the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
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King James Version
Psalms 24:7
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Open up, ancient gates! Open up, ancient doors, and let the King of glory enter.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors: and the King of glory shall come in.
Lift up your heads, O you gates; And be lifted up, you everlasting doors: And the King of glory will come in.
Open up, you gates. Open wide, you aged doors and the glorious King will come in.
Look up, you gates! Rise up, you eternal doors! Then the majestic king will enter!
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
Lift up your heads, you gates; Be lifted up, you everlasting doors: The King of glory will come in.
Lift up your heads, O gates, And be lifted up, ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in.
Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
Ye princes, take vp youre yatis, and ye euerelastynge yatis, be reisid; and the kyng of glorie schal entre.
Lift up your heads, O gates! Be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may enter!
Open the ancient gates, so that the glorious king may come in.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors: And the King of glory will come in.
Let your heads be lifted up, O doors; be lifted up, O you eternal doors: that the King of glory may come in.
Lift up your heads, you gates! Lift them up, everlasting doors, so that the glorious king can enter!
Lift up your heads, ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in.
Gates, proudly lift your heads! Open, ancient doors, and the glorious King will come in.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors;
Lift vp your heads, O yee gates, and be ye lift vp ye euerlasting doores; and the King of glory shall come in.
Lift up your heads, O gates. And be lifted up, O doors that last forever. And the King of shining-greatness will come in.
Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in.
Lift vp your heads ye gates, and be ye lift vp ye euerlasting doores, and the King of glory shall come in.
Lift up your heads, O you gates; and be lifted up, O everlasting doors, that the King of glory may come in.
Fling wide the gates, open the ancient doors, and the great king will come in.
Lift up, O ye gates, your heads, and lift yourselves up, ye age-abiding doors, That the king of glory may come in.
(23-7) Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, O eternal gates: and the King of Glory shall enter in.
Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in.
Lyft vp your heades O ye gates, and be ye lyft vp ye euerlastyng doores and the kyng of glorie shall enter in.
Lift up your gates, ye princes, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the king of glory shall come in.
Lift up your heads, you gates!Rise up, ancient doors!Then the King of glory will come in.
Lift up your heads, you gates; Be lifted up, you everlasting doors: The King of glory will come in.
Lift up your heads, O gates, and rise up, O ancient doorways, that the king of glory may enter.
Lift up your heads, O gates; and be lifted up, O everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in.
Lift up, O gates, your heads, And be lifted up, O doors age-during, And come in doth the king of glory!
Sela. Open yor gates (o ye prices) let the euerlastinge dores be opened, yt ye kynge of glory maye come in.
Wake up, you sleepyhead city! Wake up, you sleepyhead people! King-Glory is ready to enter.
Lift up your heads, you gates, And be lifted up, you ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in!
Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in.
Lift up your heads, O gates, And be lifted up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in!
Lift up your heads, O gates,And be lifted up, O ancient doors,That the King of glory may come in!
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Lift: Psalms 118:19, Psalms 118:20, Isaiah 26:2
King: Psalms 21:1, Psalms 21:5, Psalms 97:6, Haggai 2:7, Haggai 2:9, Malachi 3:1, 1 Corinthians 2:8, James 2:1, 2 Peter 3:18, Revelation 4:11
shall: Psalms 68:16-18, Psalms 132:8, Numbers 10:35, Numbers 10:36, 2 Samuel 6:17, 1 Kings 8:6, 1 Kings 8:11, Mark 16:19, Ephesians 4:8-10, 1 Peter 3:22
Reciprocal: Exodus 15:21 - answered 1 Samuel 18:7 - answered 2 Samuel 6:12 - So David Ezra 3:11 - they sang Psalms 5:2 - my King Psalms 19:2 - Day unto Psalms 20:9 - let Psalms 29:3 - God Psalms 45:1 - touching Psalms 47:5 - God Psalms 65:4 - causest Psalms 68:18 - ascended Psalms 68:24 - even Psalms 78:61 - glory Song of Solomon 5:2 - Open Isaiah 6:3 - one cried unto another Isaiah 63:1 - is this Zechariah 14:16 - the King Matthew 25:34 - the King John 6:21 - they willingly Acts 7:2 - The God Acts 10:36 - he is Ephesians 1:17 - the Father
Cross-References
For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.
And I will make thee swear by the Lord , the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:
But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.
And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest?
And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again.
The Lord God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.
And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Lift up your heads, O ye gates,.... By which the gates of hell are not meant; nor are the words to be understood of the descent of Christ thither, to fetch the souls of Old Testament saints from thence; who the Papists dream were detained in an apartment there, as in a prison, called by them "limbus patrum"; seeing these, immediately upon their separation from the body, were in a state of happiness and glory, as the parable of the rich man and Lazarus shows; and since Christ, at his death, went, in his human soul, immediately into heaven, or paradise, where the penitent thief was that day with him: nor do the words design the gates of heaven, and Christ's ascension thither, shut by the sins of men, and opened by the blood of Christ, by which he entered himself, and has made way for all his people; though this sense is much preferable to the former. The Jewish interpreters understand the phrase of the gates of the temple, which David prophetically speaks of as to be opened, when it should be built and dedicated by Solomon, and when the ark, the symbol of Jehovah's presence, was brought into it, and the glory of the Lord filled the house; so the Targum interprets this first clause of "the gates of the house of the sanctuary"; though the next of "the gates of the garden of Eden"; but the words are better interpreted, in a mystical and spiritual sense, of the church of God, the temple of the living God, which is said to have gates, Isaiah 60:11; and is itself called a door, Song of Solomon 8:9; where the open door of the Gospel is set, or an opportunity of preaching the Gospel given, and a door of utterance to the ministers of the word, and the doors of men's hearts are opened to attend to it; and indeed the hearts of particular believers, individual members of the church, may be intended, or at least included in the sense of the passage; see Revelation 3:20; and it may be observed, that the new Jerusalem is said to have gates of pearl, through which Christ, when he makes his glorious appearance, will enter in his own glory, and in his father's, and in the glory of the holy angels;
and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; or "the doors of the world" n; which some understand of the kingdoms and nations of the world, and of the kings and princes thereof, as called upon to open and make way for, and receive the Gospel of Christ into them, and to support and retain it; but it is best to interpret it of the church and its members, whose continuance, perpetuity, and duration, are here intimated, by being called "everlasting doors"; which may be said to be "lifted up", as it may respect churches, when those things are removed which hinder communion with Christ; as their sins, which separate between them and their God, and the wall of unbelief, behind which Christ stands; and sleepiness, drowsiness, coldness, lukewarmness, and indifference; see Isaiah 59:2; and when public worship is closely and strictly attended on, as the ministration of the word and ordinances, prayer to God, which is the lifting up the heart with the hands to God, and singing his praise: and as it may respect particular believers; these doors and gates may be said to be lifted up, when their hearts are enlarged with the love of God; the desires and affections of their souls are drawn out towards the Lord, and the graces of the Spirit are in a lively exercise on him; and when they lift up their heads with joy in a view of Christ coming to them. This must not be understood as if they could do all this of themselves, any more than gates and doors can be thought to open and lift up themselves;
and the King of glory shall come in; the Lord Jesus Christ, called the Lord of glory, 1 Corinthians 2:8; who is glorious in himself, in the perfections of his divine nature, as the Son of God; being the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person; and in his office as Mediator, being full of grace and truth, and having a glory given him before the world was; and which became manifest upon his resurrection, ascension to heaven, and session at God's right hand; and particularly he is glorious as a King, being made higher than the kings of the earth, and crowned with glory and honour; and so the Targum renders it מלך יקירא, "the glorious King"; and he is moreover the author and giver, the sum and substance, of the glory and happiness of the saints: and now, as the inhabitants of Zion, and members of the church, are described in the preceding verses, an account is given of the King of Zion in this and the following; who may be said to "come into" his churches, when he grants his gracious presence, shows himself through the lattices, and in the galleries of ordinances, in his beauty and glory; takes his walks there, and his goings are seen, even in the sanctuary; and where he dwells as King in his palace, and as a Son in his own house; and he may be said to come into the hearts of particular believers, when he manifests himself, his love and grace, unto them, and grants them such communion as is expressed by supping with them, and by dwelling in their hearts by faith,
n פתחי עולם "ostia mundi", Gejerus, Schmidt.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Lift up your heads, O ye gates - Either the gates of the city, or of the house erected for the worship of God; most probably, as has been remarked, the former. This may be supposed to have been uttered as the procession approached the city where the ark was to abide, as a summons to admit the King of glory to a permanent residence there. It would seem not improbable that the gates of the city were originally made in the form of a portcullis, as the gates of the old castles in the feudal ages were, not to “open,” but to be “lifted up” by weights and pullies. In some of the old ruins of castles in Palestine there are still to be seen deep grooves in the “posts” of the gateway, showing that the door did not open and shut, but that it was drawn up or let down. (The Land and the Book, vol. i. p. 376. One such I saw at Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight; and they were common in the castles erected in the Middle Ages.) There were some advantages in this, as they could be suddenly “let down” on an enemy about to enter, when it would be difficult to close them if they were made to open as doors and gates are commonly made. Thus understood, the “heads” of the gates would be the top, perhaps ornamented in some such way as to suggest the idea of a “head,” and the command was that these should be elevated to admit the ark of God to pass.
And be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors - The doors of a city or sanctuary that was now to be the permanent place of the worship of God. The ark was to be fixed and settled there. It was no longer to be moved from place to place. It had found a final home. The idea in the word “everlasting” is that of permanence. The place where the ark was to abide was to be the enduring place of worship; or was to endure as long as the worship of God in that form should continue. There is no evidence that the author of the psalm supposed that those doors would be literally eternal, but the language is such as we use when we say of anything that it is permanent and abiding.
And the King of glory shall come in - The glorious King. The allusion is to God as a King. On the cover of the ark, or the mercy-seat, the symbol of the divine presence - the Shekinah - rested; and hence, it was natural to say that God would enter through those gates. In other words, the cover of the ark was regarded as his abode - His seat - His throne; and, as thus occupying the mercy-seat, He was about to enter the place of His permanent abode. Compare Exodus 25:17, Exodus 25:20, Exodus 25:22.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Psalms 24:7. Lift up your heads, O ye gates — The address of those who preceded the ark, the gates being addressed instead of the keepers of the gates. Allusion is here made to the triumphal entry of a victorious general into the imperial city.
In the hymn of Callimachus to Apollo, there are two lines very much like those in the text; they convey the very same sentiments. The poet represents the god coming into his temple, and calls upon the priests to open the doors, c.
Αυτοι νυν κατοχηες ανακλινεσθε πυλαως,
Αυται δε κληιδες· ὁ γαρ Θεος ουκ ετι μακραν;
"Fall back, ye bolts ye pond'rous doors, give way;
For not far distant is the god of day."
Callim. Hymn in Apol., ver. 6, 7.
The whole of this hymn contains excellent sentiments even on the subject of the Psalms.
Everlasting doors — There seems to be a reference here to something like our portcullis, which hangs by pullies above the gate, and can be let down at any time so as to prevent the gate from being forced. In the case to which the psalmist refers, the portcullis is let down, and the persons preceding the ark order it to be raised. When it is lifted up, and appears above the head or top of the gate, then the folding doors are addressed: "Be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors;" let there be no obstruction; and the mighty Conqueror, the King of glory, whose presence is with the ark, and in which the symbol of his glory appears, shall enter. Make due preparations to admit so august and glorious a Personage.
