What Does Psalm 113:8 Mean in the King James?
That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.
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 rescue does not stop at lifting the poor from the dust; it gives them a settled seat among people of standing.
THE MEANING
The lowly person is brought into a place of honor and belonging among their own people. Being lifted up reaches beyond escape from hardship: it changes where they are seated now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that your beginning fixes your place dissolves here: lowliness does not determine the seat you can occupy.
THE ROOT
לְהוֹשִׁיב
lehoshiv
GROWS FROM
י־ש־ב
y-sh-b
To sit, remain, or dwell.
“set” in this verse is lehoshiv. This is a causative form: the poor person is caused to sit, not merely brought near. Since the same root also means to dwell, the change is a place of settled belonging alongside people of standing.
ALSO GROWS
yashav: To sit or dwell.
יָשַׁב
The shared root makes the seating here more than a brief lift: it carries the sense of inhabiting a new place.
moshav: A seat or dwelling place.
מוֹשָׁב
This branch makes the change tangible: the poor person receives a place among the princes.
נְדִיבִים
nedivim
GROWS FROM
נ־ד־ב
n-d-b
To be willing or freely giving.
The word for princes shares its root with language of willingness and free offering. Nobility here carries an echo of openhandedness, placing honor beside generosity.
ALSO GROWS
nadiv: A noble or generous person; one who is willing.
נָדִיב
This branch shows that the word for a person of standing also carries a quality of willing generosity.
nedavah: A freewill offering.
נְדָבָה
The shared root links the princes’ name with what is offered freely, adding generosity to the verse’s image of honor.
THE PATTERN
Divine elevation changes where the lowly are seated, showing that their present place does not define their place of belonging.
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and he hath set the world upon them.He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?THE THREAD
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.Both verses use the root י־ש־ב (y-sh-b), meaning to sit or dwell, for a person’s seat and company. Psalm 1 shows a seat as a place of settled association; Psalm 113 opens a different possibility, seating the poor among princes.
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