Font Size
Psalm 87:3-5
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 87:3-5
New Catholic Bible
3 Glorious things are said of you,
O city of God. Selah
4 [a]“I number Rahab and Babylon
among those who acknowledge the Lord,
as well as Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia;
concerning them it can be said,
‘This one was born there.’ ”[b] Selah
5 However, of Zion it will be said,
“They were all born there,
for the Most High himself establishes her.”[c]
Footnotes
- Psalm 87:4 These verses foresee a wholesale conversion to the Lord on the part of peoples who were longtime enemies of God and his kingdom (see Isa 19:21).
- Psalm 87:4 The Gentiles will be incorporated into the People of God and adopted by Zion, their religious homeland. As the representatives of all the Gentile nations, the psalmist mentions the arrogant Egypt (Rahab—the name of an ocean monster used poetically for Egypt) and Babylon, the two world kingdoms on the Nile and Euphrates, both of which had fought for centuries for the possession of Palestine. We also hear of the Philistines, archenemy of Israel, wealthy Tyre proud of its independence, and the ambitious Ethiopians.
- Psalm 87:5 The privileges of the holy city and her spiritual motherhood are divine in origin and hence indefectible. The eschatological community of the faithful is established by the Lord (see Ps 48:9; Isa 14:32; 28:16; 54:11f).
