1Hallelujah.
Praise, O servants of the LORD,
praise the LORD’s name.
2May the LORD’s name be blessed
now and forevermore.
3From the place the sun rises to where it sets,
praised be the name of the LORD.
4High over all nations, the LORD,
over the heavens His glory.
5Who is like the LORD our God,
Who sits high above,
6Who sees down below
in the heavens and on the earth?
7He raises the poor from the dust,
from the dung-heap lifts the needy,
8to seat him among princes,
among the princes of his people.
9He seats the barren woman in her home
a happy mother of sons.
Hallelujah.
PSALM 113 NOTES
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1. Hallelujah. This Hebrew imperative, which has become an English word, of course means “praise God.” It is immediately picked up in the next Hebrew word of the psalm, hallelu, “Praise.” This is the first of six psalms of praise collectively known as the hallel that are recited in synagogues during the festival service.
servants of the LORD. Many scholars imagine that this term designates a particular group of priests taking part in the Temple service, although that identification is not certain. The phrase could be a general one for the faithful Israelites assembled to celebrate the cult.
3. From the place the sun rises to where it sets. This spatial indication, from east to west, follows the temporal indication of the preceding verset, “now and forevermore.” Both in time and space, God’s praise extends between all conceivable limits. The next line then complements the horizontal extension of God’s greatness with a vertical extension, “High over all nations.”
6. in the heavens and on the earth. The evident image is that God is above the visible heavens (“over the heavens His glory,” verse 4), looking down on them and on the earth far below them. His “sitting” high above suggests being seated on a throne, a meaning of the verb that is also activated in verse 8.
7. the dust, / . . . the dung-heap. This is a neat illustration of the operation of intensification in poetic parallelism. The poor dwell not only in a lowly state, in the dust, but in a place where refuse is piled up, yet even from there God will raise them up.
9. He seats the barren woman in her home. The literal sense of the Hebrew is “He seats the barren woman of the house.” There is a further play here on the causative verb “to seat,” hoshiv. Just as God seats, or enthrones, the needy among princes. He seats, or ensconces, the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of sons. Given the gender divisions of biblical society, it is not surprising that the woman is accorded her triumphant fulfillment within the house, as childbearer, whereas the man is elevated to a position of political preeminence in the public realm, among princes.