Psalms 134:1

Psalm 134 ¹ 

A song of ascents. ² 

134:1 Attention! ³  Praise the Lord,

all you servants of the Lord,

who serve ⁴  in the Lord’s temple during the night.

Psalms 135:2

135:2 who serve ⁵  in the Lord’s temple,

in the courts of the temple of our God.

Matthew 6:5

Private Prayer

6:5 “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues ⁶  and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.

Mark 11:25

11:25 Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will ⁷  also forgive you your sins.”

[134:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 134. The psalmist calls on the temple servants to praise God (vv. 1-2). They in turn pronounce a blessing on the psalmist (v. 3).

[134:1]  ² sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[134:1]  ³ tn Heb “Look!”

[134:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “stand.”

[135:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “stand.”

[6:5]  ⁶ sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23.

[11:25]  ⁷ tn Although the Greek subjunctive mood, formally required in a subordinate clause introduced by ἵνα ({ina), is traditionally translated by an English subjunctive (e.g., “may,” so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV), changes in the use of the subjunctive in English now result in most readers understanding such a statement as indicating permission (“may” = “has permission to”) or as indicating uncertainty (“may” = “might” or “may or may not”). Thus a number of more recent translations render such instances by an English future tense (“will,” so TEV, CEV, NLT, NASB 1995 update). That approach has been followed here.