Psalms 34:1
in Psalms 34I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise will always be on my lips.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I will bless Jehovah at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
KJV
I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
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This verse in Psalms 34
Commentary
13 notes on this verseThe Lord loves thankful people. They never cease to praise him, and they regularly thank him. In both good times and bad times they offer praise and thanksgiving to God. They worship the Lord, the God of times, without regard to what the times are like.
This site's exposition
I will bless the LORD
on Psalms 34:1-3
The resolve of verse 1 has no limit set on it, praise at all times and always on the lips. Verse 2 boasts in the LORD so that the oppressed hear it and rejoice. Verse 3 makes it a summons, magnify the LORD with me.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
"I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall be ever in my mouth" [Psalm 34:1]. So speaks Christ, so also let a Christian speak; for a Christian is in the Body of Christ; and therefore was Christ made Man, that that Christian might be enabled to be an Angel, who says, "I will bless the Lord at all times." When shall I "bless the Lord"? When He blesses you? When the goods of this world abound? When you have great abundance of grain, oil, and wine, of gold and silver, of servants and cattle; when this mortal health remains unwounded and sound; when all that are born to you grow up, nothing is withdrawn by immature death, happiness wholly reigns in your house, and all things overflow around you; then shall you bless the Lord? No; but "at all times." Therefore both then, and when according to the time, or according to the scourges of our Lord God, these things are troubled, are taken away, are seldom born to you, and born pass away. For these things come to pass, and thence follows penury, need, labour, pain, and temptation. But you, who hast sung, "I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall be ever in my mouth," both when He gives them, bless; and when He takes them away, bless. For it is He that gives, it is He that takes away: but Himself from him that blesses Him He takes not away.
Who is there who blesses the Lord at all times? The person whom good fortune does not corrupt or adversity frighten. This, then, is the first and real peace, to be at peace with God. When this has been accomplished, then we can also possess …
The prophet seems to promise something impossible. For how can the praise of God be always in a person's mouth? When he engages in the ordinary conversations pertaining to daily life, he does not have the praise of God in his mouth. When he sleeps, he will keep absolute silence. And how will the mouth of one who is eating and drinking produce praise? We answer to this that there is a certain spiritual mouth of the inner person by which he is fed when he partakes of the word of life, which is the bread that comes down from heaven. Concerning that mouth the prophet also says, "I opened my mouth and panted." The Lord even urges us to have it open wide so as to receive plentifully the food of truth. "Open your mouth wide," he says, "and I will fill it." The thought of God, therefore, having been once for all molded and, as it were, sealed in the authoritative part of the soul, can be called praise of God, since it is always present in the soul. Moreover, according to the counsel of the apostle, the zealous person can do all things for the glory of God, so that every act and every word and every work has in it power of praise. Whether the just person eats or drinks, he does all for the glory of God.
The Medieval Church1 voice
The title: "A Psalm of David, when he changed his countenance before Abimelech, and he dismissed him, and he departed." This history is found in 1 Sam. 21, where it is said that David, fleeing from the face of Saul, came to Achish the king …
The Reformation1 voice
God assists his people daily, that they may continually employ themselves in praising him; yet it is certain that the blessing which is said to be worthy of everlasting remembrance is distinguished by this mark from other benefits which are ordinary and common.
6 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
In this former part of the psalm, I. David engages and excites himself to praise God. Though it was his fault that he changed his behaviour, yet it was God's mercy that he escaped, and the mercy was so much the greater in that God did not deal with him according to the desert of his dissimulation, and we must in every thing give thanks.
I will bless the Lord at all times,....
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
I will bless the Lord at all times. He is resolved and fixed, I will; he is personally and for himself determined, let others so as they may; he is intelligent in head and inflamed in heart—he knows to whom the praise is due, and what is due, and for what and when. To Jehovah, and not to second causes our gratitude is to be rendered. The Lord hath by right a monopoly in his creatures praise.
I will bless the Lord at all times. He is resolved and fixed, I will; he is personally and for himself determined, let others so as they may; he is intelligent in head and inflamed in heart—he knows to whom the praise is due, and what is due, and for what and when. To Jehovah, and not to second causes our gratitude is to be rendered. The Lord hath by right a monopoly in his creatures praise. Even when a mercy may remind us of our sin with regard to it, as in this case David's deliverance from the Philistine monarch was sure to do, we are not to rob God of his meed of honour because our conscience justly awards a censure to our share in the transaction. Though the hook was rusty, yet God sent the fish, and we thank him for it. At all times, in every situation, under every circumstance, before, in and after trials, in bright days of glee, and dark nights of fear. He would never have done praising, because never satisfied that he had done enough; always feeling that he fell short of the Lord's deservings. Happy is he whose fingers are wedded to his harp. He who praises God for mercies shall never want a mercy for which to praise. To bless the Lord is never unseasonable. His praise shall continually be in my mouth, not in my heart merely, but in my mouth too. Our thankfulness is not to be a dumb thing; it should be one of the daughters of music. Our tongue is our glory, and it ought to reveal the glory of God. What a blessed mouthful is God's praise! How sweet, how purifying, how perfuming! If men's mouths were always thus filled, there would be no repining against God, or slander of neighbours. If we continually rolled this dainty morsel under our tongue, the bitterness of daily affliction would be swallowed up in joy. God deserves blessing with the heart, and extolling with the mouth—good thoughts in the closet, and good words in the world.
I will bless the Lord at all times - He has laid me under endless obligation to him, and I will praise him while I have a being.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
I will bless the Lord - I will praise him; I will be thankful for his mercies, and will always express my sense of his goodness. At all times - In every situation of life; in every event that occurs. The idea is, that he would do it publicly and privately; in prosperity and in adversity; in safety and in danger; in joy and in sorrow. It would be a great principle of his life, expressive of the deep feeling of his soul, that God was always to be regarded as an object of adoration and praise. His praise shall continually be in my mouth - I will be constantly uttering his praises; or, my thanks shall be unceasing. This expresses the “purpose” of the psalmist; and this is an indication of the nature of true piety. With a truly pious man the praise of God is constant; and it is an indication of true religion when a man is “disposed” always to bless God, whatever may occur. Irreligion, unbelief, scepticism, worldliness, false philosophy, murmur and complain under the trials and amidst the dark things of life; true religion, faith, love, spirituality of mind, Christian philosophy, see in God always an object of praise. People who have no real piety, but who make pretensions to it, are disposed to praise and bless God in times of sunshine and prosperity; true piety always regards him as worthy of praise - in the storm as well as in the sunshine; in the dark night of calamity, as well as in the bright days of prosperity. Compare Job 13:15.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
when he disguised his sanity as the matter that is stated (in I Sam.:14): “And he changed his speech before their eyes, etc. And he scribbled upon the doors of the gates.
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. 7 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
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֲבָרֲכָ֣ה | ʾavarakhah | I will bless | H1288 → | 330 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יְהוָ֣ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| בְּכָל־ | bekhol | at every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עֵ֑ת | ʾet | time | H6256 → | 296 times |
| תָּ֝מִ֗יד | tamid | continually | H8548 → | 104 times |
| תְּֽהִלָּת֥וֹ | tehilato | praise his | H8416 → | 56 times |
| בְּפִֽי׃ | befi | [will be] in mouth my | H6310 → | 498 times |
אֲבָרֲכָ֣הI will bless
ʾavarakhahH1288 →330 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
יְהוָ֣הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
בְּכָל־at every
bekholH3605 →5413 times
עֵ֑תtime
ʾetH6256 →296 times
תָּ֝מִ֗ידcontinually
tamidH8548 →104 times
תְּֽהִלָּת֥וֹpraise his
tehilatoH8416 →56 times
בְּפִֽי׃[will be] in mouth my
befiH6310 →498 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
1 Thessalonians 5:18Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
it leads to
- Ephesians 5:20
always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Philippians 4:6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Colossians 3:17
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Hebrews 13:15
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ephesians 5:20
Through
Colossians 3:17And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 10:31
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.
- Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men,
- 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 3:6
in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
- 1 Corinthians 10:31
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on 13 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Athanasius of Alexandria, FESTAL LETTERS 3:5; Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 34; Basil of Caesarea, HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 16:1 (PS 34); Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 166:4; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 2; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.