Schaff's Bible Dictionary
DEGREE'. This word is used to signify rank or station. Ps 62:9; 1 Tim 3:13. " The Rabbins suppose they were sung by the Levites as they ascended the 15 steps which separated the men's court from the women's in the temple; and others again suppose that the word "degree" denotes the peculiarly climacteric style of these Psalms-viz. that the thought or expression of one verse is resumed and carried forward in the next succeeding verse, as in Psalm 121; but this is improbable.