Praise you the LORD. Praise you the name of the LORD; praise him, O you servants of the LORD.
Read Chapter 135
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
1. Very pleasant ought it be to us, and we should rejoice because it is pleasant, to which this Psalm exhorteth us. For it says, "Praise the name of the Lord" (ver. 1). And it forthwith appends the reason, why it is just to praise the name of the Lord. "Praise the Lord, ye servants." What more just? what more worthy? what more thankful? ...For if He teaches His own servants who have deserved well of Him, the preachers of His Word, the rulers of His Church, the worshippers of His name, the obeyers of His command, that in their own conscience they should possess the sweetness of their life, lest they be corrupted by the praise or disheartened by the reproach of men; how much the more is He above all, the unchangeable One, who teacheth these things, neither the greater if thou praisest, or the less if thou reproachest. ...For ye will do nothing out of place, by praising your Lord, as servants. And if ye were to be for ever only servants, ye ought to praise the Lord; how much more ought ye...
Alleluia. The psalm turns on God's praises, and might be composed by David, after he had settled the order of the Levites, though it may suit all people. (Berthier)
The latter part agrees with Psalm cxiii., and Jeremias x., which might lead us to conclude that it was composed after the captivity, perhaps for the dedication of the second temple. The next psalm is a repetition of this, with the chorus interspersed. (Calmet)
