Psalms / Chapter 87

Psalms 87

7 verses • Westminster Leningrad Codex

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

A brief, enigmatic Korahite psalm celebrating Zion as the city of God. The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of the city. Then the psalm makes a startling declaration: Rahab (Egypt), Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and Cush will all be registered as born in Zion. The LORD Himself will write in the register of the peoples that 'this one was born there.' The psalm closes with singers and dancers declaring, 'All my springs are in you.'

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

This is one of the most radically inclusive texts in the Hebrew Bible. The nations listed — Egypt, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, Cush — are not merely Israel's neighbors; they are Israel's historical enemies and oppressors. Egypt enslaved Israel; Babylon would destroy the temple; Philistia was a perennial military threat; Tyre was a mercantile rival. Yet the psalm declares that these nations will be registered as born in Zion — they will receive Zion citizenship. The image is of a divine birth register in which God Himself inscribes the nations as native-born children of His city. This is not conquest or conversion in the usual sense; it is adoption by divine decree. The enemies of Zion become the children of Zion.

Translation Friction

The Hebrew text of this psalm is notoriously difficult — some scholars call it the most obscure psalm in the Psalter. The grammar is compressed, the subject shifts abruptly, and the antecedents of pronouns are often unclear. The phrase 'this one was born there' (zeh yullad sham) is repeated as a refrain, but who is speaking and about whom varies with each line. The translation must make interpretive decisions that the Hebrew intentionally leaves ambiguous. We follow the reading that sees God as the one who inscribes the nations in Zion's register.

Connections

The vision of nations being born in Zion anticipates Isaiah 2:2-4 (all nations streaming to Zion), Isaiah 19:23-25 (Egypt and Assyria called 'My people' and 'the work of My hands'), and Isaiah 56:3-8 (foreigners joining themselves to the LORD). The divine register echoes Exodus 32:32 (Moses asks to be blotted from God's book) and Ezekiel 13:9 (false prophets not written in the register of Israel). The phrase 'all my springs are in you' may connect to the temple spring imagery of Ezekiel 47:1-12 and Joel 3:18.

Psalms 87:1

לִבְנֵי־קֹ֬רַח מִזְמ֗וֹר שִׁ֥יר יְ֝סוּדָת֗וֹ בְּהַרְרֵי־קֹֽדֶשׁ׃

Of the sons of Korah. A psalm. A song. His foundation is on the holy mountains.

KJV His foundation is in the holy mountains.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The word yesudato ('His foundation') refers to the city God has founded — Zion/Jerusalem, established by divine initiative on the sacred mountains. The plural harrerei qodesh ('holy mountains') may refer to the multiple hills of Jerusalem (Zion, Moriah, Ophel) or may be a poetic plural intensifying the holiness of the single mountain. The psalm opens with architecture: what God has built is the subject.
Psalms 87:2

אֹהֵ֣ב יְ֭הוָה שַׁעֲרֵ֣י צִיּ֑וֹן מִ֝כֹּ֗ל מִשְׁכְּנ֥וֹת יַעֲקֹֽב׃

more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. The LORD loves the gates of Zion

KJV The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The comparison 'more than all the dwelling places of Jacob' raises a startling theological question: Does God have favorites among His own people's cities? The answer this psalm gives is yes — Zion holds a unique place in God's affections because it is where He chose to place His name (Deuteronomy 12:5). The love is not arbitrary; it is covenantal.
Psalms 87:3

נִ֭כְבָּדוֹת מְדֻבָּ֣ר בָּ֑ךְ עִ֖יר הָאֱלֹהִ֣ים סֶֽלָה׃

Glorious things are spoken of you — O city of God. Selah.

KJV Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The passive nikhbadot medubbar bakh ('glorious things are being spoken about you') leaves the speaker unidentified — it may be God, the prophets, the nations, or the psalm itself. The title ir ha-Elohim ('city of God') designates Jerusalem/Zion as God's personal city — His capital, His home on earth. What follows (vv. 4-6) will reveal what these 'glorious things' are: the enrollment of the nations.
Psalms 87:4

אַזְכִּ֤יר ׀ רַ֘הַ֤ב וּבָבֶ֗ל לְיֹ֫דְעָ֥י הִנֵּ֤ה פְלֶ֣שֶׁת וְצ֣וֹר עִם־כּ֑וּשׁ זֶ֝֗ה יֻלַּד־שָֽׁם׃

I will mention Rahab and Babylon among those who know Me. Look — Philistia, Tyre, and Cush: 'This one was born there.'

KJV I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there.

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

רַהַב Rahav
"Rahab" — pride, arrogance; the sea monster; a poetic name for Egypt

Rahav as a name for Egypt evokes the primordial chaos monster that God defeated at creation and at the Red Sea. To register Rahab/Egypt as 'born in Zion' is to declare that the nation God once defeated is now the nation God adopts. The dragon becomes a child.

Translator Notes

  1. The name Rahab (not the same as Rahab the woman of Jericho) is a mythological sea monster representing chaos and, by extension, Egypt (Isaiah 51:9, Psalm 89:11). By using this name, the psalmist invokes Egypt at its most threatening — and then registers this monster-nation as born in Zion. The shock is intentional: the worst enemy becomes a sibling.
Psalms 87:5

וּלְצִיּ֤וֹן ׀ יֵ֘אָמַ֤ר אִ֣ישׁ וְ֭אִישׁ יֻלַּד־בָּ֑הּ וְ֝ה֗וּא יְכוֹנְנֶ֥הָ עֶלְיֽוֹן׃

And of Zion it will be said, 'This one and that one were born in her.' The Most High Himself will establish her.

KJV And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The title Elyon ('Most High') connects this verse to Psalm 82:6 (sons of the Most High) and 83:19 (YHWH alone is Most High over all the earth). The same God who judged the failed divine council and who rules over all nations now establishes Zion as the universal birthplace. The theology has moved from national election to universal inclusion — all under the authority of the Most High.
Psalms 87:6

יְהוָ֗ה יִ֭סְפֹּר בִּכְת֣וֹב עַמִּ֑ים זֶ֖ה יֻלַּד־שָׁ֣ם סֶֽלָה׃

The LORD will record in the register of the peoples: 'This one was born there.' Selah.

KJV The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The image of God as census-taker and registrar is unique in the Hebrew Bible. The divine register appears elsewhere (Exodus 32:32, Psalm 69:29, Daniel 12:1, Malachi 3:16), but always as a record of the righteous. Here it is a birth register of the nations — the most universalist application of the image anywhere in Scripture.
Psalms 87:7

וְשָׁרִ֥ים כְּחֹלְלִ֑ים כׇּֽל־מַעְיָנַ֥י בָּֽךְ׃

Singers and dancers alike will say, 'All my springs are in you.'

KJV As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee.

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

מַעְיָנַי ma'yanai
"my springs" — springs, fountains, sources of water, origins of life

ma'yan ('spring') represents the origin point of life-giving water. When the nations declare 'all my springs are in you,' they confess that Zion is their source — not merely their adopted home but their deepest origin. The image transforms Zion from a political capital into a cosmic wellspring, the place from which life flows to all peoples.

Translator Notes

  1. The final phrase kol ma'yanai bakh ('all my springs are in you') is addressed to Zion and may allude to the temple as a source of living water — a theme developed in Ezekiel 47:1-12, Joel 3:18, and Zechariah 14:8, where a river flows from the temple to water the earth. The springs are both literal (the Gihon spring that supplied Jerusalem) and theological (God's city as the source of life for all peoples).
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