The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh is high above all nations, his glory above the heavens.
- BSB The LORD is exalted over all the nations, His glory above the heavens.
- NKJV The Lord is high above all nations, His glory above the heavens.
- NASB The Lord is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens.
- NLT For the Lord is high above the nations; his glory is higher than the heavens.
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 is exalted above all nations, His glory higher than the heavens. God's supremacy surpasses everything created.
Overview
God reigns sovereignly over every nation, and His glory transcends even the heavens. This declaration of His transcendence sets up the psalm's stunning contrast with His condescension in the following verses. The infinitely high God is the same One who stoops to save in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 8:1O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
- Ps 99:2The LORD is great in Zion; and he is high above all the people.
- Ps 97:9For thou, LORD, art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods.
- Isa 40:17All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
- Ps 148:13Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.
- Isa 40:15Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
- Isa 40:22It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
- Isa 66:1Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
- Ps 57:10–11For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.
- 1 Kgs 8:27But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 113:4 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 Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.