What Does Psalm 47:1 Mean?
To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. Clap your hands, all the peoples; shout to God with a ringing voice.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.THE KEY
The verb for clapping also describes sounding a trumpet, so hands and voice become one public signal of triumph.
THE MEANING
This verse addresses you as part of “all ye people”: praise takes shape through a struck palm and a voiced cry. The sound is shared and directed to God, making triumph audible among people.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Praise is only an inward feeling; this verse gives it a public, physical voice.
THE ROOT
תִּקְעוּ
tiqʿu
GROWS FROM
תקע
To thrust, drive in, or strike.
“Clap your hands” in this verse is tiqʿu. The verb behind this clap is also used for striking hands and blowing a horn. Its sound carries the force of a signal sent outward, linking the gesture to the shout that follows.
ALSO GROWS
taqaʿ bəḵaf: Strike hands, including as a pledge.
תָּקַע בְּכַף
The hand gesture shares this verb’s sense of a deliberate, outward strike.
taqaʿ ba-shofar: Blow the shofar or trumpet.
תָּקַע בַּשּׁוֹפָר
The same verb makes a handclap resonate with a signal sounded aloud.
הָרִיעוּ
hārîʿû
GROWS FROM
רוע
To raise a loud cry, whether acclamation or alarm.
This root can carry a cry of alarm as well as acclamation; here its address to God and its pairing with a ringing cry make the shout celebratory. The command gathers the people’s voices into a shared sound.
ALSO GROWS
teruʿah: A loud shout, alarm blast, or acclamation.
תְּרוּעָה
It shows the range of the root’s public, unmistakable cry.
hārîʿû: Raise a shout or acclaim; the plural command used here.
הָרִיעוּ
The command makes the cry something the gathered people voice together.
רִנָּה
rinnah
GROWS FROM
רנן
To ring out in a song or cry of rejoicing.
“ringing voice” in this verse is rinnah. The word rendered “triumph” also carries the sense of a ringing cry or jubilant song. It makes triumph audible, tying the phrase to the striking hands and raised shout around it.
ALSO GROWS
rānan: Sing or cry aloud with joy.
רָנַן
The verb gives the voice in this phrase its ringing, expressive quality.
rinnah: A ringing cry, song, or jubilant shout.
רִנָּה
This noun names the voiced sound that completes the people’s acclamation.
THE PATTERN
When praise gathers a people, it becomes an audible public act directed toward God.
So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with a shout, and with the sound of the ram's horn.Shout to the LORD, all the earth. Burst open, ring out, and make music.After these things I hear a great voice of a great crowd in heaven, saying, Hallelujah! Deliverance, and weight, and honor, and power to our God.THE THREAD
Shout to the LORD, all the earth. Burst open, ring out, and make music.“Make a joyful noise” uses the same Hebrew shout verb as “shout” in this verse. Psalm 98 widens the call from all peoples to all the earth, letting the shared cry ring out on a universal scale.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us