Psalm 135:3

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

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) Sing praises.—Rather, play.

For it is pleasant—i.e., thus to sing hallelujah. (See Psalm 147:1; Proverbs 22:18. Others take name as the subject, and the Prayer-Book version suggested to Crashaw the beautiful hymn beginning “Come lovely name,” &c.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

135:1-4 The subject-matter of praise, is the blessings of grace flowing from the everlasting love of God. The name of God as a covenant God and Father in Christ, blessing us with all spiritual blessings in him, is to be loved and praised. The Lord chose a people to himself, that they might be unto him for a name and a praise. If they do not praise him for this distinguishing favour, they are the most unworthy and ungrateful of all people.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good - See Psalm 107:1.

Sing praises unto his name, for it is pleasant - See Psalm 33:1; Psalm 92:1. The idea here is, that it is a source of happiness, and that it is proper in itself.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

PSALM 135

Ps 135:1-21. A Psalm of praise, in which God's relations to His Church, His power in the natural world, and in delivering His people, are contrasted with the vanity of idols and idol-worship.

1-3. In the general call for praise, the priests, that stand in the house of the Lord, are specially mentioned.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Is good; bountiful and gracious, especially to you, and therefore he justly expects and deserves your praises.

Is pleasant; the work itself of singing praises to God is pleasant, as it is more fully expressed, Psalm 147:1.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Praise ye the Lord, for the Lord is good,.... Essentially and communicatively; he is good, and he does good, in a providential way, to all men; and in a way of special grace to his own people; for whom he has laid up and to whom he has promised good things, and on whom he bestows them; as pardon, righteousness, and eternal life; both grace and glory; and therefore they should praise him;

sing praises unto his name, for it is pleasant; either the work of singing praise is pleasant, being the employment of angels and glorified saints; the subject matter of it delightful, the blessings of grace flowing from the everlasting love of God it leads unto, which is excellent and better than life; and it must be pleasant work to a saint, because it is pleasing to God; and especially when the presence of God is enjoyed in it, and melody is made in the heart as well as with the mouth. Or the sense is, "his name is pleasant"; so Aben Ezra and Kimchi interpret it: for though it is holy and reverend in itself, and fearful and terrible to sinners; yet as it is proclaimed in Christ, it is exceeding delightful, and in whom all the perfections of God are glorified; particularly the name of God, as a covenant God and Father in Christ, blessing, with all spiritual blessings in him, is exceeding pleasant; as are all the names of Christ, and therefore to be praised.

Geneva Study Bible

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

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. for it is pleasant] Either ‘His name is lovely,’ or ‘it is pleasant to sing praise.’ Cp. Psalm 147:1.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - Praise the Lord; for the Lord is good (comp. Psalm 86:5; Psalm 119:68). Sing praises unto his Name; for it is pleasant; or, "lovely" (comp. Psalm 52:9; Psalm 54:6). Psalm 135:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The beginning is taken from Psalm 134:1; Psalm 135:2 recalls Psalm 116:19 (cf. Psalm 92:14); and Psalm 135:4 is an echo of Deuteronomy 7:6. The servants of Jahve to whom the summons is addressed, are not, as in Psalm 134:1., His official servants in particular, but according to Psalm 135:2, where the courts, in the plural, are allotted to them as their standing-place, and according to Psalm 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 PsPsa 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 Psalm 54:8 (Luther, Hitzig), or, which is favoured by Psalm 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.