Psalms 47
Big idea: A coronation psalm, and its audience is not Israel. Oh clap your hands, all you nations — the applause is conscripted from the very peoples verse 3 says have been subdued. The psalm's centre is a procession: God has gone up with a shout, Yahweh with the sound of a trumpet, which is how the ark was carried up to Zion. And then a line that quietly makes the whole thing global: the princes of the peoples are gathered together as the people of the God of Abraham — the nations, seated inside Abraham's family.
Psalm 47 seats the nations with Abraham's people. Psalm 48 walks them around the walls of the city.
47:1–9 — God has gone up with a shout
An enthronement psalm, and its most striking feature is who is told to clap: ALL you nations. The subdued peoples of verse 3 are the same ones invited to applaud in verse 1, which is a strange thing to ask of the conquered unless the throne is genuinely better for them too. The last verse makes that explicit — the princes of the peoples are gathered as the people of Abraham's God.
1 For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. Oh clap your hands, all you nations. Shout to God with the voice of triumph! 2 For Yahweh Most High is awesome. He is a great King over all the earth. 3 He subdues nations under us, and peoples under our feet. 4 He chooses our inheritance for us, the glory of Jacob whom he loved. Selah. 5 God has gone up with a shout, Yahweh with the sound of a trumpet. 6 Sing praises to God! Sing praises! Sing praises to our King! Sing praises! 7 For God is the King of all the earth. Sing praises with understanding. 8 God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne. 9 The princes of the peoples are gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God. He is greatly exalted!
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).