Mazmur 34:1

Psalm 34 ¹ 

Written by David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, causing the king to send him away. ² 

34:1 I will praise ³  the Lord at all times;

my mouth will continually praise him. ⁴ 

Mazmur 103:21

103:21 Praise the Lord, all you warriors of his, ⁵ 

you servants of his who carry out his desires! ⁶ 

Mazmur 134:1

Psalm 134 ⁷ 

A song of ascents. ⁸ 

134:1 Attention! ⁹  Praise the Lord,

all you servants of the Lord,

who serve ¹⁰  in the Lord’s temple during the night.

[34:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 34. In this song of thanksgiving the psalmist praises God for delivering him from distress. He encourages others to be loyal to the Lord, tells them how to please God, and assures them that the Lord protects his servants. The psalm is an acrostic; vv. 1-21 begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. (Verse 6 begins with the letter he (ה) and v. 7 with the letter zayin (ז). The letter vav (ו), which comes between ה and ז, seems to be omitted, although it does appear at the beginning of v. 6b. The final verse of the psalm, which begins with the letter pe (פ), is outside the acrostic scheme.

[34:1]  ² tn Heb “By David, when he changed his sense before Abimelech and he drove him away and he went.”

[34:1]  sn Pretended to be insane. The psalm heading appears to refer to the account in 1 Sam 21:10-15 which tells how David, fearful that King Achish of Gath might kill him, pretended to be insane in hopes that the king would simply send him away. The psalm heading names the king Abimelech, not Achish, suggesting that the tradition is confused on this point. However, perhaps “Abimelech” was a royal title, rather than a proper name. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 278.

[34:1]  ³ tn Heb “bless.”

[34:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “continually [will] his praise [be] in my mouth.”

[103:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “all his hosts.”

[103:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “his attendants, doers of his desire.”

[134:1]  ⁷ sn Psalm 134. The psalmist calls on the temple servants to praise God (vv. 1-2). They in turn pronounce a blessing on the psalmist (v. 3).

[134:1]  ⁸ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[134:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “Look!”

[134:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “stand.”