What Does Psalm 47:5 Mean?
God rises with a shout; the LORD with the sound of a ram's horn.
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
God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.THE KEY
The Hebrew word for “gone up” shares its root with עֹלָה (ʿōlāh, “that which rises,” the burnt offering), so ascent carries the image of something rising, and the shout and trumpet make that rise audible.
THE MEANING
God’s ascent is voiced in a shout and trumpet, making the rise something the reader can hear. The LORD is not presented here as a silent idea but as presence made audible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse loosens the belief that divine presence is only silent or inward: here ascent is heard in the open, in a shout and a trumpet.
THE ROOT
עָלָה
ʿālāh
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿ-l-h
To go up, ascend, or rise.
In Hebrew, “gone up” is not an isolated motion word: the same root names the עֹלָה (ʿōlāh), an offering that rises. The paired shout and shofar make that rising audible; ascent fills the air, not just a direction.
ALSO GROWS
ʿōlāh: Burnt offering; literally, that which rises.
עֹלָה
This branch lets “gone up” carry the image of an offering rising, alongside the verse’s announcement of ascent.
maʿălāh: Ascent, going up, or an upward step.
מַעֲלָה
This branch keeps the verse’s movement concrete: ascent is a rising, step by step.
תְּרוּעָה
teruʿāh
GROWS FROM
רוע
r-w-ʿ
To shout, raise a loud cry, or sound an alarm.
The word carries more than undifferentiated noise: teruʿāh can name a shout of acclamation or an alarm cry. Beside the shofar, the sound marks the ascent as something declared and heard.
ALSO GROWS
hārîʿû: “Shout!” or “raise a cry!”
הָרִיעוּ
Psalm 47:1 uses this verb to call the people to shout to God, making the sound in verse 5 part of a shared acclamation.
teruʿāh: A shout, alarm cry, or acclamation.
תְּרוּעָה
This noun gives the verse’s shout its range: a cry that can announce, celebrate, or sound an alarm.
THE PATTERN
The arrival or ascent of divine presence is made publicly recognizable through sound.
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.For the Lord himself, with a shout of command, with the voice of the chief messenger, and with the trumpet of God, will step down from heaven, and the dead in the Anointed One will rise first.With trumpets and the sound of the ram's horn, shout before the King, the LORD.THE THREAD
You have climbed to the height; you have taken captive the captives; you have taken gifts among humankind, even the ones who turn away, so that the LORD God might settle among them.Psalm 68:18 uses the same root, עלה (ʿ-l-h, “ascend”), for “ascended.” It opens the ascent beyond upward movement: the rising leads captivity captive and makes dwelling among people possible.
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