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For this reason also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
Philippians 2:9 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
  • KJV Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
  • BSB Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names,
  • NKJV Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
  • NLT Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names,

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

Therefore God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name above every name. The path of humility led to supreme exaltation.

Overview

In response to Christ's obedience, the Father raised and enthroned Him in the highest honor. The "name above every name" signals His supreme lordship and authority. The pattern of humiliation followed by exaltation both vindicates Christ and assures His people that the lowly way is God's way to glory.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 40

  • Rev 19:16He has on his garment and on his thigh a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
  • Matt 28:18Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
  • 1 Pet 3:22who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him.
  • Heb 2:9But we see him who has been made a little lower than the angels, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for everyone.
  • Isa 52:13Behold, my servant will deal wisely. He will be exalted and lifted up, and will be very high.
  • Eph 1:20–23which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places,
  • Rev 5:12saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who has been killed to receive the power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing!”
  • Dan 7:14There was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
  • Heb 1:4having become so much better than the angels, as he has inherited a more excellent name than they have.
  • Ps 89:27I will also appoint him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.
  • Ps 72:17–19His name endures forever. His name continues as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed.
  • Ps 110:1A Psalm by David. Yahweh says to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool for your feet.”
  • John 17:5Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.
  • Isa 53:12Therefore will I give him a portion with the great, and he will divide the plunder with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was counted with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
  • Heb 12:2looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
  • John 5:22–27For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son,
  • John 17:1–3Jesus said these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you;
  • Acts 2:32–36This Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses.
  • Ps 91:14“Because he has set his love on me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high, because he has known my name.
  • Ps 110:5The Lord is at your right hand. He will crush kings in the day of his wrath.
  • Rev 3:21He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father on his throne.
  • Luke 10:22Turning to the disciples, he said, “All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is, except the Father, and who the Father is, except the Son, and he to whomever the Son desires to reveal him.”
  • John 3:35–36The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.
  • Ps 2:6–12“Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.”
  • Acts 5:31God exalted him with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins.
  • Ps 45:6–7Your throne, God, is forever and ever. A scepter of equity is the scepter of your kingdom.
  • Rev 11:15The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!”
  • Isa 9:7Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on David’s throne, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.
  • Gen 3:15I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”
  • Col 1:18He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
  • 2 Pet 1:17For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
  • John 13:3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came from God, and was going to God,
  • Rev 1:5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood;
  • Matt 11:27All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.
  • Ps 8:5–8For you have made him a little lower than God, and crowned him with glory and honor.
  • Ps 69:29–30But I am in pain and distress. Let your salvation, God, protect me.
  • Dan 2:44–45In the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
  • Isa 49:6–8Indeed, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel? I will also give you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.”
  • 1 Cor 15:24–27Then the end comes, when he will deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father; when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power.
  • Rom 14:9–11For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Philippians videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Philippians 2:9YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PhilippiansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The one who, being in the form of God, emptied himself to the point of death on a cross and was exalted to the name above every name — the joy and prize of the believer.

How Philippians 2:9 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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.