World English Bible
- Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD’s name! Praise him, you servants of the LORD,
- you who stand in the LORD’s house, in the courts of our God’s house.
- Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good. Sing praises to his name, for that is pleasant.
- For the LORD has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel for his own possession.
- For I know that the LORD is great, that our Lord is above all gods.
- Whatever the LORD pleased, that he has done, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.
- He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings with the rain. He brings the wind out of his treasuries.
- He struck the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and animal.
- He sent signs and wonders into the middle of you, Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his servants.
- He struck many nations, and killed mighty kings—
- Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan—
- and gave their land for a heritage, a heritage to Israel, his people.
- Your name, LORD, endures forever; your renown, LORD, throughout all generations.
- For the LORD will judge his people and have compassion on his servants.
- The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
- They have mouths, but they can’t speak. They have eyes, but they can’t see.
- They have ears, but they can’t hear, neither is there any breath in their mouths.
- Those who make them will be like them, yes, everyone who trusts in them.
- House of Israel, praise the LORD! House of Aaron, praise the LORD!
- House of Levi, praise the LORD! You who fear the LORD, praise the LORD!
- Blessed be the LORD from Zion, who dwells in Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!
Psalm 135 begins where Psalm 134 left off: the servants are still standing in the courts of the Lord. But now the psalm gives their praise a spine. Worship is not mere warmth; it is memory taught to sing.
The first surprise is that praise begins with election. Israel is called God’s “own possession” — the Hebrew word is segullah, a king’s treasured treasure, kept close not because it is useful, but because it is loved (compare Deuteronomy 7:6). In a Western world trained to measure worth by output, this is a needed correction: God’s people are not his employees before they are his beloved.
Verses 5–7 would have sounded sharper in the ancient Near East than many modern readers realize. In Canaanite religion, Baal was the storm-god, the supposed master of thunder, rain, and fertility. Ugaritic texts discovered at Ras Shamra make that world very clear. Psalm 135 quietly but completely takes the storm away from Baal and gives it back to its true Lord. Clouds, lightning, rain, wind: none of them belong to a local weather deity. They come from the Lord’s “treasuries.”
This means creation and redemption are not two separate stories. The hand that lifts vapor from the ends of the earth is the same hand that struck Egypt and brought down kings. The God of Exodus is not merely stronger than Pharaoh; he is the One who commands sky, sea, and history together.
Then comes the psalm’s most haunting contrast. In verse 7, God sends out the wind — ruach in Hebrew, the same word that can mean wind, breath, or spirit. But in verse 17, the idols have no ruach in their mouths. The living God breathes power into the world. The false gods cannot even exhale.
And then the terrible judgment: those who make them become like them.
That is not only ancient idol satire. It is spiritual anthropology. We become like what we worship. Augustine saw that love reshapes the lover; Calvin later warned that the human heart is an idol factory. Our idols may not be silver statues. They may be nation, market, image, control, platform, or curated self. But they do the same work: they hollow out the senses. Eyes open, but no wonder. Ears active, but no obedience. Mouths full, but no true praise.
Verse 14 says the Lord will judge his people and have compassion on his servants. Here “judge” does not mainly mean condemn; it often means vindicate, set right, defend. Unlike the idols, God is not inert. He sees. He acts. He feels toward his servants.
And the psalm ends in Zion. Not because God is confined there, but because love takes an address. The Maker of heaven and earth chooses to be findable. For Christians, this reaches its fullness in Christ, “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15), who restores us from idol-likeness into living glory (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Suggested cross-references: Deuteronomy 7:6; 1 Kings 18:20–39; Jeremiah 10:1–16; Deuteronomy 32:36; Colossians 1:15; 2 Corinthians 3:18
Hymn suggestion: O Worship the King
Living God, rescue me from every breathless substitute. Open my eyes to see, my ears to hear, and my mouth to praise. Make me like Christ, not like the idols my heart invents, and teach me to rejoice that you are not only great, but near. Amen.