What Does Psalm 115:13 Mean?
He blesses those who stand in awe of the LORD, both the small and the great.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great.THE KEY
The LORD’s blessing follows awe; human rank does not set its measure.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s blessing reaches those who stand in awe of him, whether they are counted small or great. Human rank does not make that blessing more or less available to the reader.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the LORD’s favor belongs more readily to the prominent, or that being small makes someone less visible to him.
THE ROOT
יְבָרֵךְ
yevarekh
GROWS FROM
בָּרַךְ
barak
To bless; the root carries an association with bending the knee.
“blesses” in this verse is yevarekh. The knee connection lets blessing carry a posture of honoring as well as an act of favor. Here the same blessing reaches the small and the great, so rank sets no scale for the LORD’s regard.
ALSO GROWS
berekh: Knee
בֶּרֶךְ
This branch reveals the root’s association with bending the knee, a posture that resonates with the awe named in the verse.
berakhah: Blessing
בְּרָכָה
This related form carries the same blessing at the heart of the promise to both small and great.
יִרְאֵי
yir'ei
GROWS FROM
ירא
yare
To fear or revere; toward the LORD, awe.
“stand in awe” in this verse is yir'ei. The word can hold awe as well as fear. The verse identifies the recipients by their relation to the LORD, while explicitly setting human rank aside.
ALSO GROWS
yare: To fear or stand in awe
יָרֵא
This root form names the awe that marks those who receive the blessing.
yir'ah: Fear or awe
יִרְאָה
This noun shows the same root holding reverence alongside fear, making the recipients’ defining posture clear.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s regard and blessing do not rise or fall with human rank.
The rich and the poor meet; the LORD makes them all.How much less to him who does not lift up the face of princes, nor regards the rich above the poor? For they all are the work of his hands.But in every nation the one who lives in awe of him and works alignment is received by him.THE THREAD
And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the ground will be blessed.The same barak root appears in “bless” and “be blessed,” while Genesis widens the promise’s horizon to all the families of the earth. Psalm’s “small and great” and Genesis’ “all families” both open the reach of blessing beyond rank.
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