They saw it, then they were amazed. They were dismayed. They hurried away.
Parallel Translations
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They saw it, then they were amazed. They were dismayed. They hurried away.
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They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away.
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(48-6) They saw, straightway they were amazed; they were affrighted, they hasted away.
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Psalms 48:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 14:25 He took off their chariot wheels, and they drove them heavily; so that the Egyptians said, “Let’s flee from the face of Israel, for Yahweh fights for them against the Egyptians!”
- 2 Kings 7:6-7 For 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 another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us.” Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their donkeys, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.
- 2 Kings 19:35-37 That night, Yahweh’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, these were all dead bodies. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and lived at Nineveh. As he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The enemies were afraid at the sight of the…
The enemies were afraid at the sight of the City.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 48:5 They saw [it, and] so they marvelled;…
Psa 48:5 They saw [it, and] so they marvelled; they were troubled, [and] hasted away.
Ver. 5. They saw it, and so they marvelled] None of them could say, as Caesar, Veni, vidi, vici, I came, I saw, I conquored, but the contrary; they no sooner saw this heaven guarded city, but their hearts misgave them; and they were ready to say, as that duke of Saxony did, who intending to make war upon the bishop of Magdeburg, and understanding that he made no great preparation for defence of himself and his territories, but sought help from heaven by fasting and prayer, Insaniat alius, said he, God bless me from such a madness as to meddle with a man who confideth in God, and committeth himself wholly to his protection.
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They were troubled and hasted away] Heb. They fled with a hasty or headlong flight, being smitten with a sudden terror, such as was that of the Egyptians, when their chariot-wheels were taken off; of the Philistines, when for haste they left their gods behind them, 2Sa 5:20-21; of the Syrians, 2Ki 7:6-7, when they left all and ran for their lives; of the Assyrians, when the angel had slain a hundred eighty-five thousand in their camp, &c.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain They saw it; they did only look upon it,…
They saw it; they did only look upon it, but not come into it, nor shoot an arrow there, —nor cast a bank against it, as is said upon this or the like occasion, 2Ki 19:32.
So they marvelled, not so much at the structure or strength of the city, as at the wonderful works wrought by God on their behalf.
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They were troubled and hasted away: see 2Ki 19:35.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Fear took hold upon them there,.... That is, either…
Fear took hold upon them there,.... That is, either when they came up to the city, and passed by it, and saw what they did; or, as Kimchi observes, in the place where they thought to have made a great slaughter; that is, in Armageddon, Rev 16:16; so upon the slaughter of the seven thousand names of men, or men of name and renown, such as the kings here assembled, the remnant will be frightened, Rev 11:13;
and pain, as of a woman in travail; this figure is made use of elsewhere, when the destruction of Babylon and the coming of Christ are spoken of; see Isa 13:8.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Saw it - They did only look upon it,…
Saw it - They did only look upon it, but not come into it, nor shoot an arrow there - nor cast a bank against it, 2 Kings xix, 32. Marvelled - At the wonderful works wrought by God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain They saw it - That is, they looked on…
They saw it - That is, they looked on it; they contemplated it; they were struck with its beauty and strength, and fled.
And so they marveled - It surpassed their expectations of its strength, and they saw with wonder that any attempt to conquer it was hopeless.
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They were troubled - They were filled with anxiety and confusion. They even began to have apprehensions about their own safety. They saw that their preparations had been made in vain, and that all hopes of success must be abandoned.
And hasted away - They fled in confusion. The idea in the whole verse is that of a “panic,” leading to a disorderly flight. This “may” have occurred in the time of Jehoshaphat, 2 Chr. 20, when the kings of Moab, Edom, and others, came up to attack Jerusalem, though the immediate cause of their overthrow was a conflict among themselves 2Ch 20:22-25. It may have been, however, that they approached the city, and were dismayed by its strength, so that they turned away before the internal conflict occurred which ended in their ruin. But it is not “necessary” to adjust these accounts one to another, or even to suppose that this was the event referred to in the psalm, though the general ideas in it accord well with all which occurred on that occasion.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 5. They saw; forthwith they were amazed:
5. They saw; forthwith they were amazed:
They were dismayed, they made haste to flee.
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Caesar’s boast, Veni, vidi, vici, was reversed. They came to Zion, they saw it, they were smitten with panic terror. Cp. Isa_33:3.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (5) They saw.—A verse like Psa_46:6, vivid from the…
(5) They saw.—A verse like Psa_46:6, vivid from the omission of the conjunctions, wrongly supplied by the Authorised Version. It has reminded commentators of Caesar’s Veni, vidi, vici.
They looked, even so were terrified, bewildered, panic-struck.
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Hasted away.—Or, sprung up in alarm.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were…
They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away. The sight of the city, with its walls and towers (vers. 12, 13), was enough for them they recognized that the place was too strong to be attacked with any prospect of success; "marvelled," or "were amazed" (Cheyne), at its strength, and, being troubled in mind, hasted away. The unconnected verbs remind the commentators of Caesar"s famous despatch, "Vent, vidi, vici."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 5. They saw it, and so they marvelled.…
Ver. 5. They saw it, and so they marvelled. They came, they saw, but they did not conquer. There was no veni, vidi, vici for them. No sooner did they perceive that the Lord was in the Holy City, than they took to their heels. Before the Lord came to blows with them, they were faint hearted, and beat a retreat. They were troubled and hasted away. The troublers were troubled. Their haste in coming was nothing to their hurry in going. Panic seized them, horses were not fleet enough; they would have borrowed the wings of the wind. They fled ignominiously, like children in a fright. Glory be to God, it shall be even thus with the foes of his church; when the Lord cometh to our help, our enemies shall be as nothing. Could they foresee their ignominious defeat, they would not advance to the attack.
Ver. 5-6. The potentates of the world saw the miracles of the apostles, the courage and constancy of the martyrs, and the daily increase of the church, notwithstanding all their persecutions; they beheld with astonishment the rapid progress of the faith through the Roman empire; they called upon their gods, but their gods could not help themselves; idolatry expired at the foot of the victorious cross. George Horne.
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Ver. 5-6. See Psalms on "Ps 48:5" for further information.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.