Psalms 135:20 Explained in Context

Selected verse

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

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Quick Meaning

Psalm 135:20: The summons “Bless the LORD, O house of Levi” draws listeners into the shared movement “Praise the sovereign LORD above idols and kings.”

Praise is aimed at a choosing God who does what he pleases, in temple and in weather

This verse is one part of that explanation in Psalms 135:1–21. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.

Read It With

Psalms 135:1–21

Read Psalms 135:20 with 135:1–21. Read alone, “Bless the LORD, O house of Levi” could lose the communal voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 135:1–21, the communal voice carries the movement “Praise the sovereign LORD above idols and kings” as part of “Praise the sovereign LORD above idols and kings.” Its hymn form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.

Why This Verse Appears Here

Psalms 135:1–21 opens Psalm 135 with “Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the name of the LORD; praise him, O ye servants of the…” and establishes the communal voice and “Praise the sovereign LORD above idols and kings” movement before later lines develop or answer it. Within that relationship, Psalm 135:20 summons praise or participation with “Bless the LORD, O house of Levi” as one part of the psalm's communal movement.

What Remains True

Because this verse serves “Praise the sovereign LORD above idols and kings,” its enduring claim is proportionate: Praise remembers concrete divine character and action, gathers many voices, and remains honest about grief rather than demanding one emotional performance. Psalm 135:20 summons praise or participation with “Bless the LORD, O house of Levi” as one part of the psalm's communal movement. The local movement is “Praise the sovereign LORD above idols and kings.” The unit's reviewed limit is: Exodus and conquest memories must not become antisemitic caricature, religious contempt, or modern conquest ideology.

How It Can Shape Life

Start with the line's work inside “Praise the sovereign LORD above idols and kings”—Psalm 135:20 summons praise or participation with “Bless the LORD, O house of Levi” as one part of the psalm's communal movement. Then join the praise around “Bless the LORD, O house of Levi” in a form your community can receive, while leaving honest space for silence, lament, and disability.

Continue in Context

Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.

Read Psalms 135:1–21 — Praise the sovereign LORD above idols and kings

Sources used for this Verse Lens

How certain is this explanation? strong

These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.

Exact location: Psalms 135:1–21, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus

Open source ↗

hebrew text and morphology

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms

Open Scriptures

Open Scriptures, release 2.2

Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.

Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 135:1–21

Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗

translation and translator notes

NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150

Biblical Studies Press

Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition

Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 135:1–21.

Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 135 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 135:1–21

Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗

Open the complete thought-unit research record