Go to Related Reading
About this book

Psalms

About this book
Psalm 135

1 Praise the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. Offer praise, you servants of the Lord, 2 who serve in the Lord’s temple, in the courts of the temple of our God. 3 Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good. Sing praises to his name, for it is pleasant. 4 Indeed, the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel to be his special possession.⁠ 5 Yes, I know the Lord is great, and our Lord is superior to all gods. 6 He does whatever he pleases in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the ocean depths. 7 He causes the clouds to arise from the end of the earth, makes lightning bolts accompany the rain, and brings the wind out of his storehouses.⁠ 8 He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, including both men and animals. 9 He performed awesome deeds and acts of judgment in your midst, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants. 10 He defeated many nations, and killed mighty kings— 11 Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan. 12 He gave their land as an inheritance, as an inheritance to Israel his people. 13 O Lord, your name endures, your reputation, O Lord, lasts.⁠ 14 For the Lord vindicates his people and has compassion on his servants.⁠ 15 The nations’ idols are made of silver and gold; they are man-made.⁠ 16 They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see, 17 and ears, but cannot hear. Indeed, they cannot breathe. 18 Those who make them will end up like them, as will everyone who trusts in them. 19 O family of Israel, praise the Lord. O family of Aaron, praise the Lord. 20 O family of Levi, praise the Lord. You loyal followers of the Lord, praise the Lord. 21 The Lord deserves praise in Zion—he who dwells in Jerusalem. Praise the Lord.

Texts in conversation

Compare Exodus 3:15 and Psalm 135:13

Hebrew Bible

Share:

Summary

Exodus 3 presents the divine name as a memorial remembered across generations, reflecting an ancient Near Eastern concern for honor and reputation, even for God. Psalm 135 echoes this by praising the divine name as enduring and passed down through time.

Passages

Exodus 3:15

Hebrew Bible
13 Moses said to God, “If I go to the Israelites and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’—what should I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I AM that I AM.” And he said, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘The Lord—the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.’ 16 “Go and bring together the elders of Israel and tell them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, appeared to me—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—saying, “I have attended carefully to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt, 17 and I have promised that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

Psalm 135:13

Hebrew Bible
11 Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan. 12 He gave their land as an inheritance, as an inheritance to Israel his people. 13 O Lord, your name endures, your reputation, O Lord, lasts. 14 For the Lord vindicates his people and has compassion on his servants. 15 The nations’ idols are made of silver and gold; they are man-made.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

"... Native idioms about name perpetuity may have also influenced Exodus 3:15. This is not unusual in view of what we have seen throughout the analysis of the Covenant Code [which] takes a motif from the Laws of Hammurabi and actualizes it with its own native phrasing, a necessity when moving from one language to another. Nevertheless, other cases of the combined use of the root, the noun “name,” and the adverbial “from generation to generation” in the Bible are not necessarily prior to Exodus 3:15. Therefore, it is difficult to specify the degree of native influence. The wording of Psalm 135:13 is close to that of Exodus 3:15: “Yahweh, your name is eternal, Yahweh, your designation is from generation to generation”. This is a late hymn that includes a recounting of events around the time of the Exodus and may actually draw on motifs known from the narrative of which Exodus 3:15 is part ..."
David P. Wright, Inventing God’s Law: How the Covenant Code of the Bible Used and Revised the Laws of Hammurabi (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 494.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Your feedback

Exodus 3:15 and Psalm 135:13

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library