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Psalm 87:3
Glorious things are spoken about you, city of God. Selah.
1A Psalm by the sons of Korah; a Song. His foundation is in the holy mountains.
2The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
3Glorious things are spoken about you, city of God. Selah.
4I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me. Behold, Philistia, Tyre, and also Ethiopia: “This one was born there.”
5Yes, of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one was born in her;” the Most High himself will establish her.
Notice
“Glorious things” directs attention toward Zion’s honor, while “city of God” names the bond that gives this praise its weight.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What distinction do you see between praising a city and calling it the “city of God”?
Write on thisWhich words in Psalm 87:1–5 help you describe what makes Zion worthy of such praise?
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Where else Scripture says this
11 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
Psalm 46:4There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad, the holy place of the tents of the Most High.Both passages name the “city of God,” with Psalm 46 describing the streams that make that city glad.
Ezekiel 37:27–28My tent also will be with them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.Both texts describe belonging to God: the psalm names his city, and Ezekiel names his people among whom his tent will be.
Ezekiel 36:11–38I will multiply man and animal on you. They will increase and be fruitful. I will cause you to be inhabited as you were before, and you will do better than at …Both passages speak well of a place associated with God, with Ezekiel specifying renewed population and fruitfulness.
Isaiah 60:14The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you; and all those who despised you will bow themselves down at the soles of your feet. They will call …Both passages honor Zion as God’s city; Isaiah describes former despisers bowing down and acknowledging that name.
Psalm 48:1A 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.Both psalms connect praise with God’s city, and their surrounding descriptions locate it on his holy mountain.
Revelation 21:10–27He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,Both passages speak of a city belonging to God; Revelation identifies the holy city as Jerusalem descending from heaven.
Psalm 48:2–3Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the north sides, the city of the great King.Both psalms praise Zion, naming it through its relation to God: his city and the city of the great King.
Hebrews 12:22–23But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels,Both passages identify Zion as God’s city; Hebrews names it the heavenly Jerusalem and describes its readers as having come there.
Revelation 14:1I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him a number, one hundred forty-four thousand, having his name and the name of his Father written …Zion is the shared place: Psalm 87 speaks its praise, while Revelation depicts the Lamb standing there with those bearing his name.
Jeremiah 31:12–13They will come and sing in the height of Zion, and will flow to the goodness of the LORD, to the grain, to the new wine, to the oil, and to the young of the …Both passages associate Zion with praise; Jeremiah describes people singing there as they receive the LORD’s goodness.
Song of Songs 5:9How is your beloved better than another beloved, you fairest among women? How is your beloved better than another beloved, that you do so adjure us?The link is limited to admiration: Zion receives glorious words, while the Song asks what distinguishes one beloved from another.
Where this verse fits
Praise and worship. sermon or Bible study notes.
One step
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Encouragement
The praise of Zion rests on its bond with God. In the surrounding lines, YHWH loves its gates, and the Most High establishes it.
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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).