Psalms 113 · WEB
Who Is Like the Lord Our God?
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Summary
Psalm 113 opens the Egyptian Hallel (Psalms 113-118), the set of psalms sung at Passover and major Jewish festivals. In nine verses it moves from a universal summons to praise to the most striking theological claim in the Psalter: the God who sits enthroned above the heavens is the same God who stoops down to the ash heap to lift the needy. The God of majesty is the God of mercy. Mary's Magnificat in Luke 1 directly echoes verses 7-9.
Themes
- The universality and perpetuity of praise
- The incomparability of Yahweh: who is like him?
- The paradox of divine transcendence and condescension
- God's concern for the low: the poor, the needy, the barren
- The God who stoops — majesty expressed through mercy
Key verses
- Ps 113:3 — “From the rising of the sun to its going down, Yahweh's name is to be praised.”
- Ps 113:5-6 — “Who is like Yahweh, our God, who has his seat on high, who stoops down to see in heaven and in the earth?”
- Ps 113:7-8 — “He raises up the poor from the dust. He lifts the needy from the ash heap, that he may set him with princes.”
Context & background
Psalm 113 is the opening psalm of the Egyptian Hallel (113-118), traditionally sung at Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, and Hanukkah. Jewish tradition holds that Psalms 113-114 were sung before the Passover meal and Psalms 115-118 afterward — which means Jesus and his disciples sang these psalms at the Last Supper (Matthew 26:30: "when they had sung a hymn"). The rhetorical question "who is like Yahweh?" has no answer — it is a declaration of divine incomparability rooted in the exodus tradition (Exodus 15:11). The barren woman (v. 9) echoes Hannah (1 Samuel 2:5), whose song Mary's Magnificat deliberately mirrors. The ash heap (v. 7) is where the utterly destitute sat — it becomes the place of divine encounter.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 2:1-10 — Hannah's prayer — the same theology of God reversing fortunes
- Exodus 15:11 — "Who is like you among the gods, Yahweh?" — v. 5's rhetorical tradition
- Isaiah 57:15 — "I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite" — vv. 5-6
- Luke 1:46-55 — Mary's Magnificat echoes vv. 7-9 almost exactly
- Matthew 26:30 — Jesus and disciples "sang a hymn" at the Last Supper — likely this psalm