God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Deus noster refugium et virtus; adjutor in tribulationibus quæ invenerunt nos nimis.Vulgate Psalm 45:2 · Clementine Vulgate
Explanation — not a translation
In brief
Psalm 46 opens by naming God as a refuge (a place of safety), strength (power to endure) and a help that is “very present” in trouble — and then imagines the worst: earth shifting, mountains falling into the sea. Even then, the psalmist says, “we won’t be afraid.”
The setting
The superscription assigns the psalm to “the sons of Korah,” a family of temple musicians. The psalm celebrates God’s presence in “the city of God,” Jerusalem. Some interpreters connect it with the city’s deliverance from the Assyrian army in 701 BC (2 Kings 19), but the psalm itself names no event and works as a song for any time of upheaval.
Therefore we won’t be afraid, though the earth changes,
though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas;
though its waters roar and are troubled,
though the mountains tremble with their swelling. Selah.
Propterea non timebimus dum turbabitur terra, et transferentur montes in cor maris. Sonuerunt, et turbatæ sunt aquæ eorum; conturbati sunt montes in fortitudine ejus.Vulgate Psalm 45:3–4 · Clementine Vulgate
The images escalate from earthquake to roaring sea — ancient pictures of chaos.
A river in the city
There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad,
the holy place of the tents of the Most High.
God is within her. She shall not be moved.
God will help her at dawn.
Fluminis impetus lætificat civitatem Dei: sanctificavit tabernaculum suum Altissimus. Deus in medio ejus, non commovebitur; adjuvabit eam Deus mane diluculo.Vulgate Psalm 45:5–6 · Clementine Vulgate
Jerusalem had no great river. The “river” is God’s life-giving presence.
“Be still”
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations.
I will be exalted on the earth.”
Vacate, et videte quoniam ego sum Deus; exaltabor in gentibus, et exaltabor in terra.Vulgate Psalm 45:11 · Clementine Vulgate
Often read as an invitation to quiet. In context it may also be a command to the warring nations: stop, and recognize who is God.
Both readings have long histories, and they need not exclude each other: the God who stills nations is the reason the faithful can be still.
How it has been used
Martin Luther’s hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” was inspired by Psalm 46, and the psalm has been sung in times of national crisis by many communities. In the Vulgate the psalm is numbered 45.