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Psalm 47 · a question people ask

"God has gone up with a shout" (47:5). Is this about Jesus going up into heaven?

In the text

The verse says, "God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet" (47:5). It doesn't say where he went up from, or to. The New Testament tells that Jesus "was carried up into heaven" (Luke 24:51), and that "he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight" (Acts 1:9). Neither passage quotes Psalm 47, and no New Testament verse quotes 47:5. The Hebrew words of 47:5 are the ones 2 Samuel uses when the ark was brought up "with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet" (2 Samuel 6:15), and the psalm doesn't say it is about the ark either. So these notes don't draw a line from 47:5 to Jesus being taken up, because the New Testament doesn't draw it, and they don't tie 47:5 to the ark. What the psalm itself says is that the one who has gone up is God, "the LORD" (47:5), and that "He is greatly exalted!" (47:9), with the same Hebrew verb (tap gone up).

The verses

“God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.”
Psalm 47:5 · World English Bible
“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!”
Psalm 47:9 · World English Bible
“While he blessed them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.”
Luke 24:51 · World English Bible
“When he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.”
Acts 1:9 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 47

Psalm 47: King of all the earth

In Hebrew, the nations of "Oh clap your hands, all you nations" (47:1) and the last verse's peoples and people are one word: the psalm calls the peoples to clap, and ends with their princes "gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham" (47:9). And "gone up" (47:5) and "greatly exalted" (47:9) are one Hebrew verb.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions