47
Psalm
Psalm 47
Psalm 47:1-9
Key words in this passage
Cross-references
Study notes
The psalm confronts readers with the claim that the LORD Most High rules every nation yet has acted decisively for one people by subduing their enemies and granting them an inheritance. This particular history becomes the basis for summoning all peoples to clap and shout, while the report of God's ascent with trumpet sound shifts the focus to sustained praise of the king. The closing picture of gathered princes as the people of Abraham's God shows how foreign rulers can acknowledge the same throne without erasing Israel's distinct place. The psalm thus holds universal rule and electing love together as the ground for worship that reaches every land.
What is Psalm 47 about?
Psalm 47 opens with a command issued to every nation: all the peoples must clap their hands and shout to God with a joyful cry. The stated ground for that command is that the LORD Most High is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. The verses immediately add what this king has already done on behalf of one people in particular. He subdues other nations under Israel and sets them under their feet. He selects their inheritance, called the pride of Jacob whom he loved, and a Selah marks the claim. The psalm then reports that God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet. That ascent triggers a fourfold summons to sing praises to God as king. The final lines picture the princes of the peoples gathered as the people of the God of Abraham, with the shields of the earth belonging to God. These opening verses therefore place Israel's experience of divine favor inside an address to every nation, and the tension between those two horizons shapes everything that follows.
Where does this passage sit in Psalm?
Psalm 46 ends by naming the God of Jacob as a fortress for his people amid nations that rage and kingdoms that totter. Psalm 47 opens by extending that same God’s reach outward: every people must now clap and shout because the LORD Most High already rules as a great king over all the earth. The verses that follow anchor this universal claim in what God has done for Israel in particular—he subdues other nations and assigns Jacob its inheritance—yet the language never narrows the scope back to Israel alone.
The report that God has gone up with a shout leads straight into fourfold summons to sing praises to the king. That repeated imperative prepares for the closing scene in which princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham and the shields of the earth belong to him. The movement therefore widens the horizon from the protected remnant in Psalm 46 to an assembly that includes the nations themselves.
Psalm 48 takes up the same king and immediately fixes attention on the city where his throne stands. The three psalms together move from refuge amid chaos, to the announcement of worldwide rule, to the security of the holy mountain. Within that short arc, Psalm 47 supplies the hinge: the ascent of the king and the gathering of foreign princes become the link between the fortress of Jacob and the city that displays his exaltation to every nation.
How is the passage structured?
The psalm opens with an imperative that reaches outward. All the peoples must clap their hands and shout to God with a joyful cry. The next line supplies the reason in a single statement: the LORD Most High is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. That claim of universal kingship is immediately followed by two lines that locate the evidence in concrete actions performed for one people. He subdues peoples under us and nations under our feet. He chooses our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loved. The Selah after this sentence creates a brief pause before the psalm changes register.
The fifth verse reports an event rather than issuing another command. God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet. This report of ascent becomes the pivot. The next two verses respond with four successive calls to sing praises, first to God and then to our king. The repetition occupies an entire verse and spills into the next, where the reason is restated in slightly different words: God is the king of all the earth. A further directive to sing a maskil follows without elaboration.
The final two verses return to declarative statements. God reigns over the nations and sits on his holy throne. The closing line then assembles a scene in which the princes of the peoples are gathered together as the people of the God of Abraham. The same sentence adds that the shields of the earth are God's and that he is greatly exalted. The architecture therefore moves from an initial summons addressed to every nation, through a focused rehearsal of what the king has done for Israel, across the reported ascent that triggers sustained praise, and into a closing picture of gathered rulers under one throne.
What is the historical background?
The superscription assigns the psalm to the sons of Korah, the guild of Levites charged with temple music after the return from exile. Their presence in the heading signals that the words belonged to the repertoire performed by trained singers at the Jerusalem sanctuary rather than to private or village use. In that setting the command for all peoples to clap their hands and raise a joyful cry mirrors the public acclamation given to a newly enthroned king in the ancient Near East; the same gestures appear in accounts of royal processions and treaty ceremonies. The phrase “God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet” recalls the moment when the ark of the covenant was carried into the sanctuary, accompanied by the blasts of the silver trumpets and the ram’s horn. Such processions marked the annual festivals when worshipers renewed the claim that the LORD alone rules the nations. The final scene, in which the princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham, draws on the older covenant tradition that linked Abraham’s descendants to the wider world of nations. The “shields of the earth” most likely refers to the rulers themselves, whose authority is understood to rest ultimately with the God seated on the holy throne. The term maskil in verse 7 points to a category of psalm used for instruction during worship, while the Selah after verse 4 marks a customary pause for instrumental response. These details locate the psalm inside the concrete practices of temple liturgy rather than in abstract theological statement.
What does this passage teach about God?
The psalm grounds its opening summons in the character of the LORD Most High. Because he is to be feared as a great king over all the earth, every nation must clap its hands and shout with a joyful cry. That universal claim does not erase the particular history the psalm recalls. The same king subdues peoples under Israel and sets nations under their feet. He chooses their inheritance, described as the pride of Jacob whom he loved. The text therefore presents God’s reign as both comprehensive and selective: he rules every land yet binds himself to one people through an act of electing love.
The ascent of God with a shout and the sound of a trumpet sharpens this picture. The movement signals that the king has taken his throne after decisive action on behalf of his people. From that position the psalm issues repeated calls to sing praises to God and to our king. The reason supplied is straightforward: God is the king of all the earth. His reign is not limited to Israel’s borders; he reigns over the nations and sits on his holy throne.
The closing scene gathers the princes of the peoples together as the people of the God of Abraham. The shields of the earth belong to God, and he is greatly exalted. In these lines the psalm shows how the nations participate in the story without displacing Jacob’s inheritance. They appear as those who acknowledge the one whose throne already stands above every ruler. The exaltation of God thus rests on both his particular choice of Israel and his undisputed authority over every prince and shield.
What are the interpretive difficulties?
One question centers on the ascent reported in verse 5. The claim that God has gone up with a shout and the LORD with the sound of a trumpet does not specify the location or direction of the movement. Some readers take the language as a description of a temple procession in which the ark advances to its resting place. Others understand the same words as an image of enthronement in heaven after victory. The fourfold call to sing praises that follows treats the ascent as the occasion for renewed worship, yet the psalm supplies no further detail that would settle the setting.
A second issue concerns the final verse. The princes of the peoples are gathered together as the people of the God of Abraham. The construction leaves open whether these leaders are absorbed into Israel or stand alongside Israel as subject nations that now acknowledge the same God. The added statement that the shields of the earth are God's suggests that military power itself belongs to the LORD, but the verse does not describe any change in the political status of the princes or their territories.
The first-person plural in verses 3 and 4 raises a related difficulty. The text states that God subdues peoples under us and chooses our inheritance. The speaker could be the nation of Israel alone, or the speaker could include the wider assembly now summoned to clap and shout. Verse 4 anchors the inheritance in Jacob whom he loved, which keeps the particular election in view. At the same time the opening command addresses every nation without distinction, so the boundary between the chosen people and the gathered peoples remains imprecise.
The presence of Selah after the inheritance statement and the instruction to sing a maskil after the declaration of universal kingship mark moments for reflection. Neither marker resolves the relation between Israel's distinct inheritance and the claim that God reigns over the nations from a holy throne. The psalm therefore presents these tensions without furnishing an explicit harmonization.
Movement by movement
Superscription and Summons47:0-1
The superscription assigns the melody to the conductor and the sons of Korah, marking it for performance by the Levitical guild responsible for sanctuary song. The opening line then issues its command without restriction: all the peoples must clap their hands and shout to God with a joyful cry. That summons rests directly on the declaration that follows, that the LORD Most High is to be feared as a great king over all the earth. The address reaches every nation because the claim of kingship already extends that far. Yet the next lines anchor the same claim in actions performed for Israel: the king subdues peoples under us and nations under our feet, and he chooses our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loved. The Selah that closes the section allows the double foundation—universal rule and particular election—to stand before the psalm moves on to its report of ascent and renewed praise.
The Great King and His Deeds47:2-4
The LORD Most High is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. That title rests on two concrete actions the psalm names next. He subdues peoples under us and nations under our feet. The verbs place the nations in a position of defeat that directly benefits the speakers, turning former adversaries into territory now under their control. The same king then chooses our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loved. The phrase identifies the land itself as the object of divine selection and ties that choice to an enduring affection for Jacob. A Selah follows, inviting pause over the claim that the ruler of every nation has already acted in this particular way for one people. The movement therefore links universal kingship to a history of conquest and allotment that remains visible in the present possession of Jacob's inheritance.
God Ascends47:5
God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet. The report stands directly after the Selah that closes the statement about Jacob’s inheritance. The two parallel lines use the general title God for the ascent accompanied by shouting, then the personal name LORD for the same movement accompanied by trumpet sound. The verse gives no destination and no point of origin, leaving open whether the movement describes the ark being carried to its place in the sanctuary or the ruler of the nations returning to a heavenly seat after victory. In either case the action is marked by public sound rather than silence. The shout belongs to the same vocabulary used earlier for the command issued to all peoples, while the trumpet belongs to royal and cultic ceremony. The next lines respond to this report by repeating the call to sing praises four times, directing the singing both to God and to our king. The ascent therefore supplies the immediate occasion for the renewed summons without resolving whether the scene is earthly or heavenly.
Call to Sing Praises47:6-7
Four repetitions of the command to sing praises open this section, first addressing God directly and then specifying our king. The line that follows grounds the summons in the same universal rule already announced at the psalm's beginning. God is the king of all the earth, and the final phrase directs the singers to perform a maskil. This call comes immediately after the report that God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet. The ascent supplies the occasion, yet the psalm leaves open whether the movement describes a temple procession or an enthronement in heaven. Either reading places the repeated summons as the fitting response to the king's arrival or exaltation. The address shifts from all the peoples in the opening verse to a voice that now claims God as our king, while still affirming his reign over every nation. The particular people who received the inheritance of Jacob now lead the praise that all nations are summoned to join.
Reign and Gathering47:8-9
God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne. The declaration fixes the rule in a single location, the holy throne, after the ascent described earlier. From that seat the reign extends across every people without exception. The same verse pair then shows what this reign produces among those nations. The princes of the peoples are gathered together as the people of the God of Abraham. Leaders once counted among foreign powers now stand inside the covenant line that began with Abraham. The gathering does not erase the earlier distinction between Jacob and other nations; instead it draws the princes into the very identity once given to the pride of Jacob whom God loved. The ground for this inclusion is stated plainly: the shields of the earth are God’s. Every defensive power and every ruler therefore belongs to the one who occupies the throne. The final clause records the result: he is greatly exalted. The exaltation rests on the fact that the nations’ own protectors have become part of Abraham’s people under the same reigning king.
Notes accompany the Anselm Project Bible, an AI translation from the original languages. Tap any verse above for the committee's word-level decisions.
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