Psalms 134:2
in Psalms 134Lift up your hands to the sanctuary and bless the LORD!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Lift up your hands to the sanctuary, And bless ye Jehovah.
KJV
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord.
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This verse in Psalms 134
Commentary
12 notes on this verseIn 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.
This site's exposition
Come, bless the LORD
on Psalms 134:1-2
The call goes to the servants of the LORD who are on duty in His house at night. The Hebrew word behind serve is stand. Spurgeon put their main business as blessing the LORD, hands lifted to the sanctuary.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
Sitting we speak against others, but standing up we praise the Lord, as it is said; "Behold now, praise the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord; ye that stand in the house of the Lord." He who sits, to speak of the habit of the body, is, as it were, dissolved by ease, and relaxes the energy of his mind. But the careful watchman, the unwearied scout, the wakeful sentinel who keeps the outposts of the camp, these stand. The brave warrior also, who would prevent the designs of his enemy, stands ready in his rank ere he is looked for.
"Lift up your hands by night in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord" [Psalm 134:2]. It is easy to bless by day. What is "by day"? In prosperity. For night is a sad thing, day a cheerful. When it is well with thee, thou dost bless the Lord. Thy son was sick, and he is made whole, thou dost bless the Lord. Thy son was sick, perchance thou hast sought an astrologer, a soothsayer, perchance a curse against the Lord has come, not from thy tongue, but from thy deeds, from thy deeds and thy life. Boast not, because thou blessest with thy tongue, if thou cursest with thy life. Wherefore bless ye the Lord. When? By night. When did Job bless? When it was a sad night. All was taken away which he possessed; the children for whom his goods were stored were taken away. How sad was his night! Let us however see whether he blesseth not in the night. "The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away; it is as the Lord willed; blessed be the name of the Lord." [Job 1:21] And black was the night. ...
"Behold, now, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord" [Psalm 134:1], "who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God" [Psalm 134:2]. Why has he added, "in the courts"? Courts mean the wider spaces of a house. He who stands in the courts is not straitened, is not confined, in some fashion is enlarged. Remain in this enlargement, and thou canst love thy enemy, because thou lovest not things in which an enemy could straiten thee. How canst thou be understood to stand in the courts? Stand in charity, and thou standest in the courts. Breadth lies in charity, straitness in hatred.
But notice what "Lift up" means: "Give alms more generously," for the Lord not only demands pious words from us, but also deeds. He added, "in the sanctuary," so that the hand of a Christian may produce the alms. For if heretics or pagans give …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary,....
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Let them lift up their hands in holiness (so Dr. Hammond reads it) or in sanctification, as it is fit when they lift them up in the sanctuary; and let them remember that when they were appointed to wash before they went in to minister they were thereby taught to lift up holy hands in prayer and praise.
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
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.
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. Too often men look at public worship only from the side of its usefulness to the people; but the other matter is of even higher importance: we must see to it that the Lord God is adored, extolled, and had in reverence. For a second time the word "bless" is used, and applied to Jehovah. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and let every other soul bless him. There will be no drowsiness about even midnight devotion if the heart is set upon blessing God in Christ Jesus, which is the gospel translation of God in the sanctuary.
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary - קדש kodesh, “in holiness:” or, as the Syriac, lekoudishe, “to holiness;” in sancta, Vulgate; and εις τα ἁγια, Septuagint; “in holy things; or, as the Aethiopic, in the house of the sanctuary.” The expression seems very similar to that of St. Paul, 1Ti 2:8: “Lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” Bless the Lord - That is, speak good of his name: tell the wonders he has wrought, and show that his name is exalted.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary - Margin, In holiness. The Hebrew word properly means holiness, but it may be applied to a holy place. See Psa 20:2. The lifting up of the hands is properly expressive of prayer, but the phrase may be used to denote praise or worship in general. And bless the Lord - In the night-watches - while all around is still, - let there be one place where the voice of praise shall ascend on high.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
May the Lord bless you – According to the opinion of the commentators, this is referring to the priests who said to Israel in their blessing “may the Lord bless you.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שְׂאֽוּ־ | seu- | lift up | H5375 → | 656 times |
| יְדֵכֶ֥ם | yedekhem | hands your | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| קֹ֑דֶשׁ | kodesh | [the] sanctuary | H6944 → | 469 times |
| וּ֝בָרֲכוּ | uvarakhu | and bless | H1288 → | 330 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
שְׂאֽוּ־lift up
seu-H5375 →656 times
יְדֵכֶ֥םhands your
yedekhemH3027 →1618 times
קֹ֑דֶשׁ[the] sanctuary
kodeshH6944 →469 times
וּ֝בָרֲכוּand bless
uvarakhuH1288 →330 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
יְהוָֽה׃Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 141:2May my prayer be set before You like incense, my uplifted hands like the evening offering.
it leads to
- 1 Timothy 2:8
Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or dissension.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Revelation 8:3–4
Then another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before…
- Revelation 5:8
When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which…
- Daniel 9:21
while I was still praying, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice.
- Malachi 1:11
For My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place, incense and pure offerings will be presented in My name, because My name…
- 1 Timothy 2:8
Through
Psalms 63:4So I will bless You as long as I live; in Your name I will lift my hands.
it leads to
- Psalms 28:2
Hear my cry for mercy when I call to You for help, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 104:33
I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
- Psalms 28:2
Through
Psalms 28:2Hear my cry for mercy when I call to You for help, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.
it leads to
- Psalms 141:2
May my prayer be set before You like incense, my uplifted hands like the evening offering.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 141:2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, Letter 63: To the church of Vercellae; Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 134; Cassiodorus, EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 133:1-2; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 7; Jerome, Homily 46, on Psalm 133; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.