Psalm 46 (1928 BCP)
Psalm 46 (1928 BCP) (Deus noster refugium) is appointed with Psalms 44 and 45 at Ninth-Day Morning Prayer in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer Psalter. It confesses God as the refuge of his people amid cosmic disorder and political tumult, and ends by proclaiming God's purpose to end war and be exalted among the nations. Its confidence is neither denial of trouble nor a promise that worshippers will escape it; it is confidence in the presence and rule of God.
Text in the 1928 Psalter
GOD is our hope and strength, * a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be moved, * and though the hills be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though the waters thereof rage and swell, * and though the mountains shake at the tempest of the same.
The Psalm begins not with a prediction that the earth will remain still, but with a confession that God is available in trouble. The 1928 phrase “hope and strength” joins trust and help: hope is not vague optimism, and strength is not human self-sufficiency. Hebrews 12:26–28 likewise speaks of a shaking that receives an unshakable kingdom; Christians may read Psalm 46 alongside that promise without turning the Psalm's images into a timetable of catastrophe.
4 There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God; * the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most Highest.
5 God is in the midst of her, therefore shall she not be removed; * God shall help her, and that right early.
6 The nations make much ado, and the kingdoms are moved; * but God hath showed his voice, and the earth shall melt away.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us; * the God of Jacob is our refuge.
The contrast is deliberate: raging water and restless kingdoms stand over against the river which gladdens God's city. The refrain does not say that the city is strong by its own resources; “the Lord of hosts is with us” supplies the ground of its security. In Christian worship, that refrain can strengthen a congregation to pray for the earthly city without identifying any nation or institution with the city of God itself.
8 O come hither, and behold the works of the Lord, * what destruction he hath brought upon the earth.
9 He maketh wars to cease in all the world; * he breaketh the bow, and knappeth the spear in sunder, and burneth the chariots in the fire.
10 Be still then, and know that I am God: * I will be exalted among the nations, and I will be exalted in the earth.
11 The Lord of hosts is with us; * the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Verses 8–10 turn from fear to God's judgment and peace. The Psalm's vision is not spiritual quietism: God breaks the weapons of war. “Be still” is therefore a summons to recognize God's sovereignty, especially where the nations rage, not merely an instruction to seek a private moment of calm. Isaiah 2:2–4 gives a closely related prophetic vision, in which weapons become implements of cultivation.
Prayer Book use
The Ninth Day.
Morning Prayer.
Psalm 44. Deus, auribus.
Psalm 45. Eructavit cor meum.
Psalm 46. Deus noster refugium.
Placed after Psalm 44's corporate lament and Psalm 45's royal song, Psalm 46 gives the Daily Office a movement from remembered distress and righteous kingship to the presence of God as refuge. It thereby keeps confidence from becoming individualistic: the prayer belongs to a people who name public disorder and ask for the peace God alone can establish.
Historical and literary reading
Alexander Maclaren treats a connection with a particular deliverance as probable, but distinguishes that judgment from certainty. His caution is important: the Psalm can be historically situated without pretending that its exact occasion has been conclusively recovered.
There are two events, one or other of which probably supplies the historical basis of this and the two following psalms. One is Jehoshaphat's deliverance from the combined forces of the bordering nations (2 Chron. xx.). ... But the other more usually accepted reference to the destruction of Sennacherib's army is more probable.
Maclaren also identifies the Psalm's threefold movement. This is a useful guide for reading its poetry as a coherent prayer rather than treating “Be still” as an isolated maxim.
The three strophes into which the psalm falls set forth substantially the same thought, that God's presence is safety and peace, whatever storms may roar. This general theme is exhibited in the first strophe (vv. 1-3) in reference to natural convulsions; in the second (vv. 4-7) in reference to the rage of hostile kingdoms; and in the third (vv. 8-11) men are summoned to behold a recent example of God's delivering might.
The river imagery belongs to the middle strophe's claim that God is in the midst of his city. It is not a reason to idealize a political Jerusalem or any later Christian polity; it directs the worshipper to God's gracious presence, which is the source of the city’s gladness and stability.
Patristic Christian reading
Augustine reads the Psalm through the Church's confession of Christ. His exposition is a theological reception of the Psalm, not a replacement for its literal images of earth, sea, city, and nations. In its own historical translation it numbers this as Psalm 45, following the Greek and Latin Psalter numbering.
Since Christ is in each man's heart by faith, it is signified to us, that his heart as a ship in this world's tempest is tossed, who forgets his faith: as though Christ sleeping it is tossed, but Christ awaking comes tranquillity.
Augustine connects the Psalm’s storms to the disciples' fear in the Gospel. That reading draws Psalm 46 into a Christian practice of faith amid distress, while the Psalm itself continues to name the public reality of tumultuous waters and nations.
What then follows? Be still. To what purpose? And see that I am God. That is, Not ye, but I am God. I created, I create anew; I formed, I form anew; I made, I make anew.
For Augustine, stillness is repentance from self-assertion before the Creator. That interpretation supplies a spiritual dimension to the Psalm’s call while its own final refrain keeps prayer anchored in God's faithful presence: “the God of Jacob is our refuge.”
See Also
References
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), The Psalter, Psalm 46, Deus noster refugium, pp. 422–423; wording hand-compared with
sources/justus1928/Psalms1.htm. Society of Archbishop Justus, “The Psalter: Psalms 1–50”. - ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), The Psalter, Psalm 46, Deus noster refugium, pp. 422–423; wording hand-compared with
sources/justus1928/Psalms1.htm. Society of Archbishop Justus, “The Psalter: Psalms 1–50”. - ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), The Psalter, Psalm 46, Deus noster refugium, pp. 422–423; wording hand-compared with
sources/justus1928/Psalms1.htm. Society of Archbishop Justus, “The Psalter: Psalms 1–50”. - ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), The Psalter, “The Ninth Day,” Morning Prayer; appointment checked against
sources/justus1928/Psalms1.htm. Society of Archbishop Justus, “The Psalter: Psalms 1–50”. - ↑ Alexander Maclaren, The Expositor’s Bible: The Psalms, vol. II, Psalms XXXIX–LXXXIX (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1893), p. 88, “Psalm XLVI”; wording checked against the digital text. Christian Classics Ethereal Library, “Psalm XLVI”.
- ↑ Alexander Maclaren, The Expositor’s Bible: The Psalms, vol. II, Psalms XXXIX–LXXXIX (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1893), p. 88, “Psalm XLVI”; wording checked against the digital text. Christian Classics Ethereal Library, “Psalm XLVI”.
- ↑ Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 45 [Psalm 46 in Hebrew numbering], §4, trans. J. E. Tweed, in Philip Schaff, ed., Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888); wording checked against the New Advent transcription. New Advent, “Exposition on Psalm 45”.
- ↑ Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 45 [Psalm 46 in Hebrew numbering], §13, trans. J. E. Tweed, in Philip Schaff, ed., Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888); wording checked against the New Advent transcription. New Advent, “Exposition on Psalm 45”.