7 He causeth the vapours H5387 to ascend H5927 from the ends H7097 of the earth; H776 he maketh H6213 lightnings H1300 for the rain; H4306 he bringeth H3318 the wind H7307 out of his treasuries. H214
When he uttereth H5414 his voice, H6963 there is a multitude H1995 of waters H4325 in the heavens, H8064 and he causeth the vapours H5387 to ascend H5927 from the ends H7097 of the earth; H776 he maketh H6213 lightnings H1300 with rain, H4306 and bringeth forth H3318 the wind H7307 out of his treasures. H214
When he uttereth H5414 his voice, H6963 there is a multitude H1995 of waters H4325 in the heavens; H8064 and he causeth the vapours H5387 to ascend H5927 from the ends H7097 of the earth: H776 he maketh H6213 lightnings H1300 with rain, H4306 and bringeth forth H3318 the wind H7307 out of his treasures. H214
To make H6213 the weight H4948 for the winds; H7307 and he weigheth H8505 the waters H4325 by measure. H4060 When he made H6213 a decree H2706 for the rain, H4306 and a way H1870 for the lightning H2385 of the thunder: H6963
Fire, H784 and hail; H1259 snow, H7950 and vapour; H7008 stormy H5591 wind H7307 fulfilling H6213 his word: H1697
And every plant H7880 of the field H7704 before H2962 it was in the earth, H776 and every herb H6212 of the field H7704 before H2962 it grew: H6779 for H3588 the LORD H3068 God H430 had not H3808 caused it to rain H4305 upon the earth, H776 and there was not H369 a man H120 to till H5647 the ground. H127 But there went up H5927 a mist H108 from H4480 the earth, H776 and watered H8248 the whole face H6440 of the ground. H127
And it came to pass after many H7227 days, H3117 that the word H1697 of the LORD H3068 came to Elijah H452 in the third H7992 year, H8141 saying, H559 Go, H3212 shew H7200 thyself unto Ahab; H256 and I will send H5414 rain H4306 upon H6440 the earth. H127
And Elijah H452 said H559 unto Ahab, H256 Get thee up, H5927 eat H398 and drink; H8354 for there is a sound H6963 of abundance H1995 of rain. H1653 So Ahab H256 went up H5927 to eat H398 and to drink. H8354 And Elijah H452 went up H5927 to the top H7218 of Carmel; H3760 and he cast himself down H1457 upon the earth, H776 and put H7760 his face H6440 between his knees, H1290 And said H559 to his servant, H5288 Go up H5927 now, look H5027 toward H1870 the sea. H3220 And he went up, H5927 and looked, H5027 and said, H559 There is nothing. H3972 And he said, H559 Go again H7725 seven H7651 times. H6471 And it came to pass at the seventh time, H7637 that he said, H559 Behold, there ariseth H5927 a little H6996 cloud H5645 out of the sea, H3220 like a man's H376 hand. H3709 And he said, H559 Go up, H5927 say H559 unto Ahab, H256 Prepare H631 thy chariot, and get thee down, H3381 that the rain H1653 stop H6113 thee not. And it came to pass in the mean while, H3541 that the heaven H8064 was black H6937 with clouds H5645 and wind, H7307 and there was a great H1419 rain. H1653 And Ahab H256 rode, H7392 and went H3212 to Jezreel. H3157
Hast thou entered H935 into the treasures H214 of the snow? H7950 or hast thou seen H7200 the treasures H214 of the hail, H1259 Which I have reserved H2820 against the time H6256 of trouble, H6862 against the day H3117 of battle H7128 and war? H4421 By what H335 way H1870 is the light H216 parted, H2505 which scattereth H6327 the east wind H6921 upon the earth? H776 Who hath divided H6385 a watercourse H8585 for the overflowing of waters, H7858 or a way H1870 for the lightning H2385 of thunder; H6963 To cause it to rain H4305 on the earth, H776 where no man H376 is; on the wilderness, H4057 wherein there is no man; H120 To satisfy H7646 the desolate H7722 and waste H4875 ground; and to cause the bud H4161 of the tender herb H1877 to spring forth? H6779 Hath H3426 the rain H4306 a father? H1 or who hath begotten H3205 the drops H96 of dew? H2919
For he commandeth, H559 and raiseth H5975 the stormy H5591 wind, H7307 which lifteth up H7311 the waves H1530 thereof.
But the LORD H3068 sent out H2904 a great H1419 wind H7307 into the sea, H3220 and there was a mighty H1419 tempest H5591 in the sea, H3220 so that the ship H591 was like H2803 to be broken. H7665
The wind G4151 bloweth G4154 where G3699 it listeth, G2309 and G2532 thou hearest G191 the sound G5456 thereof, G846 but G235 canst G1492 not G3756 tell G1492 whence G4159 it cometh, G2064 and G2532 whither G4226 it goeth: G5217 so G3779 is G2076 every one G3956 that is born G1080 of G1537 the Spirit. G4151
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 135
Commentary on Psalms 135 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Four-Voiced Hallelujah to the God of Israel, the God of Gods
Psalms 135 is here and there (vid., Tפsefפth Pesachim 117 a ) taken together with Psalms 134:1-3 as one Psalm. The combining of Ps 115 with Psalms 114:1-8 is a misapprehension caused by the inscriptionless character of Ps 115, whereas Ps 135 and Psalms 134:1-3 certainly stand in connection with one another. For the Hallelujah Psalms 135 is, as the mutual relation between the beginning and close of Psalms 134:1-3 shows, a Psalm-song expanded out of this shorter hymn, that is in part drawn from Ps 115.
It is a Psalm in the mosaic style. Even the Latin poet Lucilius transfers the figure of mosaic-work to style, when he says: quam lepide lexeis compostae ut tesserulae omnes ... In the case of Psalms 135 it is not the first time that we have met with this kind of style. We have already had a glimpse of it in Psalms 97:1-12 and Psalms 98:1-9. These Psalms were composed more especially of deutero-Isaianic passages, whereas Psalms 135 takes its tesserulae out of the Law, Prophets, and Psalms.
The beginning is taken from Psalms 134:1; Psalms 135:2 recalls Psalms 116:19 (cf. Psalms 92:14); and Psalms 135:4 is an echo of Deuteronomy 7:6. The servants of Jahve to whom the summons is addressed, are not, as in Psalms 134:1., His official servants in particular, but according to Psalms 135:2 , where the courts, in the plural, are allotted to them as their standing-place, and according to Psalms 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 PsPsalms 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 Ps 54:8 (Luther, Hitzig), or, which is favoured by Psalms 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.
The praise itself now begins. כּי in Psalms 135:4 set forth the ground of the pleasant duty, and the כי that begins this strophe confirms that which warrants the summons out of the riches of the material existing for such a hymn of praise. Worthy is He to be praised, for Israel knows full well that He who hath chosen it is the God of gods. The beginning is taken from Psalms 115:3, and Psalms 135:7 from Jeremiah 10:13 (Psalms 51:16). Heaven, earth, and water are the three kingdoms of created things, as in Exodus 20:4. נשׂיא signifies that which is lifted up, ascended; here, as in Jeremiah, a cloud. The meaning of בּרקים למּטר עשׂה is not: He makes lightnings into rain, i.e., resolves them as it were into rain, which is unnatural; but either according to Zechariah 10:1 : He produces lightnings in behalf of rain, in order that the rain may pour down in consequence of the thunder and lightning, or poetically: He makes lightnings for the rain, so that the rain is announced (Apollinaris) and accompanied by them. Instead of מוצא (cf. Psalms 78:16; Psalms 105:43), which does not admit of the retreating of the tone, the expression is מוצא , the ground-form of the part. Hiph . for plurals like מחצרים , מחלמים , מעזרים , perhaps not without being influenced by the ויּוצא in Jeremiah, for it is not מוצא from מצא that signifies “producing,” but מוציא = מפיק . The metaphor of the treasuries is like Job 38:22. What is intended is the fulness of divine power, in which lie the grounds of the origin and the impulses of all things in nature.
Worthy is He to be praised, for He is the Redeemer out of Egypt. בּתוככי as in Psalms 116:19, cf. Psalms 105:27.
Worthy is He to be praised, for He is the Conqueror of the Land of Promise. in connection with Psalms 135:10 one is reminded of Deuteronomy 4:38; Deuteronomy 7:1; Deuteronomy 9:1; Deuteronomy 11:23; Joshua 23:9. גּוים רבּים are here not many, but great peoples (cf. גּדלים in Psalms 136:17), since the parallel word עצוּמים is by no means intended of a powerful number, but of powerful might (cf. Isaiah 53:12). As to the rest also, the poet follows the Book of Deuteronomy: viz., לכל ממלכות as in Deuteronomy 3:21, and נתן נחלה as in Deuteronomy 4:38 and other passages. It is all Deuteronomic with the exception of the שׁ , and the ל e in Psalms 135:11 as the nota accus . (as in Psalms 136:19., cf. Psalms 69:6; Psalms 116:16; Psalms 129:3); the construction of הרג is just as Aramaizing in Job 5:2; 2 Samuel 3:30 (where 2 Samuel 3:30-31, like 2 Samuel 3:36-37, are a later explanatory addition). The הרג alternating with הכּה is, next to the two kings, also referred to the kingdoms of Canaan, viz., their inhabitants. Og was also an Amoritish king, Deuteronomy 3:8.
This God who rules so praiseworthily in the universe and in the history of Israel is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. Just as Psalms 135:13 (cf. Psalms 102:13) is taken from Exodus 3:15, so Psalms 135:14 is taken from Deuteronomy 32:36, cf. Psalms 90:13, and vid., on Hebrews 10:30-31.
For the good of His proved church He ever proves Himself to be the Living God, whereas idols and idol-worshippers are vain - throughout following Psalms 115:4-8, but with some abridgments. Here only the אף used as a particle recalls what is said there of the organ of smell ( אף ) of the idols that smells not, just as the רוּח which is here (as in Jeremiah 10:14) denied to the idols recalls the הריח denied to them there. It is to be rendered: also there is not a being of breath, i.e., there is no breath at all, not a trace thereof, in their mouth. It is different in 1 Samuel 21:9, where אין ישׁ (not אין ) is meant to be equivalent to the Aramaic אין אית , num ( an ) est ; אין is North-Palestinian, and equivalent to the interrogatory אם (after which the Targum renders אלּוּ אית ).
A call to the praise of Jahve, who is exalted above the gods of the nations, addressed to Israel as a whole, rounds off the Psalm by recurring to its beginning. The threefold call in Psalms 115:9-11; Psalms 118:2-4, is rendered fourfold here by the introduction of the house of the Levites, and the wishing of a blessing in Psalms 134:3 is turned into an ascription of praise. Zion, whence Jahve's self-attestation, so rich in power and loving-kindness, is spread abroad, is also to be the place whence His glorious attestation by the mouth of men is spread abroad. History has realized this.