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Psalm 75 · a question people ask

"He puts down one, and lifts up another" (75:7). Does that mean every rise and fall is God's doing?

In the text

The psalm says that God puts down one and lifts up another, right after "For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor yet from the south, comes exaltation" (75:6). It doesn't say how God does it, or when. Hannah's prayer has the same two Hebrew verbs: "He brings low, he also lifts up" (1 Samuel 2:7) (tap puts down). Psalm 73, also titled "A Psalm by Asaph" (Psalm 73:1), starts from what its speaker saw: "For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked" (Psalm 73:3), and goes on, "until I entered God’s sanctuary, and considered their latter end" (Psalm 73:17). In Hebrew Psalm 73:3's the arrogant is the word of Psalm 75:4's the arrogant (tap boast). These verses stand side by side in Scripture, and these notes don't choose how they fit together.

The verses

“For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor yet from the south, comes exaltation. But God is the judge. He puts down one, and lifts up another.”
Psalm 75:6-7 · World English Bible
“The LORD makes poor and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up.”
1 Samuel 2:7 · World English Bible
“A Psalm by Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.”
Psalm 73:1 · World English Bible
“For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”
Psalm 73:3 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 75

Psalm 75: God is the judge

One Hebrew verb, rum, runs through the psalm five times: the wicked are told "Don’t lift up the horn" (75:4), exaltation doesn't come from east, west or south (75:6), God "lifts up another" (75:7), and "the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up" (75:10).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions