Chapter One Hundred Thirteen

Beginning with verse 22, 9 of the psalm in the Hebrew Bible begins a new psalm so that Ps 10 of the Greek Bible is numbered 11 in the Hebrew, and the count proceeds one psalm ahead compared with the Greek count of the LXX up to psalm 113. This psalm, according to the Greek count 113, but according to the Hebrew 114, in the Hebrew Bible is divided into two psalms, so that beginning with verse 9 there already goes psalm 115, while psalm 114 of the Greek Bible is already counted in the Hebrew Bible as 116—that is, it advances the count by two psalms.

When Israel went out from Egypt, it became the holy possession of the Lord. Before it the sea fled, and like lambs the mountains skipped. Let all the earth tremble before the Lord, Who turns stone into a spring of water (1–8). Help us, O Lord, so that Your name may be highly honored, so that the nations may not say: where is their God? (9–10). Our God is great and almighty: He is in the heavens and on the earth does all that He wishes. The idols of the nations, however, are only lifeless works of human hands. They do not see, do not hear, do not walk, though they have all the organs of the human body fashioned (11–15). May those who make them become like the idols, powerless and those who revere them (16). But you, house of Aaron, house of Israel and all who fear the Lord, trust in Him, who blesses all who fear Him (17–21). May the Lord send mercy upon us and upon our children, so that we during life may praise and bless Him (22–26).

Psalm 113:1. When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, “A people of strange language”—the Egyptians, who descended from Ham, son of Noah, whereas the Hebrews have Shem as their ancestor.

Psalm 113:2. Judah became His sanctuary, Israel His possession. “To become the sanctuary of the Lord,” “to become His possession”—these are synonymous expressions, meaning that the Lord set apart the Hebrews from the rank of all other nations for special guidance and protection, which is attested by the entire history of their life.

Psalm 113:3. The sea saw and fled; the Jordan turned back. The manifestations of the miraculous Divine favor toward the Hebrews—the crossing of the Red Sea on dry ground under Moses and the crossing of the Jordan under Joshua.

Psalm 113:4. The mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like lambs. Psalm 113:5. What is with you, O sea, that you fled, and [with you], O Jordan, that you turned back? Psalm 113:6. Why do you skip, O mountains, like rams, and you, O hills, like lambs? Psalm 113:7. Tremble before the face of the Lord, O earth, before the face of the God of Jacob, Psalm 113:8. Who turns the rock into a pool of water and the stone into a spring of water. “The skipping of the mountains”—an earthquake that accompanied the Sinaitic lawgiving; the turning of stone into a spring—the miraculous bringing forth of water from a rock in the wilderness.

Psalm 113:9. Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory, for Your mercy and for Your truth. Psalm 113:10. Why should the nations say: “Where is their God? The prayer of the writer for the sending of mercy to the Hebrews is a zeal for the glory of the name of Jehovah. The difficult position of the Hebrews at the given time, the failures they suffered in arranging their lives after the return from captivity and in the construction of the second temple, and their dependent position on foreign rulers could arouse in the nations contempt for God as being powerless to protect and support His worshippers. Such a conclusion from the civil-political weakness of the people to a judgment about the weakness and powerlessness of that people’s god was usual in the East, where military successes and the political power of a people were explained by the degree of strength of their national God. Such a national god of the Hebrews the nations considered Jehovah to be.

Psalm 113:12. But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. Psalm 113:13. They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; Psalm 113:14. they have ears, but do not hear; they have noses, but do not smell; Psalm 113:15. they have hands, but do not touch; they have feet, but do not walk; and they do not utter a sound with their throat. The description of the powerlessness of pagan idols is very reminiscent of a similar description in the epistle of the prophet Jeremiah, written soon after the beginning of the Babylonian captivity. It may be supposed that it was borrowed from the said source.

Psalm 113:16. Like them may be those who make them and all who trust in them. As the idols are helpless and powerless, so may their worshippers, that is, the nations, who at the time of the writer are ruling over the Hebrews, be powerless.

Psalm 113:18. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord: He is our help and our shield. The house of Aaron, that is, the priests, who descended from the tribe and lineage of Aaron, the brother of Moses.

Psalm 113:21. blesses those who fear the Lord, small and great alike. Psalm 113:22. May the Lord increase you more and more, you and your children. The Lord “blesses those who fear Him, small and great alike,” pours out His mercy upon the entire people, upon the noble and rich in it, as well as upon the humble and poor. The said indication, as well as the words of verse 22, is a call for all Hebrews to unite on the basis of faith in the mercy of Jehovah for the ordering of life and the prosperity of the entire people.

Psalm 113:25. The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any who go down into silence; Psalm 113:26. but we [who live] will bless the Lord from now on and forever. Alleluia. The writer is confident that the Lord will hear the prayer of His people and will send mercy, so that they, “living, will bless Him,” that is, during their lifetime, rather than in the distant future, they will see the fulfillment of His promises concerning them and will enjoy prosperity and peace, for which they will praise the Lord.