Why read Psalm 47?
Read Psalm 47 to give thanks for the community's protection and strengthen your faith. The city of God is portrayed as a place of His presence, with this hope to be passed to future generations.
You can read this psalm when its themes speak to your circumstances, or as part of your regular reading of the Psalter. This explanation draws on the text itself; the psalm is not reserved for one particular need.
The full text of Psalm 47 (13 verses), from the 7th Kathisma of the Psalter. The opening words — “Great is the Lord and greatly praised...” — are also the psalm’s traditional “name”: our grandmothers did not say “Psalm 47”, but called it by name, using its first words.
The text of Psalm 47
1. Great is the Lord and greatly praised in the city of our God, on His holy mountain;
2. Well established for the joy of all the earth. Mount Zion, the northern slopes, the city of the great King.
3. God is known in her palaces when He defends her.
4. For behold, the kings gathered, they came together.
5. Seeing her thus, they marvelled, were troubled and trembled;
6. Trembling seized them there, pains like those of a woman giving birth. With a strong wind He will break the ships of Tarshish.
7. As we heard, so we also saw, in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God.
8. God established her forever. We received, O God, Your mercy in the midst of Your dwelling place.
9. As Your name, O God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is full of righteousness.
10. Let Mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad because of Your judgements, O Lord.
11. Go around Zion and encircle it, tell of its towers.
12. Set your hearts upon its strength and pass through its palaces, to tell the generation to come,
13. That this is God, our God forever and unto the ages of ages; He will shepherd us forever.
When Psalm 47 is read
- It belongs to the 7th Kathisma and may be read daily alongside the prayer rule (see the morning and evening prayers).
- At the end of each psalm, tradition adds: «Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.».
Adjacent psalms
The numbering follows the Orthodox Psalter (Septuagint). The same psalm may have a different number in other Bible editions.
