This narration is from a previous version of the study. The text on this page is current.
Psalm 135 calls the servants of the Lord to praise because the Lord is good, sovereign, faithful to His people, and living. The Psalm moves from the courts of the temple to the heavens, earth, sea, Egypt, Canaan, the generations, and finally to Zion. Its deepest contrast is between the living God and lifeless idols. It calls us to life in communion with the Lord and warns that trust in lifeless things forms a false likeness.
Psalm 135 (LXX 134) - Praise the Name of the Lord
Psalm Metadata
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| NKJV / Masoretic numbering | Psalm 135 |
| Septuagint / Coptic numbering | Psalm 134 |
| Accepted author | Alleluia Psalm; anonymous temple hymn of praise. |
| Period in author’s life | No precise life period is named. The Psalm is a liturgical praise hymn gathering Exodus, conquest, temple service, and anti-idolatry confession. |
| Christ prophecy status | Liturgical and typological by fulfillment. The Psalm is not a narrow prediction, but it is fulfilled in Christ, the living Lord whose name endures, who gathers Israel and the nations as His possession, and who frees the soul from idol-likeness. |
| Coptic lectionary/service use | The consulted references preserve printed Psalm 135 in Holy Fifty Days and annual fixed-date Liturgy references. Psalm 135:19-20 appears in Holy Fifty Days Vespers and Matins; Psalm 135:3,5 in Holy Fifty Days Liturgy; Psalm 135:6,21 in Holy Fifty Days Vespers; Psalm 135:5 in several annual fixed-date Liturgy references. |
| Numbering issue | This note embeds Brenton LXX Psalm 134. The consulted references preserve printed Psalm 135, corresponding to the project title Psalm 135 while the LXX text is Psalm 134. |
Historical and Scriptural Context
Psalm 135 comes after the Songs of Ascents and continues the movement from pilgrimage to temple praise. The servants who stood by night in Psalm 134 (LXX Psalm 133) are now commanded to praise the name of the Lord in the house and courts of God. The Psalm gathers language from Exodus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, and earlier Psalms, especially the confession that idols have mouths, eyes, ears, and no breath.
Israel remembers Egypt, Pharaoh, Sihon, Og, and Canaan as part of its history of deliverance and inheritance. These are not merely symbols for private experiences. The Church also hears the movement in Christ: through His Cross and Resurrection He frees His people from hostile powers and gathers them into the hope of His Kingdom.
Geographical Significance ⛰️
The Psalm begins in the Lord’s house and courts, then widens to heaven, earth, sea, Egypt, the lands east of the Jordan, Canaan, Zion, and Jerusalem. This geography is theology. The God worshiped in Zion is not contained by Zion. He does whatever He wills in heaven, earth, sea, and all deep places.
Egypt and Canaan are not just map locations. Israel remembers Egypt as the place of bondage and Canaan as the land received for an inheritance. The Psalm also names the violence bound up with that history. Zion is where the Lord is blessed, yet His rule stretches over all creation.
The Characters 👥
The servants of the Lord. Those standing in the Lord’s house and courts, commanded to praise.
Jacob and Israel. The chosen people, called the Lord’s peculiar treasure. In Christ the invitation opens toward the nations without erasing Israel’s role in salvation history.
Pharaoh, Sihon, and Og. Rulers named in Israel’s memories of deliverance and conquest. Their stories are not a license to condemn whole peoples today.
The idols of the nations. Silver and gold works of human hands. They look impressive but cannot speak, see, hear, or breathe.
The Lord. Creator, deliverer, judge, and living God whose name endures forever.
🕯️ Light from the Word
Psalm 134:1-4, praise in the house because the Lord has chosen His people
134:1 Alleluia. Praise ye the name of the Lord; praise the Lord, ye his servants,
134:2 who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.
134:3 Praise ye the Lord; for the Lord is good: sing praises to his name; for it is good.
134:4 For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure.
The Psalm begins with praise of the name. In Scripture, the name of the Lord is not a sound used to control God. It speaks of His revealed presence and faithfulness. The servants do not sing to persuade Him to become good: they praise because He is good, and because He has already acted toward His people.
Augustine hears a gift in the simple fact that the servants stand in God’s house: “Be thankful; ye were without, and ye stand within.”1 God has raised and gathered them. Praise is not merely a religious mood or an attempt to repay Him; it is a grateful answer to His generosity.
The chosen people are called God’s “peculiar treasure,” a covenant expression also found in Exodus 19. Deuteronomy 7:7–8 remembers God’s love and His promise, not Israel’s superiority in numbers. Election is gift, not superiority. In Romans 11, Paul describes Gentile believers as grafted into the olive tree and warns them not to boast against its branches. God’s welcome to the nations is no reason to despise Israel.
In his Letter to Marcellinus, St Athanasius passes on the insight that the Psalms give us words we may take as our own prayer. St Gregory of Nyssa describes the Psalter as a teacher of virtue and blessedness. Neither is commenting directly on this Psalm here; their wider teaching helps us hear its call to praise as a way of learning gratitude.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “Praise ye the name of the Lord”; “who stand in the house”; “peculiar treasure.”
- Emphasize: praise begins with gratitude that God brought us inside.
- Avoid: turning election into pride or reducing praise to emotion.
Psalm 134:5-14, the Lord rules creation and remembers His servants
134:5 For I know that the Lord is great, and our Lord is above all gods;
134:6 all that the Lord willed, he did in heaven, and on the earth, in the sea, and in all deeps.
134:7 Who brings up clouds from the extremity of the earth: he has made lightnings for the rain: he brings winds out of his treasures.
134:8 Who smote the first-born of Egypt, both of man and beast.
134:9 He sent signs and wonders into the midst of thee, O Egypt, on Pharao, and on all his servants.
134:10 Who smote many nations, and slew mighty kings;
134:11 Seon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Basan, and all the kingdoms of Chanaan:
134:12 and gave their land for an inheritance, an inheritance to Israel his people.
134:13 O Lord, thy name endures for ever, and thy memorial to all generations.
134:14 For the Lord shall judge his people, and comfort himself concerning his servants.
The Psalm does not separate creation and deliverance. The Lord whom the servants praise in His courts is also Lord of the heavens, earth, sea, clouds, and winds. Theodoret observes that creation shows what God willed to make; it does not measure the limit of His power. The world depends on its Maker, not the other way around.
The Exodus memories are hard but necessary. God does not merely advise Israel out of slavery. Yet the Psalm says that Egypt’s firstborn died, both human beings and animals; it also names slain kings and land given to Israel as an inheritance. Exodus 12 remembers a great cry in Egypt. Theodoret notices that the plague reached from Pharaoh’s household to the child of an enslaved woman. We should not dissolve these deaths and the transfer of land into images of our feelings, or call every death an act of corrective discipline.
This history gives Christians no permission to harm people, despise an ethnic group, seize land today, or pronounce victims rejected by God. In Christ, who overcomes the powers through His Cross, our response is repentance and love for enemies, not a reenactment of conquest. The hope of His Kingdom does not require us to deny the gravity of the history Israel remembers.
After these memories, the Psalm addresses the Lord directly: His name endures and His memorial reaches every generation. Verse 14 then says He will judge His people and “comfort himself concerning his servants.” In Brenton, God Himself is the subject and the reflexive object; the servants are those concerning whom the action is spoken. The phrase uses human language to speak of God’s own regard for them, not of a divine need for emotional relief. Set beside judgment, it invites trust that the Lord is not indifferent to His servants.
Augustine’s commentary on this verse uses a different wording, about God being called upon among His servants, and connects it with judgment and the nations coming to worship. His further historical judgment about Israel is his own interpretation, not permission to declare the Jewish people rejected by God; Paul rejects such boasting in Romans 11. Theodoret’s different wording speaks instead of God consoling His servants, which he reads as mercy toward a people under attack and forgiveness of their sins. Neither wording replaces Brenton’s reflexive clause.
Hebrews 12:5–11 can illuminate a Christian application: God’s discipline of His children is directed toward holiness. It is not a translation of this Psalm, and it does not tell us to label every death, illness, or misfortune as correction for a particular sin.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “all that the Lord willed, he did”; “signs and wonders”; “thy name endures for ever.”
- Emphasize: creation and Israel’s history both stand before the living Lord, whose name endures.
- Avoid: erasing the historical deaths or using them to justify violence and contempt today.
Psalm 134:15-21, lifeless idols and blessing of the Lord in Zion
134:15 The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the works of men’s hands.
134:16 They have a mouth, but they cannot speak; they have eyes, but they cannot see;
134:17 they have ears, but they cannot hear; for there is no breath in their mouth.
134:18 Let those who make them be made like to them; and all those who trust in them.
134:19 O house of Israel, bless ye the Lord: O house of Aaron, bless ye the Lord:
134:20 O house of Levi, bless ye the Lord: ye that fear the Lord, bless the Lord.
134:21 Blessed in Sion be the Lord, who dwells in Jerusalem.
The contrast is direct: the living Lord made heaven and earth, while idols are made by human hands. Silver and gold may be precious, but the finished object cannot answer the person who trusts it. Verse 18 is not simply a gentle observation about influence. “Let those who make them be made like to them” is a severe petition for judgment on the makers and those who trust their idols.
Augustine comments on an indicative wording about idol-makers being like their idols. He explains the likeness inwardly: “And ye believe, brethren, that there is a likeness to these idols expressed not in their flesh, but in their inner man.”2 His interpretation helps us consider what misplaced worship does within us; it does not change Brenton’s petition into a different grammatical mood.
This imagery is not a diagnosis of a person’s body. Bodily blindness, deafness, speech impairment, breathlessness, and illness are not evidence of sin, guilt, or failed faith. Nor may we use another person’s condition to claim knowledge of that person’s hidden motives or relationship with God.
The warning reaches beyond ancient statues. Work, money, comfort, influence, and even religious reputation can be useful or attractive, but none can bear the weight of being our god. Rather than label someone else, we can ask what we ourselves are treating as ultimate security. By Christ’s grace, choose one unnecessary act of anxious checking or self-promotion to relinquish today. Use that moment to pray, offer mercy, or return to worship. This does not earn God’s love; it is a small response to the Lord who gives life.
The closing calls are distinct: Israel, the house of Aaron, the house of Levi, and those who fear the Lord are each summoned to bless Him. Theodoret hears the last group as including people beyond Israel who share in worship of Israel’s God. The invitation widens without erasing the people and houses named in the Psalm.
In Brenton’s final verse, the people bless the Lord in Zion; He is the One being blessed, and He dwells in Jerusalem. Augustine and Theodoret each comment on a different lemma with an out-of-Zion wording. Theodoret distinguishes the praise people offer in words from the blessings God gives in action, and says that God’s dwelling in Jerusalem does not confine Him there. Augustine associates Zion with watchful hope and Jerusalem with a vision of peace. His is a spiritual reading, not proof of a modern etymology, and neither Father’s lemma changes Brenton’s words. The Church blesses the Lord now in hope and looks toward the peace of the heavenly Jerusalem.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “works of men’s hands”; “there is no breath”; “made like to them”; “Blessed in Sion.”
- Emphasize: hear the severity of the petition before considering Augustine’s inward application.
- Avoid: treating bodily disability as guilt or using idolatry to diagnose another person’s heart.
The Church’s Voice in Worship 📖
The retained Holy Fifty Days references give selected Psalm verses, not the whole Psalm, around the fifth week. Their printed Psalm references are preserved here:
- In Vespers on 16 May 2026, Psalm 135:19–20 calls the named houses and those who fear the Lord to bless Him; the Gospel is Luke 14:1–6, where Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath.
- In Matins on 17 May 2026, the same Psalm selection accompanies John 15:4–8, with its call to abide in Christ and bear fruit.
- In the Liturgy on 16 May 2026, Psalm 135:3,5 joins praise of God’s goodness to the confession of His greatness; the Gospel is John 14:1–11.
- In Vespers on 17 May 2026, Psalm 135:6,21 joins God’s rule in creation to blessing the Lord and His dwelling in Jerusalem; the Gospel is John 14:21–25. The service text uses an out-of-Zion wording, unlike Brenton’s “in Sion.”
These pairings can help us hear praise alongside Christ’s healing, His call to abide, and His promise of divine dwelling. They do not establish why the readings were paired. The selected Psalm clauses do not appoint its accounts of death, judgment, or idols as part of those Psalm readings. The separate reading of 1 John 5:11–21 in the 16 May Liturgy ends with a warning against idols; it does not add Psalm 134:15–18 to the selected Psalm.
Three retained annual Liturgy examples, dated 30 July, 14 November, and 25 December 2026, print Psalm 78:5 together with Psalm 135:5. In each, the Psalm 78 selection gives only the first part of verse 5: a testimony God established among Jacob and a law He appointed in Israel. The Psalm 135 selection confesses the Lord’s greatness above all gods, and the accompanying Gospel is Mark 10:35–45. These are examples from dated services, not a claim that the same readings recur on those Gregorian dates every year or in every current rite.
No Agpeya reference for printed Psalm 135 was verified within the consulted scope. That limited finding is not a claim that the Psalm is never used in the Agpeya.
Iconography Connection 🖼️
Images of the Exodus or of the Church gathered in worship can help a group recall the Psalm’s movement from deliverance to praise. An icon of Christ can also prompt discussion of the difference between honoring an image that points to the person depicted and worshiping an object as a god. The Psalm addresses the latter; it does not directly discuss Christian icons. These are teaching suggestions, not identifications of particular artworks.
Spiritual Fruit 🍇
- Praise because you were brought inside. Begin prayer by thanking God for His invitation to stand before Him.
- Let creation teach trust. Remember the Lord of clouds, winds, seas, and depths when you bring Him a hidden distress.
- Name one false security. Ask where you are demanding from money, approval, or control what only the living Lord can give. With His help, relinquish one small act that feeds that dependence.
- Return to living worship. Use the space you have made for prayer or a concrete act of mercy, not as payment for grace but as a response to it.
- Bless the Lord in Zion with watchfulness. Join the Psalm’s praise now, and live in hope of the peace God promises in Christ.
Teacher's Notes
- Timing: 10 minutes on praise and chosen treasure, 15 minutes on creation and Exodus, 15 minutes on idols and spiritual likeness, 10 minutes on Holy Fifty Days usage.
- Where to linger: the repeated reasons for praise, the reflexive wording of verse 14, and the movement from the petition in verse 18 to the calls to bless the Lord.
- Key phrase to say slowly: “Let those who make them be made like to them; and all those who trust in them.”
- Pastoral warning: name the deaths and land transfer honestly; reject modern violence and ethnic contempt. Do not equate disability or illness with guilt, or presume to know another person’s heart.
- Source distinction: Augustine’s and Theodoret’s lemmas at verses 14 and 21 differ from Brenton. Their interpretations should not be substituted for the text being read.
Glossary
- Name of the Lord: God’s revealed presence, character, and faithfulness.
- Peculiar treasure: Covenant possession language from Exodus 19, received as vocation and gift, not grounds for pride.
- Sihon and Og: Kings named in Israel’s history of receiving the inheritance.
- Idol-likeness: The inward likeness Augustine discusses when interpreting the Psalm’s severe petition against makers of idols and those who trust them.
- Zion and Jerusalem: The place of praise and divine dwelling in the Psalm. Augustine also receives the names spiritually in connection with watchful hope and the vision of peace.
Translation and Source Notes
Embedded Scripture is from Brenton’s English Septuagint (LXX). The study title uses Psalm 135 with LXX Psalm 134 in parentheses; the three passage headings and embedded verses use the LXX number. The service examples retain the Psalm references printed in those sources. New Testament passages and service Gospels are referenced or paraphrased rather than quoted.
Sources
Primary sources: Brenton Septuagint, Psalm 134; Exodus 19:5–6; Exodus 12; Deuteronomy 7:6–8; Joshua 12; Isaiah 44:9–20; Romans 11; Colossians 1:15; Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 12:5–11; Hebrews 12:22–24.
Patristic sources: Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm CXXXV (Latin CXXXIV), especially §§2, 12, 14, and 16, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 8. Philip Schaff is general editor; A. Cleveland Coxe edited, annotated, and condensed the Oxford translation. The individual translator of this exposition is not identified here. Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Psalm 135, §§3–8, in Robert C. Hill’s translation of Commentary on the Psalms, Psalms 73–150, pp. 316–318. Athanasius of Alexandria, Letter to Marcellinus concerning the Psalms, and Gregory of Nyssa, On the Inscriptions of the Psalms, Part One, chapters 1–3, are cited for their general teaching on the Psalter.
Coptic Orthodox / liturgical sources: The consulted Holy Fifty Days references and dated service texts for 16–17 May 2026; the dated Liturgy texts for 30 July, 14 November, and 25 December 2026. The selections and their limits are described in the worship section.