Psalm 48

Setting

Great is the LORD who rules on high;

Free Church of Scotland psalter · C.M.

The words

Great is the LORD who rules on high; with praise his temple fill Within the city of our God and on his holy hill.

Mount Zion, with its graceful height, gives joy to all the earth; The Great King’s city far excels the mountains of the north.

Within her citadels and towers God’s presence is revealed, For he has shown himself to be her fortress and her shield.

When kings joined forces to attack, as one they marched ahead. They saw her and they were amazed; they all in terror fled.

Like women giving birth in pain they trembled in dismay. You wrecked them like a merchant fleet by tempest blown away.

As we have heard, so have we seen: God’s city will endure; The LORD Almighty evermore his city keeps secure.

We contemplate your steadfast love within your house, O God; For, like your name, your praise extends through all the earth abroad.

All that you do is righteous, LORD. Mount Zion’s joy is great, And Judah’s towns rejoice, as they your judgments celebrate.

Round Zion walk and count her towers; view every citadel, So that to children yet unborn her story you may tell.

For God the LORD, who is our God, for ever will abide; He is our God for evermore and to the end our guide.

Source & provenance

Free Church of Scotland psalter · psalter

An unedited transcription of the Sing Psalms (Free Church of Scotland, 2003) edition.

Full provenance & rights
Base edition
Sing Psalms (Free Church of Scotland, 2003)
Editor
Psalmody Committee of the Free Church of Scotland
Editing
unedited transcription

Rights

Copyright
rights-verified (display held); FCS terms recorded 2026-10-08 — verbatim text in a notated setting with independent tune MIDI is within terms (text free, FCS attribution displayed); copy/print/offline not granted; no audio derivatives
Access
free
Display
permitted

Tunes it can be sung to

2 tunes

  • Southwark

    curated well-matched

    CM

  • Westminster

    curated well-matched

    CM

How is this list ordered?

Curated pairings come first — a tune a curator recorded against this text, with the fitness they recorded. A tune that merely shares the meter is listed as a tune in the same meter and never as a pairing.

Nothing here is ranked by popularity or use. The page reports what a curator recorded, not a verdict of its own.