Psalms 134:2

Lift up your hands in the sanctuary. Praise Yahweh!

World English Bible
Learn

Your notes

Private to you. Anything you write on this verse, here or while reading, shows up here and in My study.

Other translations

WEBBE

Lift up your hands in the sanctuary. Praise the LORD!

BSB

Lift up your hands to the sanctuary and bless the LORD!

KJV

Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD.

ASV

Lift up your hands to the sanctuary, And bless ye Jehovah.

BBE

Give praise to the Lord, lifting up your hands in his holy place.

Original Hebrew

Look up a word

Tap a word to see what it means and everywhere else it's used.

The early church

"Lift up your hands by night in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord" [Psalm 134:2]. It is easy to bless by day. What is "by day"? In prosperity. For night is a sad thing, day a cheerful. When it is well with thee, thou dost bless the Lord. Thy son was sick, and he is made whole, thou dost bless the Lord. Thy son was sick, perchance thou hast sought an astrologer, a soothsayer, perchance a curse against the Lord has come, not from thy tongue, but from thy deeds, from thy deeds and thy life. Boast not, because thou blessest with thy tongue, if thou cursest with thy life. Wherefore bless ye the Lord. When? By night. When did Job bless? When it was a sad night. All was taken away which he possessed; the children for whom his goods were stored were taken away. How sad was his night! Let us however see whether he blesseth not in the night. "The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away; it is as the Lord willed; blessed be the name of the Lord." [Job 1:21] And black was the night. ...
Augustine of Hippo · d. 430Expositions on the Psalms
"Behold, now, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord" [Psalm 134:1], "who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God" [Psalm 134:2]. Why has he added, "in the courts"? Courts mean the wider spaces of a house. He who stands in the courts is not straitened, is not confined, in some fashion is enlarged. Remain in this enlargement, and thou canst love thy enemy, because thou lovest not things in which an enemy could straiten thee. How canst thou be understood to stand in the courts? Stand in charity, and thou standest in the courts. Breadth lies in charity, straitness in hatred.
Augustine of Hippo · d. 430Expositions on the Psalms

Commentary

Spurgeon · Verse 2

Lift up your hands in the sanctuary. In the holy place they must be busy, full of strength, wide awake, energetic, and moved with holy ardour. Hands, heart, and every other part of their manhood must be upraised, elevated, and consecrated to the adoring service of the Lord. As the angels praise God day without night, so must the angels of the churches be instant in season and out of season. And bless the LORD. This is their main business. They are to bless men by their teaching, but they must yet more bless Jehovah with their worship. Too often men look at public worship only from the side of its usefulness to the people; but the other matter is of even higher importance: we must see to it that the Lord God is adored, extolled, and had in reverence. For a second time the word "bless" is used, and applied to Jehovah. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and let every other soul bless him. There will be no drowsiness about even midnight devotion if the heart is set upon blessing God in Christ Jesus, which is the gospel translation of God in the sanctuary.

Read Spurgeon on Psalm 134 →

Cross-references

10

Topics

Cross-references: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Hebrew and Greek data from STEPBible.org (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0. Library: sources.