Psalm 134 is the last of the Songs of Ascents and a prayer for the night: “Behold now bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord: Who stand in the house of the Lord… In the nights lift up your hands to the holy places, and bless ye the Lord.” It ends with a blessing: “May the Lord out of Sion bless thee, he that made heaven and earth.” In the Douay-Rheims it is numbered Psalm 133. Below is the full Catholic text, what the psalm means, how the Church uses it, and a prayer.
Psalm 134 in the Douay-Rheims Bible
Behold now bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord: Who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.
In the nights lift up your hands to the holy places, and bless ye the Lord.
May the Lord out of Sion bless thee, he that made heaven and earth.
Psalm 134 or Psalm 133?
The Douay-Rheims Bible follows the numbering of the Latin Vulgate and the Greek Septuagint, while most modern Bibles follow the Hebrew. So the Douay’s Psalm 133 is Psalm 134 in the New American Bible and other modern translations. In Latin the psalm begins Ecce nunc benedicite Dominum. See how many psalms are there?
The night watch of praise
In the Temple at Jerusalem, priests and Levites kept watch through the night, and this psalm may have been sung as pilgrims left at evening, urging those on duty to keep praising God until morning. It is the last of the fifteen Songs of Ascents (Psalms 120 to 134), which began with Psalm 121 and the journey up to Jerusalem.
The Church has made this psalm part of her own night watch. Monks and nuns rise in the night to pray, and every evening the whole Church closes the day with Night Prayer, entrusting the darkness to God. Even those who cannot pray during the night can lift up their hearts before sleep and ask God’s blessing on the hours of rest. See Catholic night prayers.
How to pray Psalm 134 at night
- Before sleep, read it slowly and lift up your hands or your heart to God.
- For those who work at night: nurses, doctors, police, soldiers, parents with small children.
- For the sleepless, as a way to turn wakeful hours into praise.
- As a family blessing, saying the last verse over one another: “May the Lord out of Sion bless thee.”
What the psalm means
- Servants of the Lord: those who serve God in his house are called to bless him.
- Praise in the night: even in darkness we lift up our hands to God.
- Blessing returned: we bless God, and he blesses us from Sion.
- The Creator’s blessing: “he that made heaven and earth.”
How the Church uses Psalm 134
- At Night Prayer (Compline) on Saturday evening, with Psalm 4. See Compline.
- The last of the Songs of Ascents, the pilgrim psalms.
A prayer with Psalm 134
Written for this page:
I bless you, Lord, as night falls.
I lift up my hands to you in your holy place.
Watch over all who work, wait or weep through the night.
May the Lord, who made heaven and earth, bless us from Sion. Amen.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Psalm 134 a night psalm?
It calls the servants of the Lord to bless him “in the nights,” and the Church prays it at Night Prayer.
What are the Songs of Ascents?
Psalms 120 to 134 (119 to 133 in the Douay-Rheims), sung by pilgrims going up to Jerusalem.
More psalms and prayers
- Psalm 120 (the first Song of Ascents)
- Psalm 4
- Psalm 91
- Compline (Night Prayer)
- Catholic night prayers
- How many psalms are there?
Texts and sources
- Scripture: Psalm 133 (134), Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner), public domain.
- The prayer was written for this page.