2 For Jehovah, the Most High, is terrible, a great king over all the earth.
Say unto God, How terrible are thy works! because of the greatness of thy strength, thine enemies come cringing unto thee. All the earth shall worship thee, and sing psalms unto thee: they shall sing forth thy name. Selah. Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in [his] doings toward the children of men.
and they say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and have us hidden from [the] face of him that sits upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; because the great day of his wrath is come, and who is able to stand?
Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and granted him a name, that which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly and earthly and infernal [beings], and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord to God [the] Father's glory.
Who shall stand before his indignation? and who shall abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by him. Jehovah is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of heaven [one] like a son of man, and he came up even to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom [that] which shall not be destroyed.
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto Jehovah, and all the families of the nations shall worship before thee: For the kingdom is Jehovah's, and he ruleth among the nations. All the fat ones of the earth shall eat and worship; all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him, and he that cannot keep alive his own soul.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 47
Commentary on Psalms 47 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 47
Ps 47:1-9. Praise is given to God for victory, perhaps that recorded (2Ch 20:20-30); and His dominions over all people, Jews and Gentiles, is asserted.
1. clap … hands … people—literally, "peoples," or "nations" (compare De 32:43; Ps 18:49; 98:9).
2, 3. His universal sovereignty now exists, and will be made known.
3. under us—that is, His saints; Israel's temporal victories were types of the spiritual conquests of the true Church.
4. He shall … inheritance—the heathen to be possessed by His Church (Ps 2:8), as Canaan by the Jews.
excellency of Jacob—literally, "pride," or, that in which he glories (not necessarily, though often, in a bad sense), the privileges of the chosen people—
whom he loved—His love being the sole cause of granting them.
5-7. God, victorious over His enemies, reascends to heaven, amid the triumphant praises of His people, who celebrate His sovereign dominion. This sovereignty is what the Psalm teaches; hence he adds,
sing … praises with understanding—literally, "sing and play an instructive (Psalm)." The whole typifies Christ's ascension (compare Ps 68:18).
8, 9. The instruction continued.
throne of … holiness—or, "holy throne" (see on Ps 2:6; Ps 23:4).
9. princes—who represent peoples. For—
even—supply, "as," or, "to"—that is, they all become united under covenant with Abraham's God.
shields—as in Ho 4:18, "rulers" [Margin].