Psalms 34:3
in Psalms 34Magnify the LORD with me; let us exalt His name together.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Oh magnify Jehovah with me, And let us exalt his name together.
KJV
O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.
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This verse in Psalms 34
Commentary
11 notes on this verseO magnify the Lord with me. Is this request addressed to the humble? If so it is most fitting. Who can make God great but those who feel themselves to be little? He bids them help him to make the Lord's fame greater among the sons of men. Jehovah is infinite, and therefore cannot really be made greater, but his name grows in manifested glory as he is made known to his creatures, and thus he is said to be magnified.
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 Fathers1 voice
Now followeth, "O magnify the Lord with me" (ver. 3). Who is this that exhorteth us, that we should magnify the Lord with him? Whoever, Brethren, is in the body of Christ, ought for this to labour, that the Lord may be magnified with him. For he loveth the Lord, whoever he is. And how doth he love Him? So as not to envy his fellow-lover. ...Let them blush who so love God as to envy others. Abandoned men love a charioteer, and whoever loveth a charioteer or hunter, wisheth the whole people to love with him, and exhorteth, saying, Love with me this pantomime, love with me this or that shame. He calleth among the people that shame may be loved with him; and doth not a Christian call in the Church, that the Truth of God may be loved with him? Stir up then love in yourselves, Brethren; and call to every one of yours, and say, "O magnify the Lord with me." Let there be in you that fervour. Wherefore are these things recited and explained? If ye love God, bring quickly to the love of God all who are joined unto you, and all who are in your house; if the Body of Christ is loved by you, that is, if the unity of the Church, bring them quickly to enjoy, and say, "O magnify the Lord with me."
The Medieval Church1 voice
Then when he says, "Magnify," he exhorts to praise. And first to interior praise. Second, to exterior, at "And let us exalt." As to the first he says, "Magnify the Lord with me." To magnify and to praise God are the same thing, because the …
The Reformation1 voice
The Psalmist shows still another fruit which would be the result of his giving thanks to God, namely, that he shall induce others by his example to the same exercise of devotion; nay more, he calls upon all the godly to unite with him in this exercise, inviting and exhorting them heartily and with one consent to extol the Lord.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Together - Not in place, for David was now banished from the place of God's publick worship, but in affection: let our souls meet, and let our praises meet in the ears of the all-hearing God.
We have reason to join in thanksgiving to God, (1.) For his readiness to hear prayer, which all the saints have had the comfort of; for he never said to any of them, Seek you me in vain. [1.] David, for his part, will give it under his hand that he has found him a prayer-hearing God (
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4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
O magnify the Lord with me,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
O magnify the Lord with me. Is this request addressed to the humble? If so it is most fitting. Who can make God great but those who feel themselves to be little? He bids them help him to make the Lord's fame greater among the sons of men. Jehovah is infinite, and therefore cannot really be made greater, but his name grows in manifested glory as he is made known to his creatures, and thus he is said to be magnified. It is well when the soul feels its own inability adequately to glorify the Lord, and therefore stirs up others to the gracious work; this is good both for the man himself and for his companions. No praise can excel that which lays us prostrate under a sense of our own nothingness, while divine grace like some topless Alp rises before our eyes and sinks us lower and lower in holy awe. Let us exalt his name together. Social, congregated worship is the outgrowth of one of the natural instincts of the new life. In heaven it is enjoyed to the full, and earth is like heaven where it abounds.
Magnify the Lord with me - גדלו ליהוה gaddelu lavhovah, “make greatness to Jehovah;” show his greatness; and let “us exalt his name,” let us show how high and glorious it is.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
O magnify the Lord with me - This seems to be addressed primarily to the “humble,” those referred to in the previous verse. As they could appreciate what he would say, as they could understand the nature of his feelings in view of his deliverance, he calls upon them especially to exult with him in the goodness of God. As he and they had common calamities and trials, so might they have common joys; as they were united in danger and sorrow, so it was proper that they should be united in joy and in praise. The word “magnify’ means literally “to make great,” and then, to make great in the view of the mind, or to regard and treat as great. The idea is, that he wished all, in circumstances similar to those in which he had been placed, to have a just sense of the greatness of God, and of his claims to love and praise. Compare Psa 35:27; Psa 40:17; Psa 69:30; Psa 70:4; Luk 1:46. And let us exalt his name together - Let us unite in “lifting up” his name; that is, in raising it above all other things in our own estimation, and in the view of our fellow-men; in so making it known that it shall rise above every other object, that all may see and adore.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| גַּדְּל֣וּ | gadelu | magnify | H1431 → | 117 times |
| לַיהוָ֣ה | layahweh | <to> Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אִתִּ֑י | ʾiti | with me | H854 → | 929 times |
| וּנְרוֹמְמָ֖ה | uneromah | so let us exalt | H7311 → | 190 times |
| שְׁמ֣וֹ | shemo | name his | H8034 → | 864 times |
| יַחְדָּֽו׃ | yachdav | together | H3162 → | 141 times |
גַּדְּל֣וּmagnify
gadeluH1431 →117 times
לַיהוָ֣ה<to> Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 times
אִתִּ֑יwith me
ʾitiH854 →929 times
וּנְרוֹמְמָ֖הso let us exalt
uneromahH7311 →190 times
שְׁמ֣וֹname his
shemoH8034 →864 times
יַחְדָּֽו׃together
yachdavH3162 →141 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
Luke 1:46Then Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord,
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 2:1–10
At that time Hannah prayed: “My heart rejoices in the LORD in whom my horn is exalted. My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, for I rejoice in Your salvation.
- Psalms 34:2–3
My soul boasts in the LORD; let the oppressed hear and rejoice.
- Psalms 35:9
Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD and exult in His salvation.
- Isaiah 61:10
I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom…
- Psalms 103:1–2
Bless the LORD, O my soul; all that is within me, bless His holy name.
- 1 Samuel 2:1–10
Through
Psalms 40:16May all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; may those who love Your salvation always say, “The LORD be magnified!”
it leads to
- Psalms 35:27
May those who favor my vindication shout for joy and gladness; may they always say, “Exalted be the LORD who delights in His servant’s well-being.”
- Psalms 35:27
Through
Psalms 69:30I will praise God’s name in song and exalt Him with thanksgiving.
it leads to
- Psalms 28:7
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart rejoices, and I give thanks to Him with my song.
- Psalms 118:28–29
You are my God, and I will give You thanks. You are my God, and I will exalt You.
- Psalms 28:7
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on 11 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); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 34; 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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.