Psalm 134
3 verses · KJVPsalms book hub →
Psalms 134:1-2
Behold, bless ye the Lord: The Hebrew title, which this page's text does not show, reads A Song of degrees, the fifteenth and last of the fifteen psalms so marked, verified across 120 to 134 exactly. A departing pilgrim turns to bless the priests and Levites who stand by night in the house of the Lord, keeping the watch after the daytime worshippers have gone home. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary names the ordinary posture of prayer and praise, and the blessing asked of the night watch closes the whole ascent collection on a note of ongoing service rather than a finished climb.
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Psalms 134:1, in their own words.
Psalms 134:1
“Behold now, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord. This is the last psalm of the Song of Ascents. The first of the gradual psalms had been: 'To the Lord, when I was in tribulation, I cried, and he heard me.' In the second he had climbed higher: 'I lifted up my eyes to the mountains.' In the third: 'I rejoiced in the things that were said to me.' In the fourth: 'To you I have lifted up my eyes, you who dwell in heaven.'”
Jerome· fifth century· Homily 46, on Psalm 133patristic
Psalms 134:1
“Servant - Peculiarly so called, priests and Levites. Night - Not only by day, but also by night, when their watch was more necessary. Stand - Serve or minister.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Psalms 134:2, in their own words.
Psalms 134:2
“In the nights lift up your hands unto the holy place. 'This world is set in the power of the evil one,' and 'our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of these darknesses.' Whence the apostle also says: 'The night is past, and the day is at hand.' Therefore this present age is the night: but the age to come is the day. Whence the apostle says: 'The night is past, and the day is at hand. Let us walk honestly, as in the day,' he says.”
Jerome· fifth century· Homily 46, on Psalm 133patristic
Psalms 134:2
“Lift up your hands in the sanctuary. In the holy place they must be busy, full of strength, wide awake, energetic, and moved with holy ardour. Hands, heart, and every other part of their manhood must be upraised, elevated, and consecrated to the adoring service of the Lord. As the angels praise God day without night, so must the angels of the churches be instant in season and out of season. And bless the Lord. This is their main business. They are to bless men by their teaching, but they must yet more bless Jehovah with their worship.”
Charles Spurgeon· The Treasury of David, Vol. 7 (1885)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
Psalms 134:3
The Lord that made heaven and earth: The watchers answer in kind: the Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion, the Creator's own blessing returned from the very house the pilgrim is leaving. The title, Maker of heaven and earth, recurs through the Songs of Ascents (121:2, 124:8, 146:6) as the collection's settled name for God, the largest possible power attached to the smallest human errand, a traveler's safe road home. Delitzsch reads the closing exchange as the fitting end to a pilgrim collection that began in distress at Psalm 120: blessing given, blessing returned, the ascent complete.
Voices on this verse, 3What preachers and commentators have said about Psalms 134:3, in their own words.
Psalms 134:3
“Jehovah bless thee out of Zion! We have conclusive proof in my opinion from this verse that the Psalm is to be considered as referring to the priests and Levites only, for to them it properly belonged under the law to bless the people.”
John Calvin· Commentaries (1554)reformed
Psalms 134:3
“This last verse is the answer from the temple to the pilgrims preparing to depart as the day breaks. It is the ancient blessing of the high priest condensed, and poured forth upon each individual pilgrim. The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion. Ye are scattering and going to your homes one by one; may the benediction come upon you one by one. You have been up to Jehovah's city and temple at his bidding; return each one with such a benediction as only he can give—divine, infinite, effectual, eternal.”
Charles Spurgeon· The Treasury of David, Vol. 7 (1885)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
Psalms 134:3
“That blessings out of Zion, spiritual blessings, the blessings of the covenant, and of communion with God, are the best blessings, which we should be most earnest for. It is a great encouragement to us, when we come to God for a blessing, that it is he who made heaven and earth, and therefore has all the blessings of both at his disposal, the upper and nether springs.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Where the chapter sits
Psalms 134 falls in Book V: Hallel and Hallelujah (chapters 107–150). Songs of Ascents (120–134); Hallel (113–118); Great Hallel (136); Torah-praise acrostic Ps 119; fivefold Hallelujah doxology (146–150) as the Psalter's close.
Before it: Book IV: YHWH reigns, chapters 90–106.
The whole shape of Psalms→Key words
The Hebrew words this chapter turns on, by how often it uses them. Each one opens its word study.
| Word | What it means | Verses |
|---|---|---|
| יְהֹוָהYᵉhôvâh5 times, as יְ֭הוָה, יְהוָ֑ה, יְ֝הוָ֗ה | LORD | 1, 2, 3 |
| בָרַךְbârak3 times, as בָּרֲכ֣וּ, וּ֝בָרֲכוּ, יְבָרֶכְךָ֣ | to bless | 1, 2, 3 |
Cross references
The 8 chapters this one speaks with, most first. Open a row for the verses it shares.
Psalms 1201 verse
Psalms 134:1
Psalms 120:1In my distress I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me.- Read Psalms 120 →
1 Chronicles 91 verse
Psalms 134:1
1 Chronicles 9:33And these are the singers, chief of the fathers of the Levites, who remaining in the chambers were free: for they were employed in that work day and night.- Read 1 Chronicles 9 →
Psalms 1351 verse
Psalms 134:1
Psalms 135:1Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the name of the Lord; praise him, O ye servants of the Lord.- Read Psalms 135 →
Psalms 281 verse
Psalms 134:2
Psalms 28:2Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.- Read Psalms 28 →
The rest of the chapters this one speaks with, 4 of them, for a reader following a thread past the four above
- 1 Timothy 21 verse
- Psalms 631 verse
- Psalms 1281 verse
- Psalms 201 verse
Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.
Featured studies
Pages of this site that take up something in this chapter. Each one opens on its own.
- The Songs of Ascents: Psalms 120: 134throughout
The world behind itThe place, the time and the people around this chapter, for a reader who wants the setting.
The world behind this chapter
Psalms 134The history
Three verses close the collection that began with a man stranded in a foreign country. The journey ends in the house of the LORD at night.
The people addressed are the night shift. The sanctuary was guarded around the clock; Jewish records describe priests keeping watch at three posts and Levites at twenty-one more, with a captain making rounds and waking anyone found asleep. Lamps had to be tended and the place could never be left empty.
Lifting the hands toward the sanctuary was the ordinary posture of prayer and blessing, hands raised and open. It is what a person did instead of kneeling in silence.
The blessing runs both ways in the psalm, which is what makes it a farewell. The departing pilgrims bless the servants who stay on duty, and the answer comes back over them as they go: the LORD bless you from Zion, the maker of heaven and earth.
What it meant to them
The fifteen Songs of Ascents were a road in themselves, far away, on the way, at the gates, in the city, and finally in the courts. This is the last step.
For families packing up to walk home for another year, the point was that worship did not stop when they left. Somebody was standing in that house all night, and the blessing they carried out of it came from the God who made everything, not just the hill they had climbed.
Sources cited
- The Mishnah, tractates Middot and Tamid (Danby translation)
- Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Psalms 134. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Charles Spurgeon; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jerome, Homily 46, on Psalm 133; John Calvin, Commentaries (1554); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765) and Matthew Henry.