Psalms 113:1-9·~1 min

The LORD Exalts the Humble

The chapter opens with hallelujah and calls the servants of the LORD to praise his name. That praise is not momentary or local: his name is to be blessed now and forever, from the place of sunrise to the place of sunset, so that the whole sweep of time and earth becomes a setting for worship.

H¹allelujah! ²Blessed be the name of the LORD ³From where the sun rises to where it sets,

The psalm then magnifies the LORD as exalted above the nations and above the heavens themselves, and asks who can be compared with him. Yet his uniqueness is shown not only in height but in humility, because he stoops down even to look on heaven and earth.

⁴The LORD is exalted over all the nations, ⁵Who is like the LORD our God, ⁶He humbles Himself to behold

The final movement shows what that stooping means in practice: he raises the poor from the dust and the needy from the ash heap, seating them with princes, and he turns the barren woman into a joyful mother in her home. The chapter therefore ends where it began, in hallelujah, because the God above all is also the God who alters the condition of the forgotten.

⁷He raises the poor from the dust ⁸to seat them with nobles, ⁹He settles the barren woman in her home

Section summaryThe psalm begins with hallelujah and summons the LORD's servants to bless his name from now on and from east to west, because he is exalted over all nations and his glory stands above the heavens. It then asks who is like this God who stoops to look upon heaven and earth, and answers by showing him lifting the poor and needy into honor and giving the barren woman a settled, joyful home.

Role in the chapterThis section functions as a praise hymn of divine condescension. It teaches that the LORD's incomparable height does not remove him from human need, but rather magnifies the wonder that he sees, stoops, and raises the lowly.