Psalm 135:2

Ye that stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

135:1-4 The subject-matter of praise, is the blessings of grace flowing from the everlasting love of God. The name of God as a covenant God and Father in Christ, blessing us with all spiritual blessings in him, is to be loved and praised. The Lord chose a people to himself, that they might be unto him for a name and a praise. If they do not praise him for this distinguishing favour, they are the most unworthy and ungrateful of all people.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Ye that stand in the house of the Lord - See the notes at Psalm 134:1. That is, those who were appointed to conduct the services of religion, the priests and Levites.

In the courts of the house of our God - The areas, or parts assigned for different classes of worshippers around the tabernacle and the temple. See the notes at Matthew 21:12; notes at Psalm 92:13.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

PSALM 135

Ps 135:1-21. A Psalm of praise, in which God's relations to His Church, His power in the natural world, and in delivering His people, are contrasted with the vanity of idols and idol-worship.

1-3. In the general call for praise, the priests, that stand in the house of the Lord, are specially mentioned.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Either in the temple or the inner court, which were appropriated to the priests and Levites; or in the outward court, which was for the people. See 2 Chronicles 4:9.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Ye that stand in the house of the Lord,.... That have a place and standing there, and go not out, being sons as well as servants; See Gill on Psalm 134:1 and See Gill on Psalm 84:4;

in the courts of the house of our God; alluding to the courts in the temple, the court of the priests, where they stood and ministered, slaying and offering their sacrifices; and the great court, where all the Israelites stood and worshipped, 2 Chronicles 4:9. So this may describe the worshippers of God in common, who should praise him: and happy are they that have a place here; see Psalm 84:1.

Geneva Study Bible

Ye that {a} stand in the house of the LORD, in the {b} courts of the house of our God,

(a) You Levites who are in his sanctuary.

(b) Meaning, the people: for the people and Levites had their courts, which were separate places of the temple.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. Ye that stand &c.] As in Psalm 134:1, those who minister in the Temple and its precincts are summoned to praise. It is less natural to suppose that the first line refers to the priests and Levites, and the second line (ye that stand being supplied) to the worshippers in the outer court.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - Ye that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God. The "servants" are not here the priests and Levites only, as in Psalm 134:1; but the priests, the Levites, and the people - all those who throng the "courts" of the temple (comp. vers. 19, 20). Psalm 135:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The beginning is taken from Psalm 134:1; Psalm 135:2 recalls Psalm 116:19 (cf. Psalm 92:14); and Psalm 135:4 is an echo of Deuteronomy 7:6. The servants of Jahve to whom the summons is addressed, are not, as in Psalm 134:1., His official servants in particular, but according to Psalm 135:2, where the courts, in the plural, are allotted to them as their standing-place, and according to Psalm 135:19-20, those who fear Him as a body. The threefold Jahve at the beginning is then repeated in Jāh (הללוּ־יהּ, cf. note 1 to PsPsa 104:35), Jahve, and Jāh. The subject of כּי נעים is by no means Jahve (Hupfeld), whom they did not dare to call נעים in the Old Testament, but either the Name, according to Psalm 54:8 (Luther, Hitzig), or, which is favoured by Psalm 147:1 (cf. Proverbs 22:18), the praising of His Name (Appolinaris: ἐπεὶ τόδε καλὸν ἀείδειν): His Name to praise is a delightful employ, which is incumbent on Israel as the people of His choice and of His possession.