A manual of the book of Psalms · Martin Luther
PSALM XLVI.
_The confidence which the church hath in God.—An exhortation to behold it._ To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah. A song upon Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; _Though_ the waters thereof roar, _and_ be troubled, _though_ the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. _There is_ a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy _place_ of the tabernacle of the most high. God _is_ in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, _and that_ right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The LORD of hosts _is_ with us; the God of Jacob _is_ our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I _am_ God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The LORD of hosts _is_ with us; the God of Jacob _is_ our refuge. Selah.
This is a thanksgiving which the people of Israel sang, at that time, for their divine blessings, and miraculous deliverances, because God had powerfully defended Jerusalem, situated in the midst of hostile nations and enemies, and guarded it against all opposing kings, and against all the snares and hostile attempts of the surrounding nations; and had preserved it in peace against all the furious counsels of war and bloodshed. Hence, after the manner of the scriptures, David calls all that present flourishing state of his kingdom’s affairs, the river of God, whose streams should never be dry; which was but a small rivulet, in comparison of the great streams and torrents of the sea by which he was surrounded, (that is, by those immense kingdoms and islands of the nations, and Gentile kings,) which although they were great, would yet, one day, dry up and disappear, while the river of God should endure for ever. We sing this Psalm to the praise of God, because God is with us, and powerfully and miraculously preserves and defends his church and his word, against all fanatical spirits, against the gates of hell, against the implacable hatred of the devil, and against all the assaults of the world, the flesh, and sin. So that our little river remains a living fountain; whilst so many heresies, so many tyrants and their doctrines, as so many stinking sewers and sinks, are dispersed, like broken cisterns, and disappear, and are lost for ever.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.