What Does Psalm 113:4 Mean in the King James?
The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse gives the LORD both unmatched height above the nations and unmatched weight above the heavens.
THE MEANING
The LORD stands higher than the reach of every nation, and his glory, his weight and worth, stands above even the heavens. Neither a nation’s power nor the sky sets his limit.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that the strongest nation or the visible heavens define the highest authority; both remain beneath the LORD.
THE ROOT
כָּבוֹד
kavod
GROWS FROM
כבד
k-b-d
Be heavy; be weighty.
Kavod (כָּבוֹד, weight or glory) grows from the language of heaviness, so it carries substance and importance as well as splendor. The verse places this weight above the heavens: the LORD’s greatness is not merely a distant height, but an unmatched weight.
ALSO GROWS
kaved: Heavy; weighty.
כָּבֵד
This preserves the physical sense beneath kavod: glory carries weight.
kibbed: To honor; treat as weighty.
כִּבֵּד
Honor is expressed as giving someone weight, revealing the substance carried by “glory.”
רָם
ram
GROWS FROM
רום
rum
Rise; be high or lifted.
English “high” can sound like a location, while רום (rum, rise or be high) also appears in words for lifting and raising. Here the LORD’s height is measured against every nation, while even the heavens remain beneath him.
ALSO GROWS
herim: Lifted; raised.
הֵרִים
This form keeps the lifting motion visible beneath the verse’s description of the LORD as high.
terumah: A contribution or offering; a portion lifted or set apart.
תְּרוּמָה
The same root of elevation can describe something lifted or set apart, showing that the idea reaches beyond physical height.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s exaltation exceeds every human order and every created height.
To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:THE THREAD
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.The “glory” above the heavens and the “glory” filling the earth translate the same Hebrew word, כָּבוֹד (kavod, weight or glory). Its height does not mean absence: the weight that exceeds the heavens also fills the earth.
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