Christianity

Psalms 87Glorious Things of Zion

Summary

Psalm 87, attributed to the sons of Korah, is a short, compressed hymn celebrating Zion as the city God loves more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Strikingly, it names foreign peoples, Rahab (a poetic name for Egypt), Babylon, Philistia, Tyre and Ethiopia, and says each will be counted as born in Zion when God records the peoples. It ends with singers and players on instruments declaring that all their springs are in God's city.

Key verse

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

Psalms 87:3

Themes

Zion the City of God
Nations Included
Spiritual Birthright
Joy in Worship

His foundation is in the holy mountains.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Text: King James Version (1611/1769), public domain.

Across traditions

Christianity
Isaiah 2: Nations Stream to Zion
Isaiah 2:2 to 3 envisions many nations going up to the mountain of the LORD's house to learn his ways, a hope Psalm 87 expresses by enrolling foreign peoples as Zion's own children.
Christianity
Galatians 4: Jerusalem Above
Paul speaks of the Jerusalem above as the mother of us all (Galatians 4:26), a Christian picture of spiritual citizenship that many readers link with Psalm 87's register of those born in Zion.

Questions about Psalms 87

Who is Rahab in Psalm 87?

Here Rahab is not the woman of Jericho but a poetic name for Egypt, also used in Isaiah 30:7 and connected with a sea monster in Psalm 89:10 and Isaiah 51:9. In Hebrew the two names are spelled differently.

What hymn is based on Psalm 87?

John Newton's hymn Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken, published in 1779, takes its opening from Psalm 87:3 and applies the psalm's praise of Zion to the church.