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Psalms 113
A hymn that moves from the height of God's throne to the dust of the ash heap. It opens the cluster of psalms (113-118) sung at Passover, calling the LORD's servants to praise his name everywhere the sun travels, then asks who else stoops so low to lift the poor and the childless woman.
- 1
Praise the LORD! Praise, you servants of the LORD, praise the LORD’s name.
- 2
Blessed be the LORD’s name, from this time forward and forever more.
- 3
From the rising of the sun to its going down, the LORD’s name is to be praised.
- 4
The LORD is high above all nations, his glory above the heavens.
- 5
Who is like the LORD, our God, who has his seat on high,
- 6
who stoops down to see in heaven and in the earth?
- 7
He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up the needy from the ash heap,
- 8
that he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.
- 9
He settles the barren woman in her home as a joyful mother of children. Praise the LORD!
The God who bends down
The poem's hinge is verse 5-6: God is enthroned "on high" yet "stoops down" to look at heaven and earth. That downward reach is the whole point. It lands on two reversals (v.7-9): the poor man seated with princes, and the "barren woman" made a glad mother. Both echo Hannah's song in 1 Samuel 2, where the same God overturns the social order.
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