What Does Psalm 135:1 Mean?
Praise the LORD. Praise the nature of the LORD; praise him, you servants of the LORD.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the name of the LORD; praise him, O ye servants of the LORD.THE KEY
The repeated praise moves from the LORD to his name as nature, then to the servants whose lives give the refrain its shape.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s name, שֵׁם (shem, “name as nature”), is the focus of your praise: the nature made known in who the LORD is. The verse places that praise in the lives of those who serve, joining what they say with who they are.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Praise is not merely a sound directed toward God; the verse binds it to the LORD’s nature and to the lives of those who serve.
THE ROOT
הַלְלוּ
halelu
GROWS FROM
הלל
To praise, acclaim, or boast.
“Praise the LORD” in this verse is halelu. The verse repeats this one root in its calls to praise, moving the acclaim from the LORD to his name and then to the servants. English can make these sound like separate commands; the shared root ties them into one act that names the LORD’s nature and takes shape in service.
ALSO GROWS
tehillah: Praise; a song of praise.
תְּהִלָּה
It shows that praise in this verse belongs to a family of words for voiced acclaim.
halelu-Yah: Praise Yah.
הַלְלוּ־יָהּ
The opening phrase carries the same praise-root directly into the name of the one being praised.
עַבְדֵי
avdei
GROWS FROM
עבד
To serve or work.
“you servants” in this verse is avdei. The word for servants comes from the root for serving and working. The verse links praise with service: the ones who voice the praise are named by the work they do.
ALSO GROWS
ʿeved: Servant.
עֶבֶד
This is the singular form behind the verse’s description of the people praising.
ʿavodah: Service or work.
עֲבֹדָה
It makes visible the root connection between the servants’ identity and their service.
THE PATTERN
Praise names the nature of the LORD and carries that name into the lives of those who serve.
Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is lifted high; his majesty is above the earth and the heavens.And on that day you will say, Extend your hands to the LORD, call upon his nature, make his doings known among the peoples, and speak aloud that his nature is lifted high.Through him, then, let us always carry up a sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.THE THREAD
My living soul makes its boast in the LORD; the bowed ones hear it and are glad.Psalm 34:2 uses יִתְהַלֵּל (yithallel, “boast”) from the same root הלל (halal; h-l-l, “praise, acclaim”) that opens this verse. The shared root links praise with boasting in the LORD, and the verse shows that others can hear this expression and become glad.
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