What Does Psalm 113:5 Mean in the King James?
Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high,
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 Hebrew pictures the incomparable LORD as the one raised high to dwell, joining elevation with settled presence.
THE MEANING
The LORD your God is beyond comparison, pictured as raised high to dwell. Height and dwelling appear together: the LORD is exalted, yet present. The line holds unmatched stature and abiding in one image.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that the LORD is merely one power among others, measurable on the same scale.
THE ROOT
הַמַּגְבִּיהִי
hamagbihi
GROWS FROM
גבה
To be high or rise up; in this form, to raise or exalt.
The Hebrew names elevation with an active form: the LORD is the one raised high to dwell. English gives us the image of a location, while the root also carries the act of exaltation.
ALSO GROWS
gavoah: High, lofty
גָּבֹהַּ
It shares the root’s sense of height and shows the quality named in the verse.
higbiah: Raised, lifted up
הִגְבִּיהַּ
This verbal form makes explicit the movement upward that English’s “on high” can leave in the background.
לָשָׁבֶת
lashavet
GROWS FROM
ישב
To sit, remain, or dwell.
“dwelleth” in this verse is lashavet. The Hebrew pairs being raised high with sitting or dwelling. The image is not only of height, but of a presence established there.
ALSO GROWS
yashab: To sit or dwell
יָשַׁב
This is the root verb behind the verse’s word for dwelling.
moshav: Dwelling place or seat
מוֹשָׁב
This related word carries the same root’s sense of an established place to sit or dwell.
THE PATTERN
Scripture places the LORD’s highness beside regard for the lowly, so divine height does not mean distance from them.
Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.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.He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.THE THREAD
Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!The next line places the one who dwells high in the act of lowering himself to look upon heaven and earth. Together, the lines hold exaltation and attention in the same picture.
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