to lift · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
hands
יְדֵכֶ֥םye.de.Khem
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders dual construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
sanctuary
קֹ֑דֶשׁKo.desh
H6944
a sacred place or thing · noun, common masculine singular absolute
bless
וּ֝בָרֲכוּU.va.ra.khu
H1288
to kneel · conjunction + verb, piel imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
LORD
יְהוָֽהYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 28:2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.
1 Timothy 2:8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
Psalms 63:4 Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
Psalms 141:2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Lamentations 3:41 Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.
Lamentations 2:19 Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands…
Psalms 26:6 I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD:
Psalms 63:2 To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 134:1–end
This psalm instructs us concerning a two-fold blessing: -
I. Our blessing God, that is, speaking well of him, which here we are taught to do, Psa 134:1, Psa 134:2. 1. It is a call to the Levites to do it. They were the servants of the Lord by office, appointed to minister in holy things; they attended the sanctuary, and kept the charge of the house of the Lord, Num 3:6, etc. Some of them did by night stand in the house of the Lord, to guard the holy things of the temple, that they might not be profaned, and the rich things of the temple, that they might not be plundered. While the ark was in curtains there was the more need of guards upon it. They attended likewise to see that neither the f…
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary,.... Which Aben Ezra interprets of the priests lifting up their hands to bless the people; but Kimchi, better, of lifting up of the hands to God in prayer; see Psalm 141:2; which should be done "with holiness", as the Targum renders it, in a holy manner; and is the same with lifting up holy hands, 1 Timothy 2:8; or towards the holy place; the oracle in the holy of holies, and the ark of the covenant, typical of Christ; see 1 Kings 8:29, Psalm 28:2; so Kimchi; or rather, according to Arama, unto the holy name of God, to whom prayer is to be directed;
and bless the Lord; which is repeated, to show the importance of the work, that it might not be forgotten a…
Psalm 134:1-3
1. Behold! bless ye Jehovah, all ye servants of Jehovah, who stand nightly in the house of Jehovah. 2. Lift up your hands towards the sanctuary, [149] and bless Jehovah. 3. Jehovah bless thee out of Zion, who made heaven and earth!
1. Behold! bless ye Jehovah. Some interpreters think, that others besides the Levites are here intended, and it must be granted, at least, that some of the more zealous of the people remained over night in the Temple, as we read (Luke 2:37) of Anna, a widow, "who served God constantly with prayers night and day." [150] But it is evident, from the close of the Psalm, that the inspired penman addresses priests only, since he prescribes the form of be…
The Church Fathers
"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.
"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. ...
In the nights lift up your hands unto the holy place. 'This world is set in the power of the evil one,' and 'our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of these darknesses.' Whence the apostle also says: 'The night is past, and the day is at hand.' Therefore this present age is the night: but the age to come is the day. Whence the apostle says: 'The night is past, and the day is at hand. Let us walk honestly, as in the day,' he says. As we are to live in the day, that is, in the age to come, so let us now live. In the nights lift up your hands unto the holy place. Whether we will or not, we are in the nights: as long as we are in this age, we are in the nights. The night has darkness: and the nights of these darknesses are the sins of men. See, therefore, what he says: In the nights lift up your hands unto the holy place. 'While,' he says, 'you are in this age and are in the nights, lift up your hands.' Do not let them down, but lift them up: lift them up with Moses. If you lift up your hands, Amalek is conquered: but if you let them down, Joshua is overcome. And at the same time consider the mystery. If we lift up our hands, Jesus conquers. If we lift up our hands in good works, through our good works Christ overcomes the devil. And hands are interpreted as works. Whence it is written: 'The word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai,' 'The word which came by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet.' Surely the word of the Lord does not come by the hand, but comes in the mouth. But see the mysteries of Scripture. God does not come to speech, except to good works. For a murderer too confesses Christ, and yet the Lord does not come to him, because his hands do not deserve the Lord's coming. Whence it is written in another place: 'In the hand of the tongue are death and life.' Does the tongue then have a hand? Tell me, why is it said, 'In the hand of the tongue are death and life'? See what he means. God does not hear the tongue, not words, but works: so that whoever says something may also do it. It is commanded us, therefore, in the last psalm of the steps, In the nights lift up your hands unto the holy place. 'Lift up,' he says, 'your hands, because Jesus too lifted his up on the cross.' In the nights lift up your hands unto the holy place. Why did he wish to add, and to say, 'unto the holy place'? Heretics too seem to lift up their…
Dictionary and topics
Hands, The · Were lifted up: In praise — Were lifted up: In praise
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The Psalm begins, like its predecessor, with הנּה; there is directs attention to an attractive phenomenon, here to a duty which springs from the office. For that it is not the persons frequenting the Temple who are addressed is at once clear from the fact that the tarrying of these in the Temple through the night, when such a thing did actually occur (Luk 2:37), was only an exception. And then, however, from the fact that עמד is the customary word for the service of the priests and Levites, Deu 10:8; Deu 18:7; Ch1 23:30; Ch2 29:11 (cf. on Isa 61:10, and Psa 110:4), which is also continued in the night, Ch1 9:33. Even the Targum refers Psa 134:1 to the Temple-watch. In the second Temple the m…
Ps 134 In the last of the pilgrims’ songs (Pss 120–134), the travelers call the Temple workers to praise the Lord. In return, they will receive a much-anticipated blessing.
134:1-2 Those who serve at night were the priests and Levites (see also 135:2).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 134:2
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord.
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 othe…
