For ¹  look, the kings assemble; ²  they advance together.

biblegateway Psa 48:4

For, lo, the kings assembled themselves, They passed by together.

Look! The kings assembled; they advanced together.

The kings have gathered. They marched together.

biblegateway Psa 48:4

When the kings joined forces, when they advanced together,

For behold, the kings assembled; they came on together.

bibleoremus Psa 48:4

Then the kings assembled, they came on together.

See, the kings assemble; they advance together.

biblegateway Psa 48:4

For behold, the kings assembled, They passed by together.

For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.

biblegateway Psa 48:4

For ¹  look, the kings assemble; ²  they advance together.

¹ tn The logical connection between vv. 3-4 seems to be this: God is the protector of Zion and reveals himself as the city’s defender – this is necessary because hostile armies threaten the city.

² tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 4-6 are understood as descriptive. In dramatic style (note הִנֵּה, hinneh, “look”) the psalm describes an enemy attack against the city as if it were occurring at this very moment. Another option is to take the perfects as narrational (“the kings assembled, they advanced”), referring to a particular historical event, such as Sennacherib’s siege of the city in 701 b.c. (cf. NIV, NRSV). Even if one translates the verses in a dramatic-descriptive manner (as the present translation does), the Lord’s victory over the Assyrians was probably what served as the inspiration of the description (see v. 8).