Psalms 113:1–9, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Psalms 113:1–9
The high God raises poor and barren people
From sunrise to sunset the servants are told to praise a high God
Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD. Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD's name is to be praised.
This is the first of the Egyptian Hallel psalms (113–118), sung in festival memory of the exodus. The servants are the worshiping community. The geography of praise is the whole day-arc of the sun, not a single shrine's hour.
Height is measured by who gets raised
The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high, who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth? He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; that he may set him with princes.
He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. The wonder is not that God is high. The wonder is that the high God stoops, and that dust, dunghill, and barrenness are the places he notices. The last image is a festival hope in a world where childbearing carried a house's future; it is not a command that every woman must bear, and it is not a shame-text for the childless.
How this should shape us
Praise the high God by noticing whom he raises. Help the poor off the dunghill. Do not use the joyful-mother line to measure a woman's worth, and do not call God high while leaving people in the dust.
Teach it back
Explain Psalms 113:1–9 in your own words. Name the poetic voice and movement, trace its place in Psalm 113 and Book V, identify one exact source control or uncertainty, and reject one use the passage does not authorize.
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Go deeper
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Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Psalms 113:1–9, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 113:1–9
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 113:1–9.
Official NET Bible Psalm 113 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 113:1–9
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Enter the Bible Psalms course, Summary, Outline, Introductory Issues, and Theological Themes; applied to Psalms 113:1–9
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 113 for Psalms 113:1–9
Sources for This Section
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Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 113:1–9, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 113:1–9
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 113:1–9.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 113 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 113:1–9
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗modern scholarly book course
Psalms course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Fred Gaiser; revised by Nicholas Schaser
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised May 2024
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Psalms course, Summary, Outline, Introductory Issues, and Theological Themes; applied to Psalms 113:1–9
Open the Enter the Bible Psalms course ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Psalms
Albert Pietersma
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
Exact location: NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 113 for Psalms 113:1–9
Open NETS Psalms ↗