kings 19:35–37That night, the LORD’s angel went out and struck one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, …Both passages show the collapse of military power before God, through frightened retreat in the psalm and mass death in the Assyrian camp.
2 Kings 7:6–7For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians to hear the sound of chariots and the sound of horses, even the noise of a great army; and they said to one …Both passages show military forces alarmed by what they perceive: the kings by sight, the Syrians by a sound God causes.
Where this verse fits

Fear for the future. praise and worship.

What the Bible says about fear →What the Bible says about worship →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Read verses 3–5 and mark the kings’ change

scriptureoncelight
Encouragement

The kings gathered together, yet their strength could not keep them from dismay. Their retreat belongs to this psalm’s account of God making himself known as a refuge.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 48:5. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 48 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).