Bible Strands
Psalms 113:7
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the dump
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist declares God’s action in direct sequence to His humble attention to creation and His subsequent act of seating the elevated with nobles.
The words — The text employs מְקִימִי (me.ki.Mi), translating as "[he is] raising," and יָרִ֥ים (ya.Rim), translating as "he lifts up," to describe God’s movement of the דָּ֑ל (Dal, "poor") from עָפָר (dust) and the אֶבְיֽוֹן ('ev.Yon, "needy") from אַשְׁפֹּת (ash heap).
The thread — This pattern of divine reversal appears in 1 Samuel 2:7, where the LORD humbles and exalts; Luke 1:52, which notes the exaltation of the humble; and Psalms 107:41, which records God lifting the needy from affliction.
Why it lands — The text states that human status is entirely subject to divine action before any interpreter infers that readers must abandon self-reliance and acknowledge God as the sole source of elevation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 2:7 The LORD sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts.
- Luke 1:52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has exalted the humble.
- Psalms 107:41 But He lifts the needy from affliction and increases their families like flocks.
- Job 5:11 He sets the lowly on high, so that mourners are lifted to safety.
- 2 Samuel 7:8 Now then, you are to tell My servant David that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to be the ruler over My people Israel.
- Ezekiel 17:24 Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the LORD. I bring the tall tree down and make the low tree tall. I dry up the green tree and make the withered tree flourish. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done it.’”
- Daniel 12:2 And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.
- Psalms 75:6 For exaltation comes neither from east nor west, nor out of the desert,
- Job 5:15 He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth and from the clutches of the powerful.
- Job 36:6 He does not keep the wicked alive, but He grants justice to the afflicted.