Psalm 135
Thank God, not idols
Thanks for choosing Israel
1 Let’s hear it: Praise the LORD.[1]Praise the LORD and call him by name.
Thank him. Everyone who serves the LORD,
2 Who ministers at the LORD’s Temple,
And who stands in the courtyards of God’s house.
3 The LORD is good,
So thank him for it.
Call him out by name
Because his name is beautiful.[2]
4 The LORD chose Jacob
As his own.
And the LORD chose Israel
As a personal possession.
No idol compares to God
5 I know the LORD is supreme,Greater than any idol.
6 The LORD does whatever he wants,
Wherever he wants to do it:
In the heavens,
On the earth,
In the oceans, to the bottom of the seas.
7 On his command, clouds rise
At the ends of the earth,
Rain streams through flashes of lightning,
And wind rushes out of his storage vaults.
8 He killed the firstborn in each Egyptian family,
Human and animal alike.
9 He sent messages and miracles to Egypt,
To the Pharaoh king and his officials.
10 He ended many nations
And killed many strong kings.
11 He killed the Amorite king, Sihon,[3]
Bashan’s king, Og.
And he ended every kingdom in Canaan.[4]
12 The LORD gave all this land to Israel
As an inheritance gift for his people.
13 The LORD’s name has no expiration date.
People will talk about you, LORD,
As long as there are people to talk,
Through all the generations.
14 The LORD fights for his people,
And has compassion for them.
Idols are just melted minerals
15 Idols that other countries worshipAre just minerals of silver and gold,
Melted and shaped by human hands.
16 Idols have mouths that can’t talk,
Eyes that can’t see,
17 And ears that can’t hear.
Their mouths don’t have a wisp of a breath.
18 Artisans who make idols
Will become as lifeless as the idols.
So will everyone who worships idols.
Israel, praise God
19 Everyone in the family of Israel,Praise the LORD.
Family of priests descended from Aaron,
Praise the LORD.
20 Family of worship leaders descended from Levi,
Praise the LORD.
Everyone who reveres the LORD,
Praise the LORD.
21 The LORD of Zion[5]
Who lives in Jerusalem
Deserves our praise.
So, praise the LORD.
Notes
More accurately, “Hallelujah.” This is a Hebrew word often translated as “praise the LORD” or “thank the LORD.” Hebrew was the original language in which the Old Testament—the sacred Jewish scripture—was written.
The LORD’s name isn’t beautiful because of how it sounds. It’s beautiful because of who it represents. Scholars aren’t sure how it sounds. They don’t have the necessary vowels. “LORD” in all capital letters is the spelling most Bibles use when the writer refers to the name of God. Moses asked God what his name was, and God said Moses should tell the Israelite ancestors of the Jews that his name is “I AM” (Exodus 3:14). In the original Hebrew language, the name is spelled with only consonants—no vowels. It’s an ancient shorthand, to save hides used to make scrolls. The name is YHWH. Without knowing which vowels, most scholars have settled on YAHWEH, pronounced YAH-way.
Sihon and Og were two Amorite kings in what is now the Arab country of Jordan, east of Israel and the Jordan River. They refused to let Moses and the Hebrew ancestors of the Jewish people to peacefully pass through their territory. These refugees from Egyptian slavery were on their way to the land Moses said God promised them, in what is now Israel and Israeli-occupied Palestinian Territory.
Canaan was the ancient name for what is today roughly the same territory as Israel and the Palestinian Territories, which includes Gaza and the Occupied West Bank.
“Zion” is a term of endearment, and another name for Jerusalem. It’s a bit like “The Big Apple” for New York City, “The City of Love” for Paris.
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