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. The one who praises the Lord becomes alive in communion with Him; the one who trusts idols becomes inwardly like what he worships.
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 | Verified local rows preserve printed Psalm 135 in Holy Fifty Days and annual fixed-date Liturgy rows. 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 rows. |
| Numbering issue | This note embeds Brenton LXX Psalm 134. Local rows 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 are now commanded to praise the name of the Lord in the house and courts of God. The Psalm borrows and gathers language from Exodus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, and earlier Psalms, especially the confession that idols have mouths, eyes, ears, and no breath.
Historically, the Psalm reads like worship after deliverance. Israel remembers Egypt, Pharaoh, Sihon, Og, and Canaan not as nationalist nostalgia, but as proof that the Lord acts in history. Spiritually, the Church hears the same movement in Christ: the true Exodus, the defeat of hostile powers, the inheritance of the Kingdom, and the calling of the faithful to become living praise.
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. Egypt represents bondage and false lordship; Canaan represents inheritance received by divine gift. Zion is the place of blessing, but the Lord’s 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 this election opens toward the nations without erasing Israel’s role in salvation history.
Pharaoh, Sihon, and Og. Historical enemies of Israel and spiritual signs of oppressive powers defeated by God.
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, comforter, 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 is His revealed presence, His faithfulness, and His self-disclosure. To praise the name is to confess who God has shown Himself to be.
Augustine says the servants should praise because God has brought them inside: “Be thankful; ye were without, and ye stand within.” That line gives the Psalm its spiritual force. Praise is not religious mood. It is gratitude for being raised, gathered, and allowed to stand in God’s house.
The chosen people are called God’s “peculiar treasure.” This is covenant language from Exodus 19. The Church must read it without pride. Election is gift, not superiority. Jacob is chosen for God’s mercy and for the blessing of the nations. In Christ, Gentiles are grafted into the people of God, as Paul teaches in Romans 11, and praise becomes the vocation of the whole renewed Israel.
St Athanasius says the Psalms give the Church words for the soul’s own prayer, and St Gregory of Nyssa teaches that psalmody trains the soul toward virtue and that the end of the life according to virtue is blessedness. Psalm 135 (LXX 134) is a temple praise Psalm that teaches the soul to become grateful, living, and undivided by fixing its gaze on the Lord’s enduring name.
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 redemption. The same Lord who raises clouds and brings winds from His treasures also smites Egypt and gives inheritance to His people. Creation is not a cold machine. It is held by the living will of God. History is not random. It is judged and comforted by the Lord.
The Exodus memories are hard but necessary. God does not merely advise Israel out of slavery. He judges Egypt’s gods and breaks Pharaoh’s dominion. In the New Testament, this becomes the pattern of salvation in Christ: through His Cross and Resurrection, the Lord disarms principalities and powers, leads the faithful out of bondage, and gives inheritance in the Kingdom.
Verse 14 says the Lord will judge His people and comfort His servants. Judgment and comfort belong together. God judges His people to set them right, defend them from their enemies, and restore them from idolatry. Hebrews 12 speaks the same way: discipline is painful, but it bears the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “all that the Lord willed, he did”; “signs and wonders”; “thy name endures for ever.”
- Emphasize: creation and salvation both reveal the living Lord.
- Avoid: making divine judgment sound arbitrary or cruel. In this Psalm it serves deliverance, correction, and covenant faithfulness.
Psalm 134:15-21, lifeless idols and living blessing from 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 Psalm’s anti-idolatry section is not primitive mockery. It is spiritual diagnosis. Worship shapes the worshiper. If a person trusts what is lifeless, he becomes inwardly lifeless. If he gives himself to what cannot speak, hear, see, or breathe, he loses the spiritual senses meant for God.
Augustine presses the verse inwardly: “And ye believe, brethren, that there is a likeness to these idols expressed not in their flesh, but in their inner man.” This is the key. Idolatry does not only create false religion; it damages perception. The eyes of the body may function while the eyes of faith go blind.
This applies beyond ancient statues. Career, money, image, comfort, political power, resentment, and even religious reputation can become idols. Each promises life but cannot breathe the Spirit into the soul. Christ alone is the image of the invisible God. To be conformed to Him is to become alive.
The Psalm ends with blessing from Zion. Augustine reads Zion and Jerusalem spiritually: “Zion is ‘watching,’ Jerusalem the ‘vision of peace.’” The soul that watches in faith is being prepared for peace. The Church blesses the Lord now in hope, and the heavenly Jerusalem fulfills the praise for which language is too small.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “works of men’s hands”; “there is no breath”; “made like to them”; “Blessed in Sion.”
- Emphasize: we become like what we worship.
- Avoid: treating idolatry as only an ancient pagan problem.
The Church’s Voice in Worship 📖
Verified local rows preserve printed Psalm 135 in Holy Fifty Days and annual fixed-date Liturgy contexts. In the Holy Fifty Days, the Church reads parts of this Psalm around the fifth week: Psalm 135:19-20 in Vespers and Matins, Psalm 135:3,5 in Liturgy, and Psalm 135:6,21 in Vespers. This fits the season because the risen Christ has made the Church a living house of praise. The calls to Israel, Aaron, Levi, and those who fear the Lord become the voice of a resurrected people blessing God.
Verified annual rows also preserve Psalm 135:5, “the Lord is great,” paired with Psalm 78:5 in several fixed-date Liturgy contexts. These rows use the Psalm’s confession of God’s greatness as a concise proclamation before the Gospel. The note does not claim a single interpretive theme for every fixed date beyond what the available lectionary references verifies, but the repeated liturgical use shows the Church returning to one central confession: the Lord is great, above all gods, and worthy of praise.
Iconography Connection 🖼️
Psalm 135 fits icons of the Exodus, Moses before Pharaoh, the crossing into inheritance, and the heavenly Jerusalem. It also fits images of the Church gathered in worship, because the Psalm moves from temple servants to the whole people blessing the Lord. The anti-idolatry section can be taught beside icons of the true Image, Christ, because only Christ restores the human person into the living image of God.
Spiritual Fruit 🍇
- Praise because you were brought inside. Begin prayer by remembering that God did not leave you outside His house.
- Let creation teach trust. The Lord who governs clouds, winds, seas, and depths is not absent from your hidden distress.
- Name your idols early. Ask what is making you spiritually deaf, blind, or breathless.
- Remember that worship forms likeness. You become like what you adore, fear, and serve.
- Bless from Zion with watchfulness. Live now as one waiting for the vision of peace.
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: Augustine’s line that idol-likeness is expressed “not in their flesh, but in their inner man.”
- Key phrase to say slowly: “Let those who make them be made like to them; and all those who trust in them.”
- Pastoral warning: do not mock ancient idolatry while ignoring modern idolatries of control, image, money, entertainment, and religious status.
Glossary
- Name of the Lord: God’s revealed presence, character, and faithfulness.
- Peculiar treasure: Covenant possession language from Exodus 19, fulfilled as vocation and gift, not pride.
- Sihon and Og: Amorite kings defeated before Israel entered the inheritance.
- Idol-likeness: The spiritual deadening that comes from trusting lifeless things.
- Zion and Jerusalem: Literally the holy city, spiritually the watching Church and the vision of peace.
Translation and Source Notes
Embedded Scripture is Brenton’s English Septuagint, Psalm 134. The study title uses NKJV Psalm 135 with LXX 134 in parentheses. Local lectionary rows preserve printed Psalm 135 references, especially Holy Fifty Days and annual Liturgy rows.
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: St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXXXV in NPNF1 volume 8 via CCEL; Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms; St Athanasius, Letter to Marcellinus; St Gregory of Nyssa, On the Inscriptions of the Psalms.
Coptic Orthodox / liturgical sources: Coptic Orthodox lectionary lectionary references and katameros rows for printed Psalm 135; Holy Fifty Days rows for Psalm 135:19-20, 3,5, and 6,21; annual fixed-date Liturgy rows for Psalm 135:5.