The LORD sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh makes poor, and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up.
- KJV The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.
- NKJV The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up.
- NASB “The Lord makes poor and rich; He humbles, He also exalts.
- NLT The Lord makes some poor and others rich; he brings some down and lifts others up.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Lord makes poor and rich, brings low and lifts up. All changes in status come from His sovereign hand.
Overview
Hannah attributes both poverty and wealth, humiliation and exaltation, to God's governance. Her words guard against both pride in prosperity and despair in want, since the Lord ordains both. This confidence in God's rule undergirds the believer's contentment and the gospel promise that God exalts the humble.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 75:7but it is God who judges; He brings down one and exalts another.
- Job 5:11He sets the lowly on high, so that mourners are lifted to safety.
- Deut 8:17–18You might say in your heart, “The power and strength of my hands have made this wealth for me.”
- Jas 4:10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.
- Job 1:21saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
- Jas 1:9–10The brother in humble circumstances should exult in his high position.
- Ps 102:10because of Your indignation and wrath, for You have picked me up and cast me aside.
- Isa 2:12For the Day of the LORD of Hosts will come against all the proud and lofty, against all that is exalted—it will be humbled—
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The rise of the anointed king after Israel's failed first choice points to the true Anointed One (Messiah means 'anointed'), the shepherd-king after God's own heart from Bethlehem.
How 1 Samuel 2:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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