Psalms 47:1-9·~1 min

Clap Your Hands, All You Peoples

The psalm opens by calling all peoples to clap their hands and shout to God with cries of joy, because the LORD Most High is awesome and the great King over all the earth. He subdues nations beneath his people and chooses their inheritance, the pride of Jacob whom he loves.

F¹or the choirmaster. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. ²How awesome is the LORD Most High, ³He subdues nations beneath us, ⁴He chooses our inheritance for us,

The hymn then pictures God ascending amid shouts of joy and the sound of the trumpet, as though enthroned before worshipers. Because he is King over all the earth, the people are commanded again and again to sing praises with understanding.

⁵God has ascended amid shouts of joy, ⁶Sing praises to God, sing praises; ⁷For God is King of all the earth;

The psalm ends by declaring that God reigns over the nations from his holy throne and by envisioning the nobles of the peoples assembled with the people of the God of Abraham. The shields of the earth belong to God, and he is highly exalted above all.

⁸God reigns over the nations; ⁹The nobles of the nations have assembled

Section summaryThe sons of Korah call all peoples to celebrate the awesome LORD Most High, who subdues nations and gives his beloved inheritance to Jacob. They then command repeated singing because God has ascended with shouts and trumpet sound and is king over all the earth, and they close by portraying the princes of the nations assembled with the people of the God of Abraham beneath God's holy throne and supreme exaltation.

Role in the chapterThis single section functions as an enthronement song of universal kingship. It moves from loud summons, to praise of God's victorious rule, to a concluding vision of international gathering under his reign.