Today’s Passage: Psalm 135
This psalm and Psalm 115, already covered earlier in this series, are close companions, sharing entire lines almost word for word. This version adds something the other did not: a specific sweep through Israel’s own history.
As you read, hold this: watch for the sections that repeat Psalm 115 nearly exactly, and pay closer attention to the parts that do not, the historical memory this psalm adds that its companion never included.
Psalm 135:1-4 (BSB)
Hallelujah! ¹ Praise the name of the LORD. Give praise, O servants of the LORD, ² who stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God. ³ Hallelujah, for the LORD is good; sing praises to His name, for it is lovely. ⁴ For the LORD has chosen Jacob as His own, Israel as His treasured possession.
The psalm opens inside the temple itself, addressed specifically to those who “stand in the house of the LORD,” priests and worshipers physically present in that space.
Psalm 135:5-12 (BSB)
⁵ For I know that the LORD is great; our Lord is above all gods. ⁶ The LORD does all that pleases Him in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and in all their depths. ⁷ He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses. ⁸ He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, of both man and beast. ⁹ He sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants. ¹⁰ He struck down many nations and slaughtered mighty kings: ¹¹ Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kings of Canaan. ¹² He gave their land as an inheritance, as a heritage to His people Israel.
This is the section that sets this psalm apart from its companion, a specific historical sweep from creation’s weather patterns, through the Exodus plagues, to the conquest of named kings, Sihon, Og, and the kings of Canaan.
Context Sihon and Og
Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, were two kings east of the Jordan whose territory blocked Israel’s approach to the Promised Land. Both refused Israel safe passage and attacked first, and both were decisively defeated (Numbers 21:21-35), becoming Israel’s first real military victories after forty years of wilderness wandering. Naming them here, generations later, keeps a specific, remembered history alive rather than letting it fade into vague generalities about “God’s help.”
Psalm 135:13-14 (BSB)
¹³ Your name, O LORD, endures forever, Your renown, O LORD, through all generations. ¹⁴ For the LORD will vindicate His people and will have compassion on His servants.
Word study Vindicate — din (Psalm 135:14)
“Vindicate” translates יָדִין (din, dah-DEEN) — Strong's H1777, din, “to judge, to plead a cause, to vindicate.” The verse holds two things together that might seem to pull apart: God as judge, and God moved by compassion for His servants. Here they are the same action, judgment exercised on behalf of His own people, not against them.
Study notes The same line, quoted as a warning
This exact phrase, “the LORD will judge His people,” appears again centuries later, quoted in the New Testament, though put to a very different use.
"For we know Him who said, 'Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,' and again, 'The Lord will judge His people.'" Hebrews 10:30 (BSB)
Where this psalm uses the line as comfort, God vindicating His own, Hebrews uses the same words as a sober warning to believers tempted to drift back into deliberate sin. The same God who judges on behalf of His people will also hold His own people accountable.
Psalm 135:15-18 (BSB)
¹⁵ The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. ¹⁶ They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; ¹⁷ they have ears, but cannot hear; nor is there breath in their mouths. ¹⁸ Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.
This passage repeats, almost verbatim, the same warning this series already met in Psalm 115: whatever a person trusts, they eventually resemble.
Psalm 135:19-21 (BSB)
¹⁹ O house of Israel, bless the LORD; O house of Aaron, bless the LORD; ²⁰ O house of Levi, bless the LORD; you who fear the LORD, bless the LORD! ²¹ Blessed be the LORD from Zion—He who dwells in Jerusalem. Hallelujah!
The closing call to bless the LORD widens slightly beyond Psalm 115’s version, adding the house of Levi to the list, before landing specifically on Zion, the place this whole psalm has been sung from.
Personal Application
- This psalm’s central section, unique to it, recalls specific named victories, Sihon, Og, the kings of Canaan. Can you name specific victories God has given in your own life, as concretely as this psalm names them?
- Verse 14 holds together God’s role as judge and His compassion for His people. Do you tend to picture God more as a judge to fear or a compassionate protector, and how does this verse hold both together?
Decision of the day: Name at least one specific, historical victory God has given you, as concretely as this psalm names Sihon and Og, and thank Him for it by name today.
Pray to Close
The truth to carry from this psalm: the same LORD whose name endures forever is the God who vindicates and has compassion on His own people, judgment and mercy held together, not in tension.
Praise: for the LORD whose name endures forever, from generation to generation.
Confess: any trust misplaced in things that, like idols, cannot ultimately hear or answer.
Ask: for the same compassionate vindication this psalm promises God’s own people.
Worship for Today
Forever (We Sing Hallelujah) · Kari Jobe & Cody Carnes
This song’s refrain, that God’s love endures forever, His powerful hand still leading His people through, echoes this psalm’s own historical memory and its confident claim: “Your name, O LORD, endures forever.”
Listen: