赞美上帝的美善

113 你们要赞美耶和华!
耶和华的仆人啊,
你们要赞美,赞美耶和华。
愿耶和华的名受称颂,
从现在直到永远!
从日出之地到日落之处,
普世都应当赞美耶和华。
耶和华高居万国之上,
祂的荣耀高过诸天。
谁能与我们的上帝耶和华相比?
祂坐在至高之处,
俯视诸天和大地。
祂从灰尘中提拔贫穷人,
从粪堆中擢升困苦人,
使他们与王子同坐,
与本国的王子同坐。
祂赐给不育的妇人儿女,
使她们成为快乐的母亲。
你们要赞美耶和华!

Psalm 113[a]

113 Praise the Lord.
Praise, you servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord.
May the Lord’s name be praised
now and forevermore.
From east to west[b]
the Lord’s name is deserving of praise.
The Lord is exalted over all the nations;
his splendor reaches beyond the sky.[c]
Who can compare to the Lord our God,
who sits on a high throne?[d]
He bends down to look[e]
at the sky and the earth.
He raises the poor from the dirt,
and lifts up the needy from the garbage pile,[f]
that he might seat him with princes,
with the princes of his people.
He makes the barren woman of the family[g]
a happy mother of children.[h]
Praise the Lord.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 113:1 sn Psalm 113. The psalmist praises God as the sovereign king of the world who reaches down to help the needy.
  2. Psalm 113:3 tn Heb “from the rising of the sun to its setting.” The extent is not temporal (“from sunrise to sunset”) but spatial (“from the place where the sun rises [the east] to the place where it sets [the west].” In the phenomenological language of OT cosmology, the sun was described as rising in the east and setting in the west.
  3. Psalm 113:4 tn Heb “above the sky [is] his splendor.”
  4. Psalm 113:5 tn Heb “the one who makes high to sit.”
  5. Psalm 113:6 tn Heb “the one who makes low to see.”
  6. Psalm 113:7 sn The language of v. 7 is almost identical to that of 1 Sam 2:8.
  7. Psalm 113:9 tn Heb “of the house.”
  8. Psalm 113:9 tn Heb “sons.”

The Majesty and Condescension of God

113 Praise[a] the Lord!

(A)Praise, O servants of the Lord,
Praise the name of the Lord!
(B)Blessed be the name of the Lord
From this time forth and forevermore!
(C)From the rising of the sun to its going down
The Lord’s name is to be praised.

The Lord is (D)high above all nations,
(E)His glory above the heavens.
(F)Who is like the Lord our God,
Who dwells on high,
(G)Who humbles Himself to behold
The things that are in the heavens and in the earth?

(H)He raises the poor out of the dust,
And lifts the (I)needy out of the ash heap,
That He may (J)seat him with princes—
With the princes of His people.
(K)He grants the [b]barren woman a home,
Like a joyful mother of children.

Praise the Lord!

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 113:1 Heb. Hallelujah
  2. Psalm 113:9 childless