Psalm 46 is a song of trust in God when the world is shaking. It opens, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1), and says that even if the earth gives way and the mountains fall into the sea, God's people will not fear. In the middle, a quiet river makes glad the city of God, because God is in the midst of her. It ends with God Himself speaking: "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). Its refrain says twice, "The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge" (Psalm 46:7).
Psalm 46 has steadied God's people in some of their worst moments. Martin Luther loved it so much that he turned it into the hymn A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, and when things were at their darkest he reportedly said to his friends, Come, let us sing the forty-sixth psalm. The psalm is credited to the sons of Korah, a family of temple singers, and many readers connect it with the day God delivered Jerusalem from the Assyrian army in the time of King Hezekiah (2 Kings 19:32-35), though the psalm itself does not say. It has three short stanzas, each ending with the word Selah, a musical marker that probably means pause. The first pictures natural disaster, the second war and the third God's final victory and peace. This page gives the full psalm in the King James Version, verse by verse, with a note on each, and two companion verses from Isaiah and Revelation. Its most quoted line has its own page of related verses: Bible verses about being still. See also Bible verses about God in control.
God is our refuge and strength (Psalm 46:1-5)
1. Psalms 46:1
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."
The psalm begins with its thesis: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. A refuge is a place to hide when danger comes, like a fortress or a cave in the hills. Strength is what we need when we cannot hide but must stand. God is both. A very present help can also be translated a help that is easily found, or a help well proved. He is not hard to reach in an emergency. He is right there. The word our matters too: this is a psalm for the whole community, sung together.
2. Psalms 46:2-3
"Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah."
Therefore will not we fear. Notice the word therefore. Fearlessness is the result of verse 1, not of the absence of danger. The danger is enormous: though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. In the ancient world, mountains were the picture of what can never move, and the sea was the picture of chaos. The psalmist imagines the world coming undone, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, and still says we will not fear. Then: Selah. Pause, and take that in.
3. Psalms 46:4
"There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High."
After the roaring sea comes a quiet river. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God. Jerusalem had no great river, only a spring and the channel Hezekiah had cut to bring its water inside the walls (2 Kings 20:20). The psalm's river is a picture of God's own presence and blessing flowing through His city. The contrast is deliberate. The nations rage like the sea; God's people drink from a gentle river. Jesus spoke of rivers of living water flowing from those who believe (John 7:38).
4. Psalms 46:5
"God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early."
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved. The mountains in verse 2 were moved; the city where God lives is not. Her security is not her walls or her army. It is the God in the middle of her. God shall help her, and that right early, literally at the turning of the morning. In 2 Kings 19:35, when the Assyrian army surrounded Jerusalem, the people woke in the morning to find the threat gone. God's help often comes at dawn, after the longest night. See Bible verses about morning.
The LORD of hosts is with us (Psalm 46:6-9)
5. Psalms 46:6
"The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted."
The second stanza moves from natural disaster to political chaos: The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved. Nations and empires rise up against one another, as they always have. The word for raged is the same word used for the roaring waters in verse 3. Human power can be as frightening as a storm. And then, in a few words, God settles it: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. All the noise of the nations is no match for a single word from God.
6. Psalms 46:7
"The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah."
Here is the refrain of the psalm, sung twice: The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. The LORD of hosts means the LORD of armies, the commander of heaven's angelic forces. The God of Jacob is a tender, personal name: the God who met a scheming, frightened man and never let him go. The psalm holds both names together. The God of unlimited power is also the God who keeps covenant with weak people. And He is with us, which is the meaning of the name Emmanuel. Selah.
7. Psalms 46:8
"Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth."
Now the psalm invites us to look: Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth. Desolations can sound alarming, but the next verse explains them. God has laid waste the weapons of war. Those who first sang this psalm may have walked out to see a battlefield where an enemy army had been destroyed, as Jerusalem's people did after the Assyrians fell. The invitation is for us too: before you despair at the news, come and look at what God has done before.
8. Psalms 46:9
"He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire."
He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. The psalm looks beyond one rescue to God's final goal: an end to war itself. Bows, spears and chariots were the weapons of the day. God does not only win the battle; He destroys the weapons so they can never be used again. This is the peace the prophets longed for, and the peace Christians pray for whenever they say thy kingdom come. See Bible verses about peace.
Be still, and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10-11)
9. Psalms 46:10
"Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."
Then God Himself speaks: Be still, and know that I am God. Be still is often read as a call to quiet devotion, and it does invite that. But in the setting of the psalm, it is first a command to the raging nations: stop, let go, cease striving. The same Hebrew word can mean relax your grip. God's people are told to stop panicking and remember who is in charge. I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The end of the story is not chaos but God honored over all.
10. Psalms 46:11
"The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah."
The refrain returns to close the psalm: The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. After God has spoken, the people answer with the same confession, now with even more confidence. The psalm began with God as our refuge and ends the same way, but in between we have seen the earth shake, the nations rage and God put an end to it all. One last Selah. Martin Luther's hymn ends on the same note: God's truth abideth still, His kingdom is forever.
11. Isaiah 2:4
"And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."
Psalm 46:9 has a twin in the prophet Isaiah, who saw the nations streaming to God's mountain to learn His ways: they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. These words are carved on a wall across from the United Nations in New York. Isaiah and the psalm agree that the end of war will not come from human treaties alone, but from God judging among the nations.
12. Revelation 22:1
"And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb."
The river of Psalm 46:4 flows all the way to the last page of the Bible. In John's vision of the new Jerusalem, he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. The city of God that shall not be moved is finally seen in full. Its river is life itself, flowing from God's throne. Christians reading Psalm 46 in hard times are reading a preview of where the story ends: God in the midst of His people, and no more fear.
A short prayer
God, You are my refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. When the ground shakes under me and the news is full of raging nations, help me not to fear. Let the river of Your presence make me glad. Quiet my striving, so that I can be still and know that You are God. Thank You that the LORD of hosts is with us and the God of Jacob is our refuge. Bring the day when wars cease to the end of the earth. Amen.
Go deeper: a SOAP study prompt
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Frequently asked questions
What is the meaning of Psalm 46?
Psalm 46 means that God is a safe refuge and a present help for His people in every kind of trouble, from natural disaster to war. Because God is in the midst of His people, they do not need to fear even if the world seems to fall apart. The psalm ends with God calling everyone to be still and know that He is God, and will be exalted over all the earth.
What does Be still, and know that I am God mean?
In Psalm 46:10, be still means stop, let go or cease striving. In context God is speaking to the raging nations and to His anxious people, telling them to stop fighting and panicking and to recognize that He is God and in control. It also invites a quiet trust in daily life. See Bible verses about being still.
Who wrote Psalm 46?
The heading of Psalm 46 credits it to the sons of Korah, a family of Levite singers who served in the temple, and addresses it to the chief Musician. It does not name an individual author or date. Many Bible scholars connect it with God's deliverance of Jerusalem from the Assyrian king Sennacherib about 701 BC, but that is a reasonable guess, not something the psalm states.
What hymn is based on Psalm 46?
Martin Luther's hymn A Mighty Fortress Is Our God (Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott), written around 1529, is based on Psalm 46. Its opening line echoes "God is our refuge and strength" (Psalm 46:1). Other songs drawn from the psalm include many modern worship settings of Psalm 46:10.
Sources: All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV), public domain in the United States. References were checked against the KJV text from bible-api.com.
Related: Being still · God in control · Peace · Strength · Protection · Fear · Psalm 121 KJV · Psalm 91 meaning
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