Psalm 87

Psalm 87 is a psalm of the sons of Korah in Book III of the Psalms (Psalms 73–89), placed after David's prayer in Psalm 86. Psalm 86:9 declares, "All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord"; Psalm 87 then portrays those nations being recorded as people of Zion.

Structure

• Verses 1–3 The foundation the LORD has laid is on the holy mountain. The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob, and the psalmist calls Zion the "city of God" and sings of its glory.
• Verses 4–6 God names Rahab and Babylon among "them that know me" and declares that Philistia, Tyre, and Cush were also "born there." The Most High Himself establishes Zion, and when He registers the peoples, He records them as born in Zion.
• Verse 7 Singers and dancers confess, "All my springs are in thee."

Key Verses

• Psalm 87:3 "Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God." This is the chapter's central confession in praise of Zion.
• Psalm 87:5 "This and that man was born in her." This verse expresses the theme of Gentile nations being included among God's people.
• Psalm 87:7 "All my springs are in thee." The psalm closes by celebrating Zion as the fountain of life and joy.

People and Places

• Zion: The mountain on which Jerusalem and the temple stood; also a name for the city where God dwells.
• Jacob: Here, the people of Israel as a whole.
• Rahab: A poetic name for Egypt, distinct from Rahab, the woman of Jericho.
• Babylon: A great power in Mesopotamia.
• Philistia: A people on the coast west of Israel.
• Tyre: A Phoenician port city on the Mediterranean coast.
• Cush: The region of the upper Nile, south of Egypt (rendered "Ethiopia" in the KJV).
• Sons of Korah: The group responsible for temple praise, named in the superscription.

Points for Reflection

• The Hebrew text of verse 1 is brief and compressed, so translations render it differently. The KJV reads "His foundation is in the holy mountains"; among Korean versions, the Korean Revised Version has "그 기지" ("its foundation"), and the New Korean Revised Version has "그의 터전" ("his foundation").
• Interpretations of the nations in verse 4 differ. Some view them as Gentiles who have come to know God; others hold that they refer to Jews dispersed in those lands.
• Christian interpretation has a long tradition of reading this psalm as a type of the church, to which both Jews and Gentiles belong. Dispensationalists, by contrast, sometimes read it with an emphasis on the future restoration of Israel and Jerusalem.
• The psalm is often read in connection with the New Testament's "Jerusalem which is above" (Galatians 4:26), Mount Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22), and the New Jerusalem.
• Selah appears at the end of verses 3 and 6.

In the Korean Church

The hymn "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken" by John Newton, known in Korean as "시온성과 같은 교회" ("The Church Like the City of Zion"), takes its opening line from Psalm 87:3 and is widely sung in Korean churches. In keeping with this hymn, the chapter is frequently cited in sermons that liken Zion to the church.