Psalms 113

Praise the LORD! Give praise, you servants of the LORD. Praise the name of the LORD.

1Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.

Note"Praise the LORD" here translates a single Hebrew word, *halelu-yah*, the source of the English "hallelujah." It is a plural command, addressed to a group. "LORD" printed in capitals stands for the personal name of Israel's God, four Hebrew consonants usually written YHWH; ancient readers said a substitute word aloud rather than pronouncing it, and English versions follow that by printing the title "LORD" instead. "Servants of the LORD" can mean those who serve at the sanctuary, or the whole worshiping people; the Hebrew does not settle which.

2May the name of the LORD be blessed, from now on and forever.

2Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.

NoteTo "bless" God runs the opposite direction from God blessing people: it means to speak well of him, to praise and honor him, not to confer anything on him. "The name of the LORD" is a standard way of referring to the LORD himself as he is known and called upon, not to the sound of the name as distinct from its bearer.

3From the place where the sun rises to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised.

3From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD’s name is to be praised.

NoteSunrise and sunset mark the east and west horizons, so the line covers the whole inhabited world; it can also be heard as covering the whole day, from dawn to dusk. Both senses were available to the first hearers.

4The LORD is lifted high above all nations, and his glory is above the heavens.

4The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.

5Who is like the LORD our God, the one who is seated on high,

5Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high,

6who bends down low to look at what is in the heavens and on the earth?

6Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!

NoteThe Hebrew of verses 5–6 can be divided in more than one way. It may say that God stoops down to look at heaven and earth alike, even the heavens being far beneath him, or it may attach "in the heavens and on the earth" to what precedes, giving "who is seated on high... who bends low to look." The rendering keeps the ambiguity open.

7He raises the poor person up out of the dust, and lifts the needy person up out of the ash heap,

7He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;

Note"Dust" and "ash heap" are the two lowest places a person could physically be. The ash heap was the refuse mound outside a town or village where household ashes and rubbish were dumped; the destitute, the sick and the outcast sat there (Job sits on one after losing everything). The pairing is a fixed idiom for the bottom of society, not a description of one individual.

8so that he may seat that person with princes, with the princes of his own people.

8That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.

Note"Princes" here means nobles, the leading men who sat with the ruler and made decisions, the top of the social order. To be seated with them is to be given rank and a voice, the exact reverse of sitting on the ash heap.

9He gives the woman who had no children a home to keep, and makes her a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD!

9He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.

NoteIn ancient Israel a woman without children had no standing in the household and no security in old age, since grown sons supported a widow and carried the family line and its land forward; childlessness was also commonly treated as a public disgrace. The Hebrew says God "settles" her in the house (installs her in a secure, permanent position within the household) and the children named are literally sons, the ones who would provide that security.