Charles Spurgeon

As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the LORD of Hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish her forever. Selah

“But when you come into the "City of the Lord of Hosts, in the city of our God," the reports about it are true and the truth exceeds the report. For, like the Queen of Sheba, we cry, "The half was not told me."”

Within Your temple, O God, we contemplate Your loving devotion.

“We have thought. Holy men are thoughtful men; they do not suffer God's wonders to pass before their eyes and melt into forgetfulness, but they meditate deeply upon them. Of thy lovingkindness, O God. What a delightful subject!”

Within Your temple, O God, we contemplate Your loving devotion.

“WHO were these people who declared to the Lord that they had thought of His loving kindness in the midst of His Temple? According to the title of the Psalm, they were the sons of Korah. And who were the sons of Korah?”

Your name, O God, like Your praise, reaches to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is full of righteousness.

“According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth. Great fame is due to his great name.”

Mount Zion is glad, the daughters of Judah rejoice, on account of Your judgments.

“Let mount Zion rejoice. As the first of the cities of Judah, and the main object of the enemies' attack, let her lead the song.”

March around Zion, encircle her, count her towers,

“Walk about Zion; often beat her bounds, even as Israel marched around Jericho. With leisurely and careful inspection survey her. And go round about her. Encircle her again and again with loving perambulations.”

consider her ramparts, tour her citadels, that you may tell the next generation.

“Mark ye well her bulwarks. Consider most attentively how strong are her ramparts, how safely her inhabitants are entrenched behind successive lines of defence.”

For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even till death.

“For this God is our God for ever and ever. A good reason for preserving a record of all that he has wrought.”

My mouth will impart wisdom, and the meditation of my heart will bring understanding.

“My mouth shall speak of wisdom. Inspired and therefore lifted beyond himself, the prophet is not praising his own attainments, but extolling the divine Spirit which spoke in him. He knew that the Spirit of truth and wisdom spoke through him.”

I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will express my riddle with the harp:

“I will incline mine ear to a parable. He who would have others hear, begins by hearing himself. As the minstrel leans his ear to his harp, so must the preacher give his whole soul to his ministry.”

Why should I fear in times of trouble, when wicked usurpers surround me?

“Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about? The man of God looks calmly forward to dark times when those evils which have dogged his heels shall gain a temporary advantage over him.”

For the redemption of his soul is costly, and never can payment suffice,

“For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever. Too great is the price, the purchase is hopeless. For ever must the attempt to redeem a soul with money remain a failure.”

that he should live on forever and not see decay.

“No price could secure for any man that he should still live for ever, and not see corruption. Mad are men now after gold, what would they be if it could buy the elixir of immortality?”

Their graves are their eternal homes— their dwellings for endless generations— even though their lands were their namesakes.

“Their inward thought is, their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations. He is very foolish who is more a fool in his inmost thought than he dare to be in his speech.”

But a man, despite his wealth, cannot endure; he is like the beasts that perish.

“Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not. He is but a lodger for the hour, and does not stay a night: even when he dwells in marble halls his notice to quit is written out. Eminence is evermore in imminence of peril.”

This is the fate of the self-confident and their followers who endorse their sayings. Selah

“Their vain confidences are not casual aberrations from the path of wisdom, but their way, their usual and regular course; their whole life is regulated by such principles. Their life path is essential folly. They are fools ingrain.”

Like sheep they are destined for Sheol. Death will be their shepherd.

“Like sheep they are laid in the grave. As dumb driven cattle, they are hurried to their doom, and are penned in within the gates of destruction.”

But God will redeem my life from Sheol, for He will surely take me to Himself. Selah

“But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave. Forth from that temporary resting place we shall come in due time, quickened by divine energy.”

Do not be amazed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases.

“In these last verses the psalmist becomes a preacher, and gives admonitory lessons which he has himself gathered from experience. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich. Let it not give thee any concern to see the godless prosper.”

For when he dies, he will carry nothing away; his abundance will not follow him down.

“For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away. He has but a leasehold of his acres, and death ends his tenure. Through the river of death man must pass naked.”

Though in his lifetime he blesses his soul— and men praise you when you prosper—

“Though while he lived he blessed his soul. He pronounced himself happy. He had his good things in this life. His chief end and aim were to bless himself. He was charmed with the adulation of flatterers.”

A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

“The song ends with the refrain, Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.”

From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.

“Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. The Lord is represented not only as speaking to the earth, but as coming forth to reveal the glory of his presence to an assembled universe.”

He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that He may judge His people:

“He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth. Angels and men, the upper and the lower worlds, are called to witness the solemn scene.”

“Gather to Me My saints, who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”

“JUST a few sentences must suffice concerning the first meaning of the text. I think there can be little doubt that we have here a prophecy of our Lord's Second Advent and of the gathering together in one assembly of all the chosen people of…”