Psalms 113

General context

The psalm opens with Praise ye the Lord and calls the servants of the Lord to praise his name, blessed from this time forth and for evermore, and praised from the rising of the sun to its going down. The Lord is high above all nations and his glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, who dwells on high and humbles himself to behold the things in heaven and earth? He raises the poor out of the dust and lifts the needy out of the dunghill to set him with princes, the princes of his people. He makes the barren woman keep house and be a joyful mother of children. The psalm ends with Praise ye the Lord.

Cited passages: Psalms 113:1, Psalms 113:2, Psalms 113:3, Psalms 113:4, Psalms 113:5, Psalms 113:6, Psalms 113:7, Psalms 113:8, Psalms 113:9

Psalms 113 (KJV)

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

This source prints no superscription; the psalm is nine verses framed by Praise ye the Lord at start and finish. The addressees are ye servants of the Lord, and the speaker says our God in verse 5 without further identification. No place, person or event is named; the poor, the needy, the princes and the barren woman are types rather than individuals, and the psalm does not say who they are. The name of the Lord is the object of praise in verses 1 to 3, mentioned in each of those verses. The range of praise is given in time, from this time forth and for evermore, and in space, from the rising of the sun to its going down. There is no Selah.

Cited passages: Psalms 113:1, Psalms 113:5, Psalms 113:7, Psalms 113:8, Psalms 113:9, Psalms 113:2, Psalms 113:3

Literary context

The psalm moves on a vertical line. The Lord is high above all nations, above the heavens, dwelling on high, and then humbles himself to look down; from there the movement reverses as he raises and lifts the poor from dust and dunghill up to princes. High and humbleth stand in adjacent verses, and the question who is like unto the Lord is answered by the descent rather than by more height. Praise is commanded three times in the first verse, and the name of the Lord is repeated in each of the first three verses. The last verse adds a second lifting, a barren woman made a joyful mother, so the poem ends with a house and children rather than with heaven, and then repeats the words it began with.

Cited passages: Psalms 113:4, Psalms 113:5, Psalms 113:6, Psalms 113:7, Psalms 113:8, Psalms 113:1, Psalms 113:9

Key moments

1. Servants, praise the name (Psalms 113:1). The servants of the Lord are called to praise his name.
2. Sunrise to sunset (Psalms 113:3). The Lord's name is to be praised across the whole day.
3. He humbles himself to behold (Psalms 113:6). The Lord who dwells on high stoops to look at heaven and earth.
4. The needy from the dunghill (Psalms 113:7). The poor and needy are lifted from dust and dunghill.
5. A joyful mother (Psalms 113:9). The barren woman is given a house and children, and the psalm closes in praise.

For reflection

The psalm's answer to who is like the Lord is that he humbles himself to look and then lifts the needy from the dunghill. Why might the poem locate God's incomparability in stooping rather than in height?