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PSALM 47

To him that presides; a Psalm of the sons of Korah.

1. O clap your hands all you peoples; sing to God with the voice of triumph.
2. For jehovah is most High; he is greatly to be feared; he is a great king over all the earth.
3. He will subdue the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet.
4. He shall choose for us our inheritance, even the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.
5. god is gone up with a shout; jehovah with the voice 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 you praises with understanding.
8. god reigns over the nations; god sits on the throne of his holiness.
9. The princes of the people are gathered together, the people of the god of Abraham; for the shields of the earth are god's; he is greatly exalted.

Verses 1, 5, 6, 7, 8. O clap your hands all you peoples, sing to god with the voice of triumph. god is gone up with a shout, jehovah with the voice of a trumpet. Sing praises to god, sing praises to our king, sing praises. For god is the king of all the earth, sing you praises with understanding. Inasmuch as there are various affections of good and truth, and each affection is uttered by a suitable tone, therefore in the word various kinds of instruments are mentioned, especially in David, by which similar affections are signified. He who is acquainted with the internal sense of the Word, and at the same time with the tones of the instruments there mentioned, may know what affection is there signified and described: the angels know this from the bare mention of them, and at the same time from the thing with its expressions there described, when man reads the word, as for example in David, "Clap your hands all you peoples, sing to god with the voice of triumph; god is gone up with a shout, jehovah with the voice of a trumpet; sing to god, sing to our king, for god is the king of all the earth, sing with understanding." Again, "They have seen your goings, O god, the goings of my god; the singers went before, the minstrels follow after, in the midst of the virgins playing with the timbrels," Psalm 68:25, 26, 27. Again, "Sing you aloud to god our strength, make a joyful noise to the god of Jacob; lift up a song, and bring here the timbrel, the pleasant harp, with the psaltery; blow up the trumpet in the new moon," Psalm 81:1, 2, 3. Again, "Praise god with the sound of the trumpet, praise him with the psaltery and harp, praise him with the timbrel and dance; praise him with stringed instruments and organs; praise him with the loud cymbals, praise him upon the high-sounding cymbals." Psalm 150:3, 4, 5. All the instruments here named, signify affections, each its particular one, and this from the agreement of their sound, for affections are what produce varieties of tones with men, whence also from the tones affections are known. To the above I will add this arcanum: the angels, who in heaven constitute the lord's celestial kingdom, draw the internal sense of the Word from the affection alone of man when he reads the Word, resulting also from the sound of the expressions in the original tongue; but the angels, who are in the lord's spiritual kingdom, draw the internal sense from the truths which the expressions contain; hence from the celestial kingdom man has heartfelt joy who is in spiritual affection, and from the spiritual kingdom confession from that joy; the sounds of musical instruments, which are there named, elevate the affection, and truths form it. AE 326.

Verse 5. God is gone up with a shout, jehovah with the voice of a trumpet. Truth divine itself in heaven is signified by voices and lightnings, but celestial or angelic truth adjoined to divine, which is beneath or around, is signified by the voice of a trumpet; as in Zech. "jehovah shall appear over them, and his weapon shall go forth as lightning, and the lord jehovah shall sound with a trumpet, and shall advance in the storms of the south," Zech 9:14; and in David, "God is gone up with a shout; jehovah with the voice of a trumpet," Psalm 47:5; where shout denotes the truth of spiritual good, the voice of a trumpet denotes the truth of celestial good. AC 8815.

Verse 8. god sits on the throne of his holiness. Inasmuch as by the angels, also by the twelve apostles, and likewise by the twelve tribes of Israel, are signified all the truths of the church, and in the supreme sense the Divine Truth, therefore by sitting on thrones is not meant that they themselves will sit, but that the lord as to Divine Truth, from which is judgement; and by judging the twelve tribes of Israel, is signified to judge all according to the truths of their church: hence it is evident that sitting on a throne, when predicated of the lord, is signified to be judging, thus to judge; it is called a throne of glory, because glory signifies Divine Truth. AR 687.

Verse 9. The shields of the earth are god's, he is greatly exalted. Shield in respect to jehovah is defence, and in respect to man is confidence; as in David, "My shield is with god, who saves the upright in heart," Psalm 7:9, 10; where shield denotes confidence; again, "The shields of the earth are god's, he is greatly exalted," Psalm 47:9; in like manner denoting confidence. AC 1788.

The Translator's Notes and Observations

Verse 1. O clap your hands all you people. This expression the clapping of hands will suggest to the intelligent reader not only a sufficient mark of joy and delight, but also a lesson of instruction arising from the correspondence of the two hands, when it is considered that the right hand is a figure of good, and the left of truth, consequently that clapping has here relation to the conjunction of those two principles, and the necessity of such conjunction, as the proper legitimate source of all true joy.

The same intelligent reader will not fail to observe, that the two names jehovah and king, as applied to the divine being, at verse 2, and the two names god and jehovah, which occur at verse 5, and further proofs of the divine marriage of the good and true, so often above pointed at, as the sure and certain marks of the Divine origin of revealed truth.