to fasten upon · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
bars
בְּרִיחֵ֣יbe.ri.Chei
H1280
a bolt · noun, common masculine plural construct
gates
שְׁעָרָ֑יִךְshe.'a.Ra.yikh
H8179
an opening · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
blessed
בֵּרַ֖ךְbe.Rakh
H1288
to kneel · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
children
בָּנַ֣יִךְba.Na.yikh
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
within
בְּקִרְבֵּֽךְbe.kir.Bekh
H7130
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
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 128:3-6 Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
Psalms 115:14-15 The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children.
Isaiah 44:3-5 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon th…
Jeremiah 30:19-20 And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I wil…
Psalms 144:12 That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palac…
Psalms 125:2 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his people from henceforth even for ever.
Nehemiah 12:30 And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and purified the people, and the gates, and the wall.
Lamentations 2:8-9 The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destro…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 147:12–end
Jerusalem, and Zion, the holy city, the holy hill, are here called upon to praise God, Psa 147:12. For where should praise be offered up to God but where his altar is? Where may we expect that glory should be given to him but in the beauty of holiness? Let the inhabitants of Jerusalem praise the Lord in their own houses; let the priests and Levites, who attend in Zion, the city of their solemnities, in a special manner praise the Lord. They have more cause to do it than others, and they lie under greater obligations to do it than others; for it is their business, it is their profession. "Praise thy God, O Zion! he is thine, and therefore thou art bound to praise him; his being thine includes…
strengthened . . . gates--or, means of defense against invaders,
John Gill on Psalms 147:13
For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates,.... Of Jerusalem, of Zion the church of God. Gates are for the letting in of persons into the city of our God; which are Christ, faith in him, and a profession of it; see Isaiah 26:1, "bars" are for the security of those that, are in it, and to keep out the enemy: and these, "strengthened", denote the utmost safety of the true members of Christ and his church; who have nothing to fear from their spiritual enemies, sin, law, Satan, the world, death, and hell: God is on their side; Christ is the munition of rocks unto them the Holy Spirit is in them, who is greater than he that is in the world; and angels are guards about them; all which is matte…
Psalm 147:12-14
12. Celebrate Jehovah, O Jerusalem! praise thy God, O Zion! 13. For he strengthens the bars of thy gates, he blesses thy children in the midst of thee. 14. Who maketh thy borders peace; with the fatness of the corn he satifieth thee.
12. Celebrate Jehovah, O Jerusalem! Having spoken in general of the mercies of God, he again addresses his discourse to the Lord's people, who alone, as we have remarked already, can appreciate them, calling upon them to recognize with thanksgiving the blessings which others riot upon without acknowledgment. Under the name of Jerusalem, he comprises the whole Church, for in that place the faithful then held their religious assemblies, and flowe…
The Church Fathers
He saith, "He hath made strong the bars of thy gates." The making bars strong is not for open gates, but shut ones, wherefore most manuscripts read, "He hath made strong the bolts of thy gates." Observe, beloved. He biddeth Jerusalem when closed in to praise the Lord. We praise in unison now, we praise now; but it is amid offences. Many where we wish not, enter in: many though we wish it not, go out: therefore offences are frequent. "And because iniquity hath abounded," saith the Truth, "the love of many waxeth cold:" because men come in whom we cannot discern, because men go out whom we cannot retain. Wherefore is this? Because not yet is there perfection, not yet is there the bliss that shall be. Wherefore is this? Because as yet it is the threshing-floor, not yet the garner. What therefore will be then, save no fear that aught of this kind will happen? He said not only, He hath set, but, "He hath made strong the bars of thy gates." Let none go out, let none come in. Let none go out, we rejoice: let none come in, we fear. Nay, fear not this: when thou hast entered it will be said: only be thou in the number of virgins, who carried their oil with them....
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. Is it, then, of this Jerusalem that he speaks? Of this Zion? Praise your God. Why? For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. There are no gates: and how, then, are the bars kept safe? He has blessed your children within you. How has he blessed, he who said, Your house shall be left to you desolate? For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. The Lord loves the gates of Zion above all the tabernacles of Jacob. We said the gates of Zion are the prophets. Since, then, we know the gates of Zion are called the prophets, let us see what the bars of the gates are. For truly the prophets are the gates of the Church: we cannot enter the Church except through the prophets. Manichaeus wanted to enter without the gates, and did not enter. Marcion does not receive the Old Testament, and without the gates of the Old Testament he could not enter into the Gospel. We, then, receive the gates, the prophets, and through the gates we enter. But let us see what the bars of the gates are. Many robbers, many thieves long to enter through the gates. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. Oh, if only the Lord would grant to me too that I might be a bar of the gates of Zion! If any of the heretics wished to enter through them into the arrangement of the Gospel, I would stand in the gates, and I would keep him out. For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. He has strengthened them. Give me some churchman learned in the heavenly Scriptures: let Eunomius come, let Arius come, wanting to take away something from the prophets against us — does he not stand like a bar, does he not conquer like a bar? For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. Beautifully he said, he has strengthened: so that when you see a churchman disputing, you should not think that it is he who disputes, but he who strengthens the churchman. He has blessed your children within you. As many as received him, he gave them power to become children of God.
Dictionary and topics
Psalms, Book Of — The present Hebrew name of the book is Tehill’im, “Praises;” but in the actual superscriptions of the psalms the word Tehillah is applied only to one, (Psalms 145:1) ... which is indeed emphatically…
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 bars of the city gates symbolize defenses against enemies. • God blessed his people by empowering them with safety, prosperity, peace, and provisions (see 133:3).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 147:13
For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee.
For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates. Her fortifications were finished, even to the fastenings of the gates, and God had made all sound and strong, even to her bolts and bars: thus her security against invading foes was guaranteed. This is no small mercy. Oh, that our churches were thus preserved from all false doctrine and unholy living! This must be the Lord's doing; and where he has wrought it his name is greatly to be praised. Modern libertines would tear down all gates and abolish all bars; but so do not we, because of the fear of the Lord. He hath blessed thy children within thee. Inter…
