Psalm 46: Overview

At the literal level, St Alphonsus Liguori tells us, this psalm has two obvious meanings:

In the first, it refers to the triumph of the Ark when it was carried to Mount Sion (2 Kings, vi. 15); in the second sense, it is applied, according to the opinion of several of the holy Fathers, to the glorious Ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven.

The Fathers though, went rather further in their interpretation of the spiritual meanings of the psalm.

The title of the psalm

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
In finem, pro filiis Core. Psalmus	Unto the end, for the sons of Core

The title of the psalm is an important starting point for  our interpretation.

Modern interpreters of the psalms tend to regard the titles attached to the psalms as unscriptural, and if they do pay any attention to them, interpret them very literally.

The Fathers by contrast, tended to devote a substantial amount of commentary to the Spiritual interpretation of the titles, and their implications for the meaning of the psalm.  St Cassiodorus for example, commented in his introduction to this one that:

All the words in this heading have been explained and are stored in our minds. But you, eager reader, must always ensure that you understand the meanings attached to the incidences of these expressions in the psalms. If you examine the text of psalms more carefully, you will realise that not one word of them can be idle. So it happens that at one place variation in headings and at another similarity both appear to denote the Lord Saviour. When they vary, it relieves the tedium; when identical, they strengthen the eyes of our understanding with unwavering stability. So both are clearly issued for the salvation of all, and are acknowledged to be beneficial. In this psalm again the sons of Core, whom mother Church signs with the emblem of the cross, are the spokesmen.

Patristic interpretations of the titles are particularly important because they often explain in part, the liturgical uses of the psalm, such as the use of this one on many feasts of the Lord at Matins.

In particular, St Augustine commented on Psalm 46 that:

The title of the Psalm goes thus. To the end: for the sons of Korah: a Psalm of David himself. These sons of Korah have the title also of some other Psalms, and indicate a sweet mystery, insinuate a great Sacrament: wherein let us willingly understand ourselves, and let us acknowledge in the title us who hear, and read, and as in a glass set before us behold who we are. The sons of Korah, who are they?. ..Haply the sons of the Bridegroom. 

For the Bridegroom was crucified in the place of Calvary. Recollect the Gospel, where they crucified the Lord, and you will find Him crucified in the place of Calvary. Furthermore, they who deride His Cross, by devils, as by beasts, are devoured. For this also a certain Scripture signified. 

When God's Prophet Elisha was going up, children called after him mocking, Go up thou bald head, Go up thou bald head: but he, not so much in cruelty as in mystery, made those children to be devoured by bears out of the wood. If those children had not been devoured, would they have lived even till now? Or could they not, being born mortal, have been taken off by a fever? But so in them had no mystery been shown, whereby posterity might be put in fear. Let none then mock the Cross of Christ.

The Jews were possessed by devils, and devoured; for in the place of Calvary, crucifying Christ, and lifting on the Cross, they said as it were with childish sense, not understanding what they said, Go up, thou bald head. For what is, Go up? Crucify Him, Crucify Him. 

For childhood is set before us to imitate humility, and childhood is set before us to beware of foolishness. To imitate humility, childhood was set before us by the Lord, when He called children to Him, and because they were kept from Him, He said, Suffer them to come unto Me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven. The example of childhood is set before us to beware of foolishness by the Apostle, Brethren, be not children in understanding: and again he proposes it to imitate, Howbeit in malice be ye children, that in understanding ye may be men. 

For the sons of Korah the Psalm is sung; for Christians then is it sung. Let us hear it as sons of the Bridegroom, whom senseless children crucified in the place of Calvary. For they earned to be devoured by beasts; we to be crowned by Angels. For we acknowledge the humility of our Lord, and of it are not ashamed. We are not ashamed of Him called in mystery the bald (Calvus), from the place of Calvary. For on the very Cross whereon He was insulted, He permitted not our forehead to be bald; for with His own Cross He marked it. Finally, that you may know that these things are said to us, see what is said

The text of the psalm

Psalm 46

Omnes gentes, pláudite mánibus: * iubiláte Deo in voce exsultatiónis!	O clap your hands, all you nations: shout unto God with the voice of joy,
Quóniam Dóminus excélsus, terríbilis: * Rex magnus super omnem terram.	For the Lord is high, terrible: a great king over all the earth.
Subiécit pópulos nobis: * et gentes sub pédibus nostris.	He has subdued the people under us; and the nations under our feet.
Elégit nobis hereditátem suam : * spéciem Iacob, quam diléxit.	He has chosen for us his inheritance, the beauty of Jacob which he has love.
Ascéndit Deus in iúbilo: * et Dóminus in voce tubæ.	God is ascended with jubilee, and the Lord with the sound of trumpet.
Psállite Deo nostro, psállite: * psállite Regi nostro, psállite!	Sing praises to our God; sing. Sing praises to our king; sing.
Quóniam Rex omnis terræ Deus: * psállite sapiénter!	For God is the king of all the earth: sing wisely.
Regnábit Deus super gentes: * Deus sedet super sedem sanctam suam.	God shall reign over the nations: God sits on his holy throne.
Príncipes populórum congregáti sunt cum Deo Abraham: * quóniam dii fortes terræ veheménter eleváti sunt.	The princes of the people are gathered together, with the God of Abraham: for the strong gods of the earth are exceedingly exalted.
Glória Patri, et Fílio, * et Spirítui Sancto.	Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper, * et in sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.	As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

 Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

In the Benedictine Office this psalm is part of a set of the 'psalms of Sion' said at Tuesday Matins.

The use of the psalm in the Common of Apostles is presumably due to the reference to the princes of the people in the last verse.

NT references	1 Pet 4(4)
RB cursus	Tuesday Matins
Monastic/(Roman) feasts etc	Epiphany, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity, Sacred Heart, Transfiguration, Christ the King; Common of Apostles
Roman pre 1911	Tuesday Matins
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Monday Lauds  . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)	Palm Sunday Blessing of Psalms; Ascension, AL (5), OF (5); Sunday after Ascension, AL (8), OF (5); PP 7, IN (1-2), AL (1)

The psalm was the subject of a General Audience by Pope St John Paul II in 2001:

1. "The Lord, the most high, is a great King over all the earth!". This initial acclamation is repeated in different tones in Psalm 46 (47), which we just prayed. It is designed as a hymn to the sovereign Lord of the universe and of history:  "God is king over all the earth ... God rules over all nations" (vv. 8-9).
Like other similar compositions in the Psalter (cf. Ps 92; 95-98), this hymn to the Lord, the king of the world and of mankind presumes an atmosphere of liturgical celebration. For that reason, we are at the heart of the spiritual praise of Israel, which rises to heaven from the Temple, the place where the infinite and eternal God reveals himself and meets his people.

2. We will follow this canticle of joyful praise in its fundamental moments like two waves of the sea coming toward the shore. They differ in the way they consider the relationship between Israel and the nations. In the first part of the psalm, the relationship is one of domination:  God "has subdued the peoples under us, he has put the nations under our feet" (v. 4); in the second part, instead, the relationship is one of association:  "the princes of the peoples are gathered with the people of the God of Abraham" (v. 10). One can notice great progress.

In the first part (cf. vv. 2-6) it says, "All you peoples clap your hands, shout to God with joyful cries!" (v. 2). The centre of this festive applause is the grandiose figure of the supreme Lord, to whom the psalm attributes three glorious titles:  "most high, great and terrible" (v. 3). They exalt the divine transcendence, the absolute primacy of being, omnipotence. The Risen Christ will also exclaim:  "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me" (Mt 28,18).

3. In the universal lordship of God over all the peoples of the earth (cf. v. 4) the psalmist stresses his particular presence in Israel, the people of divine election, "the favourite", the most precious and dear inheritance (cf. v. 5). Israel is the object of a particular love of God which is manifested with the victory over hostile nations. During the battle, the presence of the Ark of the Covenant with the troops of Israel assured them of God's help; after the victory, the Ark was returned to Mount Zion (cf. Ps 67 [68],19) and all proclaimed, "God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy, the Lord amid trumpet blasts" (Ps 46 [47],6).

4. The second part of the Psalm (cf. vv. 7-10) opens with another wave of praise and festive chant:  "Sing praise to God, sing praise; sing praise to our king, sing praises ... sing hymns of praise!" (vv. 7-8). Even now one sings to the Lord seated on his throne in the fullness of his sovereignty (cf. v. 9). The royal seat is defined as "holy", because it is unapproachable by the finite and sinful human being. But the Ark of the Covenant present in the most sacred part of the Temple of Zion is also a heavenly throne. In this way the distant and transcendent God, holy and infinite, draws near to his creatures, adapting himself to space and time (cf. I Kgs 8,27.30).

5. The psalm finishes on a surprising note of universalist openness:  "the princes of the peoples are gathered with the people of the God of Abraham" (v. 10). One goes back to Abraham the patriarch who is at the root, not only of Israel but also of other nations. To the chosen people who are his descendents, is entrusted the mission of making converge towards the Lord all nations and all cultures, because he is the God of all mankind. From East to West they will gather on Zion to meet the king of peace and love, of unity and brotherhood (cf. Mt 8,11). As the prophet Isaiah hoped, the peoples who are hostile to one another, will receive the invitation to lay down their arms and to live together under the divine sovereignty, under a government of justice and peace (Is 2,2-5). The eyes of all are fixed on the new Jerusalem where the Lord "ascends" to be revealed in the glory of his divinity. It will be "an immense multitude, which no one can count, from every nation, race, people and tongue ... they (all) cried out with a loud voice:  Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on his throne and to the Lamb" (Apoc 7,9.10).

6. The Letter to the Ephesians sees the realization of this prophecy in the mystery of Christ the Redeemer when it affirms, addressing Christians who did not come from Judaism:  "Remember, that one time you pagans by birth,... were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, extraneous to the covenant of the promise, without hope and without God in this world. Now instead, in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near thanks to the blood of Christ. In fact, he is our peace, he who made of the two one people, destroying the dividing wall of enmity" (Eph 2,1-14).

In Christ then, the kingship of God, sung by our psalm, is realized on earth in the meeting of all people. This is the way an anonymous 8th century homily commented on this mystery:  "Until the coming of the Messiah, hope of the nations, the Gentiles did not adore God and did not know who he is. Until the Messiah redeemed them, God did not reign over the nations through their obedience and their worship. Now instead, with his Word and his Spirit, God reigns over them because he saved them from deception and made them his friends" (Anonymous Palestinian, Arab-Christian Homily of the Eighth Century, Rome 1994, p. 100).