In the time of Jesus (Yeshua), the "evening" sacrifice in the Temple was actually performed in the late afternoon, at about 3 pm. But earlier, in the time of the Old Testament (the Tanakh), it was still performed "between the evenings" (after sunset but before nightfall; Num. 28:4; for other evidence of an evening service, see Psa. 92:2,3; 1 Chron. 9:33, 23:30). The focus of the evening sacrifice, as with the morning sacrifice, was the time of prayer after the lamb had been slaughtered (Acts 3:1). This is when a priest entered the Holy Place (the Sanctuary) of the Temple to offer up incense at the golden altar of incense. Meanwhile worshippers stood outside in one of the courts or prostrated themselves (kneeling down with face to the ground) to pray. This time of prayer, lasting about half an hour, was followed by the priestly blessing (Num. 6:24-26). The blessing was spoken from the stairs of the Holy Place by the same priest that offered the incense. This sequence of prayer followed by priestly blessing is reflected in the psalm itself (see notes below).

Click purple box to go to historical notes.

Look!
      [pause]

^[1]  Bless^# YAHUEH
    All you^# servants of YAHUEH
    Who stand in the House of
YAHUEH
      At night.
      [pause]

^[2]  Lift your^# hands of holiness
    And bless YAHUEH.
    May YAHUEH bless you* from Zion,
      The maker of heavens and earth.

Like many songs today, the Psalms were poetry put to music. But unlike Western poetry, Hebrew poetry is based on parallel thoughts set beside one another. These parallels can be a restatement of the same idea (synonymous parallelism), present opposing ideas (antithetic parallelism), or be in some other relationship, such as chiasm (A-B; B-A). These parallels are then grouped in sections (strophes) that are arranged to give structure and meaning to the poem.

This Psalm is made up of only two strophes [sections]. In the original Hebrew, it has a two beat (two major accent) rhythm in five of its first six lines (or half-lines as they are printed in the Hebrew text).

The song begins with the interjection, “Look!” (or "behold"). This is outside its poetic structure, as is indicated in the Hebrew text by a vertical line separating it from the rest of the psalm. This may have been to focus the attention of those singing, as with the words “Hallelu Yah” at the beginning of Psalm 135.

The first strophe (which has the pattern A-B; B-C) is an exhortation to those attending the evening worship in the Temple, that they should bless God in their time of prayer (see historical notes). The short lines of the psalm give added emphasis to the repetition of the name of God (Yahueh), making it an essential element of the Psalm. “Servants of Yahueh” is a parallel to those "who stand [for worship] in the House of Yahueh.” The fourth line of this strophe, “In the night,” breaks the rhythmic pattern, which creates a pause.

The second strophe (which also has the pattern A-B; B-C) expands on the idea of standing to bless God by including the action of lifting up the hands for this blessing. Standing with hands raised was a standard position of prayer in the Biblical period (see historical notes). It was also used for pronouncing a blessing, as is still done today in the priestly blessing. This priestly blessing, by which God blessed the people, is alluded to in the last two lines. The parallel thought in the two halves of this strophe is pronouncing a blessing: in the first half by the worshippers, in the second half by the speaker.

The contrast between these two distinct yet parallel blessings is made by changing the personal pronoun from the plural in the first two lines of this strophe to the singular in the last two lines (as in the priestly blessing of Num. 6:24-26). This is accompanied by a shift in the rhythmic pattern from two to three beats (three major accents) in the last two lines.

This distinction between the two types of blessing indicates a change from exhortation in the first half of the strophe to blessing in the second half. In this way, the speaker shows his enthusiatic support for those who participate in the Temple's evening service.