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God’s Majesty and Care for the Needy

113 Praise Yah![a]
Praise, O servants of Yahweh,
praise the name of Yahweh.
Let the name of Yahweh be blessed,
from now until forever.
From the rising of the sun to its setting,
let the name of Yahweh be blessed.
Yahweh is high above all nations;
his glory is above the heavens.
Who is like Yahweh our God,
who is enthroned on high,[b]
who condescends to look at[c]
what is in the heavens and in the earth?
He raises the helpless from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to seat them with princes,
with the princes of his people.
He causes the barren woman of the house to dwell
as the happy mother of children.
Praise Yah![d]

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 113:1 Hebrew hallelujah
  2. Psalm 113:5 Or “who dwells on high”
  3. Psalm 113:6 Hebrew “makes low to see”
  4. Psalm 113:9 Hebrew hallelujah

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.”