Psalm 87 Contemporary English Version

(A psalm and a song by the clan of Korah.)

The Glory of Mount Zion

¹Zion was built by the Lord
    on the holy mountain,
²and he loves that city
more than any other place
    in all of Israel.
³Zion, you are the city of God,
and wonderful things
    are told about you.

⁴Egypt,^[a] Babylonia, Philistia,
    Phoenicia,^[b] and Ethiopia^[c]
are some of those nations
    that know you,
and their people all say,
    “I was born in Zion.”

⁵God Most High will strengthen
    the city of Zion.
Then everyone will say,
    “We were born here too.”
⁶The Lord will make a list
    of his people,
and all who were born here
    will be included.

⁷All who sing or dance will say,
“I too am from Zion.”

Footnotes

87.4 Egypt: The Hebrew text has “Rahab,” the name of a monster that stands for Egypt (see Isaiah 30.7).
87.4 Phoenicia: See the note at 83.7.
87.4 Ethiopia: The Hebrew text has “Cush,” which was a region south of Egypt that included parts of the present countries of Ethiopia and Sudan.