to do or make · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular construct
heaven
שָׁמַ֥יִםsha.Ma.yim
H8064
the sky (as aloft · noun, common masculine plural absolute
earth
וָאָֽרֶץva.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
bless
יְבָרֶכְךָ֣ye.va.rekh.Kha
H1288
to kneel · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
Zion
מִצִּיּ֑וֹןmi.tzi.Yon
H6726
Tsijon (as a permanent capital) · preposition + proper noun, a place name
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 128:5 The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.
Psalms 20:2 Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;
Psalms 124:8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
Psalms 135:21 Blessed be the LORD out of Zion, which dwelleth at Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD.
Psalms 146:5-6 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:
Romans 11:26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
Psalms 110:2 The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
Psalms 14:7 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Isr…
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…
The Lord, that made heaven and earth, bless thee out of Zion. These are not the words of the priests blessing the people in this form, as some; but rather, as others, the wish of the servants of the Lord, that he would bless him that exhorted them to this service; whether one of the priests, or the captain of the temple, or the psalmist: though, according to Kimchi, and which seems agreeable, they are the words of the psalmist, promising a blessing from the Lord to those that blessed him; as an encouragement to them, to everyone of them, to be constant and diligent in this service. For so it may be rendered, "the Lord shall bless thee" (f); all blessings come from the Lord, whether spiritual…
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
"The Lord out of Zion bless you, who made heaven and earth" [Psalm 134:3]. He exhorts many to bless, and Himself blesses one, because He makes one out of many, since "it is good and pleasant for brethren to dwell together in one." It is a plural number, brethren, and yet singular, to dwell together in one. Let none of you say, It comes not to me. Do you know of whom he speaks, "the Lord bless you out of Zion." He blessed one. Be one, and the blessing comes to you.
May the Lord bless you out of Sion, he who made heaven and earth. You bless the Lord, and the Lord blesses you. Out of Sion: from the watchtower, from the church, from true doctrines, from pious faith. May the Lord bless you out of Sion. These little verses the Holy Spirit speaks, or certainly the prophet speaks in the Spirit. And what does he say? O you who through the fifteen steps have climbed to the last, who have done this and that, who bless the Lord, who in the nights lift up your hands unto the holy place and bless the Lord—receive, you too, your reward. May the Lord bless you out of Sion. What you have given, receive back. You gave alms, you performed good deeds: from God you obtain a reward and a blessing. May the Lord bless you out of Sion. Out of Sion: from the heavenly Jerusalem, in the mother of the firstborn, where the joys to come are, where the archangels are, where the other powers are, where the apostles, where the prophets, where the saints, where the martyrs, where the multitudes of angels and of saints follow, wherever the Lamb goes. In short, John too saw the holy city let down from heaven, built up with gems, having twelve gates. It was all golden: it had golden walls, and it had streets of various gems. In this city Christ reigns, in this city the inhabitants themselves are both inhabitants and gates, they themselves are both houses and inhabitants. Do you wish to know that they are houses? Christ dwells in them, Christ walks about in them. 'I will dwell,' he says, 'in them, and I will walk about.' See how great the holy soul is: it contains Christ, whom heaven does not contain. See what he says. 'I will dwell,' he says. But it can happen that someone dwells in cramped quarters. 'I will dwell, and I will walk about in them.' Wherever he walks about, surely the house is spacious, where there is room to walk. 'You are,' he says, 'the temple of God, and the Holy Spirit dwells in you.' Let us prepare our temple, that Christ may come and dwell in us: that our soul too may be Sion, that it may be a watchtower, that it may be set upon the heights, that it may be above, not below. We read in the prophet Zechariah: 'And the angel,' he says, 'who spoke in me, said to me.' If an angel spoke in the prophet, how much more does he who dwells in us have us both as his houses and as his conversation-partners?
Calling thus up to the Temple-hill, the church receives from above the benedictory counter-greeting: Jahve bless thee out of Zion (as in Psa 128:5), the Creator of heaven and earth (as in Psa 115:15; Psa 121:2; Psa 124:8). From the time of Num 6:24 jebaréchja is the ground-form of the priestly benediction. It is addressed to the church as one person, and to each individual in this united, unit-like church.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 134:1–end
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 134:3
The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.
This last verse is the answer from the temple to the pilgrims preparing to depart as the day breaks. It is the ancient blessing of the high priest condensed, and poured forth upon each individual pilgrim. The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion. Ye are scattering and going to your homes one by one; may the benediction come upon you one by one. You have been up to Jehovah's city and temple at his bidding; return each one with such a benediction as only he can give—divine, infinite, effectual, eternal. You are not going away from Jehovah's works or glories, for he made the heaven above you and the earth on which yo…
May the Lord bless you out of Sion, he who made heaven and earth. If you are holy, hear what he says, 'who made heaven': if you are a sinner, 'who made earth.' He made both heaven and earth. For the moment let us speak according to the letter. He said this to distinguish God from the idols. 'The gods,' he says, 'who have not made heaven and earth, let them perish from the earth.' 'But the Lord made the heavens.' This he says to distinguish God from the idols. This much for now according to the letter. But according to the spiritual understanding, just as it is said to the sinner, 'You are earth and unto earth you shall go,' so also to the holy one it is said, 'You are heaven and unto heaven you shall go.' Why have I said all this? To prove that the saints are heaven. 'The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the works of his hands.' 'And let the waters that are above the heavens praise the name of the Lord.' 'The heavens of heavens are the Lord's.' Who made heaven and earth. Although we are earthly, although we walk upon the earth, yet our citizenship is in the heavens: there we have our commonwealth. Who made heaven and earth. Although you are a sinner, do not despair: the Lord is almighty. Many from earth become heaven, and many from heaven become earth. Unhappy Judas was heaven, and became earth. The apostle Paul, at the time when he was persecuting the church, was earth: he confessed, and became heaven. Neither should he who is heaven be complacent; nor should he who is earth despair of life. Jacob, at the time when he was fleeing his brother into Mesopotamia, came to Luz: and there, it says, he placed a stone for himself at his head. Under his head the stone was Christ. He never placed a stone at his head, except at the time when he fled his persecutor. When he remained in his father's house, as long as he was in his father's house and had the comforts of the flesh, he did not have a stone at his head. He departed from his home naked, he departed with a staff; and at once, that very night, he found a stone, and placed it at his head. Because he had such a pillow on which to take his rest, see his vision. 'He saw,' it says, 'a ladder reaching from the earth to heaven; and he saw,' it says, 'angels descending and ascending.' He saw angels coming from heaven to earth, and others ascending from earth to the heavens. Do you wish to…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
