Berean BlueApp preview

Adam Clarke on Psalms 113

Commentary and Critical Notes. Browse this work.

Psalms113:1

Praise, O ye servants - Probably an address to the Levites. The Anglo-Saxon has praise the Lord, ye knaves. Knapa or knave signified among our ancestors a servant; sometimes a male, a young man.

Adam Clarke, Commentary and Critical Notes, Psalms 113:1. Public domain.

Permanent link. Source edition.

Psalms113:3

From the rising of the sun - From morning to evening be always employed in the work. Or it may be a call on all mankind to praise God for his innumerable mercies to the human race. Praise him from one end of the world unto the other. And therefore the psalmist adds,

Adam Clarke, Commentary and Critical Notes, Psalms 113:3. Public domain.

Permanent link. Source edition.

Psalms113:4

The Lord is high above all nations - He governs all, he provides for all; therefore let all give him praise.

Adam Clarke, Commentary and Critical Notes, Psalms 113:4. Public domain.

Permanent link. Source edition.

Psalms113:5

Who is like unto the Lord - Those who are highly exalted are generally unapproachable; they are proud and overbearing; or so surrounded with magnificence and flatterers, that to them the poor have no access; but God, though infinitely exalted, humbleth himself to behold even heaven itself, and much more does he humble himself when he condescends to behold earth and her inhabitants; (Psa 113:6). But so does he love his creatures that he rejoices over even the meanest of them to do them good.

Adam Clarke, Commentary and Critical Notes, Psalms 113:5. Public domain.

Permanent link. Source edition.

Psalms113:7

He raiseth up the poor - The poorest man, in the meanest and most abject circumstances, is an object of his merciful regards. He may here allude to the wretched state of the captives in Babylon, whom God raised up out of that dust and dunghill. Others apply it to the resurreetion of the dead.

Adam Clarke, Commentary and Critical Notes, Psalms 113:7. Public domain.

Permanent link. Source edition.

Psalms113:8

With the princes - נדיבים nedebim, very properly translated by the Anglo-Saxon, the aldermen, the most respectable of his people.

Adam Clarke, Commentary and Critical Notes, Psalms 113:8. Public domain.

Permanent link. Source edition.

Psalms113:9

He maketh the barren woman to keep house - This is a figure to point out the desolate, decreasing state of the captives in Babylon, and the happy change which took place on their return to their own land. These are nearly the words of Hannah, 1Sam 2:5.

Adam Clarke, Commentary and Critical Notes, Psalms 113:9. Public domain.

Permanent link. Source edition.

Read Psalms 113. Compare commentaries on this chapter.

Source and publication rights

Public domain. Public Domain. Source edition.

Berean Blue opens December 1, 2026. Explore this passage in the app preview.