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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Psalm 135 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/psalms/135.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/psalms/135.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/psalms/135-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../psalms/">Psalm</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../psalms/134.htm" title="Psalm 134">◄</a> Psalm 135 <a href="../psalms/136.htm" title="Psalm 136">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"><span class= "bld"> CXXXV.</span><p>This psalm is a mosaic from older writings, and was plainly put together for liturgic use. It pretends to no originality, and shows very little art or care in the composition. The date must be very late.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/135-1.htm">Psalm 135:1</a></div><div class="verse">Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the name of the LORD; praise <i>him</i>, O ye servants of the LORD.</div>(1) The psalm opens with an adaptation and expansion (comp. <a href="/psalms/116-19.htm" title="In the courts of the LORD's house, in the middle of you, O Jerusalem. Praise you the LORD.">Psalm 116:19</a>) of <a href="/psalms/134-1.htm" title="Behold, bless you the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD.">Psalm 134:1</a>. As there, the priestly class is addressed. Some, however, think that the addition, “courts of the house of our God,” as well as <a href="/psalms/135-19.htm" title="Bless the LORD, O house of Israel: bless the LORD, O house of Aaron:">Psalm 135:19</a>, make the application to all these standing in covenant relation to Jehovah. This is possible, but not proved by the evidence adduced.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/135-3.htm">Psalm 135:3</a></div><div class="verse">Praise the LORD; for the LORD <i>is</i> good: sing praises unto his name; for <i>it is</i> pleasant.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">Sing praises.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">play.</span><p><span class= "bld">For it is pleasant—</span>i.e., thus to sing hallelujah. (See <a href="/psalms/147-1.htm" title="Praise you the LORD: for it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.">Psalm 147:1</a>; <a href="/proverbs/22-18.htm" title="For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you; they shall with be fitted in your lips.">Proverbs 22:18</a>. Others take <span class= "ital">name </span>as the subject, and the Prayer-Book version suggested to Crashaw the beautiful hymn beginning “Come lovely name,” &c.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/135-4.htm">Psalm 135:4</a></div><div class="verse">For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself, <i>and</i> Israel for his peculiar treasure.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">Peculiar treasure.</span>—A special covenant-name for Israel (<a href="/exodus/19-5.htm" title="Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure to me above all people: for all the earth is mine:">Exodus 19:5</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/7-6.htm" title="For you are an holy people to the LORD your God: the LORD your God has chosen you to be a special people to himself, above all people that are on the face of the earth.">Deuteronomy 7:6</a>, &c.), and of private property (<a href="/1_chronicles/29-3.htm" title="Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of my own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house.">1Chronicles 29:3</a>; <a href="/ecclesiastes/2-8.htm" title="I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I got me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.">Ecclesiastes 2:8</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/135-5.htm">Psalm 135:5</a></div><div class="verse">For I know that the LORD <i>is</i> great, and <i>that</i> our Lord <i>is</i> above all gods.</div>(5, 6) Adapted from <a href="/psalms/115-3.htm" title="But our God is in the heavens: he has done whatever he has pleased.">Psalm 115:3</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/135-7.htm">Psalm 135:7</a></div><div class="verse">He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries.</div>(7) Adapted from <a href="/jeremiah/10-13.htm" title="When he utters his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightning with rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasures.">Jeremiah 10:13</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/51-16.htm" title="When he utters his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth: he makes lightning with rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasures.">Jeremiah 51:16</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Causeth the vapours to ascend</span>.—Mr. Burgess is undoubtedly right in referring this to the <span class= "ital">mist </span>which went up from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground “before the useful trouble of the rain” (<a href="/genesis/2-6.htm" title="But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.">Genesis 2:6</a>), since the original passage in Genesis has a plain reference to the story of the Creation, and the <span class= "ital">rain </span>is immediately mentioned as coming into existence after the <span class= "ital">vapours. </span>That a different term is used in Genesis does not make against this since the Hebrew term here is a general one derived from the verb “to ascend.”<p><span class= "bld">Lightnings for the rain—</span><span class= "ital">i.e., “</span>to bring rain.” Such was the Oriental notion, see <a href="/zechariah/10-1.htm" title="Ask you of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.">Zechariah 10:1</a> and compare <a href="/1_samuel/12-17.htm" title="Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call to the LORD, and he shall send thunder and rain; that you may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking you a king.">1Samuel 12:17</a>. Both of these places refer to showers out of the ordinary rainy season, such as thunder-storms in the harvest season. The sudden downfall of sheets of rain after a flash and peal is even in this climate sufficiently striking to make such a notion as the dependence of rain on lightning quite conceivable, how much more in tropical countries, and where, except in the due rainy season, it would never probably fall without thunder and lightning.<p><span class= "bld">Wind out of his treasuries.—</span>Comp. the Greek and Latin ideas of the “caves” of the winds.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/135-8.htm">Psalm 135:8</a></div><div class="verse">Who smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">Egypt.</span>—This abrupt change from the miracles of nature to the marvels of history is apparently copied from the next psalm, where see Note, <a href="/psalms/135-10.htm" title="Who smote great nations, and slew mighty kings;">Psalm 135:10</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/135-12.htm">Psalm 135:12</a></div><div class="verse">And gave their land <i>for</i> an heritage, an heritage unto Israel his people.</div>-12<a href="/psalms/105-44.htm" title="And gave them the lands of the heathen: and they inherited the labor of the people;">Psalm 105:44</a>; <a href="/psalms/111-6.htm" title="He has showed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen.">Psalm 111:6</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/135-13.htm">Psalm 135:13</a></div><div class="verse">Thy name, O LORD, <i>endureth</i> for ever; <i>and</i> thy memorial, O LORD, throughout all generations.</div>(13) This verse is from <a href="/exodus/3-15.htm" title="And God said moreover to Moses, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial to all generations.">Exodus 3:15</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/135-14.htm">Psalm 135:14</a></div><div class="verse">For the LORD will judge his people, and he will repent himself concerning his servants.</div>(14) From <a href="/deuteronomy/32-36.htm" title="For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.">Deuteronomy 32:36</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Judge</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>see them righted.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/135-15.htm">Psalm 135:15</a></div><div class="verse">The idols of the heathen <i>are</i> silver and gold, the work of men's hands.</div>(15, 16) With slight variations from <a href="/context/psalms/115-4.htm" title="Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.">Psalm 115:4-8</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/135-19.htm">Psalm 135:19</a></div><div class="verse">Bless the LORD, O house of Israel: bless the LORD, O house of Aaron:</div>(19, 21) From <a href="/context/psalms/115-9.htm" title="O Israel, trust you in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.">Psalm 115:9-11</a>, with the addition, “O house of Levi.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/psalms/135-21.htm">Psalm 135:21</a></div><div class="verse">Blessed be the LORD out of Zion, which dwelleth at Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD.</div>(21) <span class= "bld">Out of</span> <span class= "bld">Zion.</span>—As in <a href="/psalms/128-5.htm" title="The LORD shall bless you out of Zion: and you shall see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life.">Psalm 128:5</a>, Jehovah blesses the covenant people out of Zion, so here they bless him out of Zion—that is the place where the reciprocal relation is best and chiefly realised. This localisation is made more emphatic by the addition of the name Jerusalem to Zion. (Comp. <a href="/psalms/76-2.htm" title="In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion.">Psalm 76:2</a>; <a href="/context/psalms/125-1.htm" title="They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but stays for ever.">Psalm 125:1-2</a>.)<p><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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