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135. Psalm 135

¹ Praise the LORD. Hebrew Hallelu Yah; also in verses 3 and 21

   Praise the name of the LORD;
   praise him, you servants of the LORD,
² you who minister in the house of the LORD,
   in the courts of the house of our God.

    ³ Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;
   sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant.
⁴ For the LORD has chosen Jacob to be his own,
   Israel to be his treasured possession.

    ⁵ I know that the LORD is great,
   that our Lord is greater than all gods.
⁶ The LORD does whatever pleases him,
   in the heavens and on the earth,
   in the seas and all their depths.
⁷ He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth;
   he sends lightning with the rain
   and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

    ⁸ He struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
   the firstborn of people and animals.
⁹ He sent his signs and wonders into your midst, Egypt,
   against Pharaoh and all his servants.
¹⁰ He struck down many nations
   and killed mighty kings—
¹¹ Sihon king of the Amorites,
   Og king of Bashan,
   and all the kings of Canaan—
¹² and he gave their land as an inheritance,
   an inheritance to his people Israel.

    ¹³ Your name, LORD, endures forever,
   your renown, LORD, through all generations.
¹⁴ For the LORD will vindicate his people
   and have compassion on his servants.

    ¹⁵ The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
   made by human hands.
¹⁶ They have mouths, but cannot speak,
   eyes, but cannot see.
¹⁷ They have ears, but cannot hear,
   nor is there breath in their mouths.
¹⁸ Those who make them will be like them,
   and so will all who trust in them.

    ¹⁹ All you Israelites, praise the LORD;
   house of Aaron, praise the LORD;
²⁰ house of Levi, praise the LORD;
   you who fear him, praise the LORD.
²¹ Praise be to the LORD from Zion,
   to him who dwells in Jerusalem.

Praise the LORD.

8. He smote the first-born of Egypt He now reverts to those more special benefits, by which God had laid his Church and chosen people under obligation to his service. As it was the Lord’s believing people only whom he addressed, the chief point singled out as the subject of praise is God’s having adopted them, small as they were in numbers, from the mass of the human family. Again, there was the fact of his having set himself in opposition, for their sakes, to great kingdoms and mighty nations. The wonderful works done by God in Egypt and in Canaan were all just so many proofs of that fatherly love which he entertained for them as his chosen people. It is not strictly according to historic order to begin with mentioning the destruction of the first-born of Egypt; but this is instanced as a memorable illustration of the great regard God had for the safety of his people, which was such that he would not spare even so mighty and wealthy a nation. The scope of the passage is to show that God, in delivering his people, had abundantly testified his power and his mercy.