Add parallel Print Page Options

A song to praise God

135 Hallelujah![a]
    Praise the name of the Lord!
Praise him, you servants of the Lord!
You serve the Lord in his temple.
    You serve him in the temple yards.
The Lord is good, so praise him!
His name is good and great,
    so praise him with songs!
The Lord chose Jacob's family for himself.
    Yes, he chose Israel's people to belong to him.[b]
I know that the Lord is great.
    Our Lord is greater than any other god.
He does whatever he decides to do.
He rules the sky and the earth,
    and the deepest parts of the sea.
The Lord causes clouds to rise up all over the earth.
He sends lightning with the storms of rain.
He sends out the wind from its place,
    so that it blows where he chooses.
God destroyed the firstborn sons in Egypt,
    both men and animals.[c]
He did great miracles in Egypt.
He warned Pharaoh and his officers
    that he would punish them.
10 He destroyed many nations
    and he killed powerful kings.
11 He killed Sihon, the king of the Amorites.
He killed Og, the king of Bashan,
    and all the other kings of Canaan.
12 He gave their land to his people, the Israelites.
    The land would belong to them and to their descendants.
13 Lord, people will always remember your name.
    You will always be famous.
14 The Lord shows that his people are right.
    He is kind to those who serve him.
15 Other nations make idols with silver and gold.
People worship things that they have made with their hands!
16 Their idols have mouths, but they cannot speak!
    They have eyes, but they cannot see!
17     They have ears, but they cannot hear!
They cannot even breathe!
18 The people who made them will become as they are.
Everyone who trusts in idols
    will become as useless as their idols are.[d]
19 Israel's family, praise the Lord!
Descendants of Aaron, praise the Lord!
20 Descendants of Levi, praise the Lord!
Everyone who serves the Lord, praise him!
21 Everyone in Zion should praise the Lord.
    He is the one who has his home in Jerusalem.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

Footnotes

  1. 135:1 ‘Hallelujah’ means ‘praise the Lord.’
  2. 135:4 God gave Jacob a new name, ‘Israel’. So Jacob's family and Israel's people are different ways to talk about God's special people.
  3. 135:8 Verses 8-12 remember how God brought his people out of Egypt and he took them to Canaan. God punished Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, because he would not let the Israelites go free. On the way to Canaan, God destroyed many kings and their people so that the Israelites could arrive in the land.
  4. 135:18 An idol is a false god. People made them from valuable metals, like silver and gold. But these idols cannot do anything! They are dead things. If people worship them, they also become dead.

135 Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the name of the Lord; praise him, O ye servants of the Lord.

Ye that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.

Praise the Lord; for the Lord is good: sing praises unto his name; for it is pleasant.

For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure.

For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods.

Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.

He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries.

Who smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast.

Who sent tokens and wonders into the midst of thee, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his servants.

10 Who smote great nations, and slew mighty kings;

11 Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan:

12 And gave their land for an heritage, an heritage unto Israel his people.

13 Thy name, O Lord, endureth for ever; and thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations.

14 For the Lord will judge his people, and he will repent himself concerning his servants.

15 The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

16 They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;

17 They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths.

18 They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them.

19 Bless the Lord, O house of Israel: bless the Lord, O house of Aaron:

20 Bless the Lord, O house of Levi: ye that fear the Lord, bless the Lord.

21 Blessed be the Lord out of Zion, which dwelleth at Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord.