1 Samuel 2:6

Hebrew Bible

6 The Lord both kills and gives life; he brings down to the grave and raises up. 7 The Lord impoverishes and makes wealthy; he humbles and he exalts. 8 He lifts the weak from the dust; he raises the poor from the ash heap to seat them with princes—he bestows on them an honored position. The foundations of the earth belong to the Lord—he placed the world on them. 9 He watches over his holy ones, but the wicked are made speechless in the darkness, for it is not by one’s own strength that one prevails. 10 The Lord shatters his adversaries; he thunders against them from the heavens. The Lord executes judgment to the ends of the earth. He will strengthen his king and exalt the power of his anointed one.”

Luke 1:52

New Testament

50 from generation to generation he is merciful to those who fear him. 51 He has demonstrated power with his arm; he has scattered those whose pride wells up from the sheer arrogance of their hearts. 52 He has brought down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up those of lowly position; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering his mercy, 55 as he promised to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

 Notes and References

"... The Israelites of the early pre-national period seem to have perceived God's sovereign rule most vividly in these two life experiences. In both instances, man gives his utmost. Yet again and again, in both instances (even to the present day), man gains the impression that the result (the child or the victory) transcends his effort and cannot finally be explained by it. Ancient Near Eastern man quite naturally perceived here the mighty operation of the hand of God. It is no accident that the sovereignty formula ('He kills, he makes alive, he exalts, he humbles, etc.') occurs with great frequency in contexts explicitly concerned with life and death, such as birth (Psalm 113:7-8; 1 Samuel 2:6; Luke 1:52-53) and war (Ps 18:27; Deuteronomy 32:39; compare also Psalm 118:22-23). Hilma Granqvist, a physician who lived for a long time in the Near East, reports that women who had just given birth to their first child improvised little songs along the following lines ..."

Keel, Othmar The Symbolism of the Biblical World: Ancient Near Eastern Iconography and the Book of Psalms (p. 219) Eisenbrauns, 1997

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