Psalms 133:1
Behold now bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord: Who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.
Open Psalms 133:1 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Canticum graduum. Ecce nunc benedicite Dominum, omnes servi Domini : qui statis in domo Domini, in atriis domus Dei nostri.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ᾨδὴ τῶν ἀναβαθμῶν. Ἰδοὺ δὴ εὐλογεῖτε τὸν κύριον, πάντες οἱ δοῦλοι Κυρίου, οἱ ἑστῶτες ἐν αὐλαῖς οἴκου θεοῦ ἡμῶν·
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 134:1
- שִׁ֗יר הַֽמַּ֫עֲל֥וֹת הִנֵּ֤ה בָּרֲכ֣וּ אֶת יְ֭הוָה כָּל עַבְדֵ֣י יְהוָ֑ה הָעֹמְדִ֥ים בְּבֵית יְ֝הוָ֗ה בַּלֵּילֽוֹת
Haydock's commentary
Canticle. David composed it for the Levites going on duty, (Haydock) or Solomon for the dedication of the temple. The people might use it on the last day of the three great festivals; or the Levites are exhorted to watch carefully. They may excite each other, (ver. 2.; Calmet) as all Christians should do, 1 Peter ii. 9. (Berthier)
In the courts, &c., seems to be taken from Psalm cxxxiv. 2., (Calmet) as it is not in Hebrew. (St. Hilary)
The court of the people was divided for the men and women, and perhaps there was a separate place for the priests, and for the Levites, in the court of allotted to them, where the latter kept watch. (Calmet)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm CXXXIV
1. “Behold, now, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord” ( ver. 1 ), “who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God” ( ver. 2 ). Why has he added, “in the courts”? Courts mean the wider spaces of a house. He who stands in the courts is not straitened, is not confined, in some fashion is enlarged. Remain in this enlargement, and thou canst love thy enemy, because thou lovest not things in which an enemy could straiten thee. How canst thou be understood to stand in the courts? Stand in charity, and thou standest in the courts. Breadth lies in charity, straitness in hatred.
St Jerome Against Jovinianus, Book II
34. The whole account of the land of Judah and of the tribes is typical of the church in heaven. Let us read Joshua the son of Nun, or the concluding portions of Ezekiel, and we shall see that the historical division of the land as related by the one finds a counterpart in the spiritual and heavenly promises of the other. What is the meaning of the seven and eight steps in the description of the temple? or again, what significance attaches to the fact that in the Psalter, after being taught the mystic alphabet by theone hundred and eighteenth psalm we arrive by fifteen steps at the point where we can sing:“Behold, now bless the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord: ye who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.” Why didtwo tribes and a half dwell on the other side of Jordan, a district abounding in cattle, while the remaining nine tribes and a half either drov …
St Ambrose Epistle LXIII: To the Church at Vercellæ
44. Men sit when speaking against others, they stand when they praise the Lord, to whom it is said: “Behold now, praise the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, ye that stand in the house of the Lord.” He who sits, to speak of the bodily habit, is as it were loosened by ease, and relaxes the energy of his mind. But the careful watchman, the active searcher, the watchful guardian, who keeps the outposts of the camp, stands. The zealous warrior, too, who desires to anticipate the designs of the enemy, stands in array before he is expected.