Psalms / Chapter 113

Psalms 113

9 verses • Westminster Leningrad Codex

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

Psalm 113 opens the Egyptian Hallel (Psalms 113-118), the collection of praise psalms sung during the Passover meal. The psalm calls the servants of the LORD to praise His name from sunrise to sunset, then declares that the LORD is exalted above all nations and above the heavens — yet He stoops down to look at what happens below. The psalm climaxes with concrete examples of His condescension: He lifts the poor from the dust, raises the needy from the ash heap, and gives the barren woman a home and children.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

The theological center of this psalm is the paradox of divine transcendence and condescension. The LORD is so exalted that He must humble Himself even to look at the heavens — the heavens are beneath Him. Yet this infinitely exalted God concerns Himself with the lowest members of human society: the dust-covered poor, the ash-heap beggar, the childless woman. The psalm's structure enacts this movement: it begins by looking up (God's name above everything) and ends by looking down (God reaching into the lowest places). This is the psalm that sets the tone for the entire Passover Hallel — the God who delivered Israel from Egypt is the God who notices the forgotten.

Translation Friction

The barren woman receiving children (v. 9) is celebrated without qualification, reflecting the ancient Near Eastern cultural context in which childlessness was a severe social and economic vulnerability for women. Modern readers may find the equation of female blessing with childbearing reductive, but in the psalm's context, the point is not that motherhood defines women but that God reverses the specific condition that caused this woman's suffering and marginalization.

Connections

Psalm 113 is the first psalm of the Egyptian Hallel, sung before the Passover meal (113-114 before the meal, 115-118 after). Jesus and His disciples would have sung this psalm at the Last Supper (Matthew 26:30). Hannah's prayer (1 Samuel 2:1-10) is a close parallel — the lifting of the poor and the giving of children to the barren are central themes of both. Mary's Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) draws heavily on both Hannah's prayer and this psalm.

Psalms 113:1

הַ֥לְלוּ יָ֨הּ ׀ הַ֭לְלוּ עַבְדֵ֣י יְהוָ֑ה הַֽ֝לְל֗וּ אֶת־שֵׁ֥ם יְהוָֽה׃

Praise the LORD! Praise, you servants of the LORD — praise the name of the LORD!

KJV Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The triple halelu ('praise') creates an urgent, layered call to worship. The addressees are avdei YHWH ('servants of the LORD') — a term that can refer to the Levitical singers, to all Israel, or to anyone who serves the LORD. The object of praise is shem YHWH ('the name of the LORD') — not merely the person of God but His revealed identity, His reputation, His character as known.
Psalms 113:2

יְהִ֤י שֵׁ֣ם יְהוָ֣ה מְבֹרָ֑ךְ מֵ֝עַתָּ֗ה וְעַד־עוֹלָֽם׃

Let the name of the LORD be blessed from now until forever.

KJV Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The jussive yehi ('let it be') expresses a wish that God's name be mevorakh ('blessed') — acknowledged, honored, praised — from this moment into eternity. The phrase me'attah ve-ad olam ('from now and until forever') stretches the praise across all time.
Psalms 113:3

מִמִּזְרַח־שֶׁ֥מֶשׁ עַד־מְבוֹא֑וֹ מְ֝הֻלָּ֗ל שֵׁ֣ם יְהוָֽה׃

From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised.

KJV From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD's name is to be praised.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. Mi-mizrach shemesh ad mevo'o ('from the rising of the sun to its going in') covers the full arc of the day and, by extension, the full extent of the earth. The praise of the LORD is not limited to one place or one time — it fills all space and all hours.
Psalms 113:4

רָ֖ם עַל־כָּל־גּוֹיִ֥ם ׀ יְהוָ֑ה עַ֖ל הַשָּׁמַ֣יִם כְּבוֹדֽוֹ׃

The LORD is exalted above all nations; His glory is above the heavens.

KJV The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The sequence builds: above all nations (v. 4a), above the heavens (v. 4b), and then in the next verse, He looks down. The word ram ('high, exalted') is the same root as the verb rum used throughout the Psalms for divine and royal exaltation.
Psalms 113:5

מִ֭י כַּיהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּ הַֽמַּגְבִּיהִ֥י לָשָֽׁבֶת׃

Who is like the LORD our God, who is enthroned on high,

KJV Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high,

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The rhetorical question mi ka-YHWH Eloheinu ('who is like the LORD our God?') expects the answer: no one. The participle ha-magbihi lashevet ('who makes high to sit' / 'who is enthroned on high') describes God as seated at the highest possible point. The verb gavah ('to be high') in the Hiphil means 'to make high' — God has elevated His own throne above everything.
Psalms 113:6

הַֽמַּשְׁפִּילִ֥י לִרְא֑וֹת בַּשָּׁמַ֥יִם וּבָאָֽרֶץ׃

who stoops down to look at the heavens and the earth!

KJV Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. Verses 5-6 form a single sentence: God is the one who is enthroned on high AND who humbles Himself to look. The juxtaposition is the psalm's central theological statement. The verb mashpili is a Hiphil participle — God is actively, continuously condescending.
Psalms 113:7

מְקִ֣ימִ֣י מֵעָפָ֣ר דָּ֑ל מֵֽ֝אַשְׁפֹּ֗ת יָרִ֥ים אֶבְיֽוֹן׃

He raises the poor from the dust; He lifts the needy from the ash heap,

KJV He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. This verse closely parallels Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel 2:8. The ashpot appears in that passage as well, and the verbal and thematic overlap is so strong that most scholars consider one text dependent on the other. The movement from dust to ash heap intensifies the degradation; the movement from dal to evyon intensifies the vulnerability.
Psalms 113:8

לְהוֹשִׁיבִ֥י עִם־נְדִיבִ֑ים עִ֝֗ם נְדִיבֵ֥י עַמּֽוֹ׃

to seat them with nobles, with the nobles of His people.

KJV That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The verb hoshivi ('to cause to sit, to seat') places the formerly destitute person among nedivim ('nobles, princes, generous ones'). The word nadiv can mean either a person of high social rank or a person of generous character — both senses may be intended. The phrase nedivei ammo ('the nobles of His people') specifies that these are the leaders of God's own people, not foreign dignitaries. The reversal is total: from the ash heap to the seat of honor.
Psalms 113:9

מוֹשִׁיבִ֨י ׀ עֲקֶ֬רֶת הַבַּ֗יִת אֵֽם־הַבָּנִ֥ים שְׂמֵחָ֗ה הַֽלְלוּ־יָֽהּ׃

He gives the childless woman a home, making her a joyful mother of children. Praise the LORD!

KJV He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

עֲקֶרֶת aqeret
"childless woman" — barren, childless, uprooted

aqeret describes a woman unable to bear children. In the ancient world this meant social marginalization, economic vulnerability, and the grief of having no descendants to carry on the family name. God's reversal of this condition is among the most celebrated acts of divine grace in the Hebrew Bible.

Translator Notes

  1. The word aqeret ('barren') comes from the root aqar ('to uproot') — barrenness is experienced as being uprooted, disconnected from the future. The transformation from aqeret to em ('mother') echoes the stories of Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Hannah — all barren women whose children became foundational figures in Israel's history. The final Hallelujah closes the psalm with the same word that opened it, creating a frame of praise.
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