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Psalm 133 · a question people ask

"For there the LORD gives the blessing" (133:3). Where is there?

In the text

The psalm doesn't name the place in that line. The nearest place it names is in the same verse: "the hills of Zion" (Psalm 133:3). Songs of Ascents near it speak of the LORD blessing from Zion: "May the LORD bless you out of Zion" (Psalm 128:5), and "May the LORD bless you from Zion, even he who made heaven and earth" (Psalm 134:3); and the psalm before it has Zion, blessing and there together: "For the LORD has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his habitation" (Psalm 132:13), "I will abundantly bless her provision" (Psalm 132:15), and "I will make the horn of David to bud there" (Psalm 132:17), where there is sham, the word of Psalm 133:3. Psalm 133 doesn't point back to Psalm 132, and these notes don't read either psalm by the other. But the psalm opens with "brothers to live together in unity" (Psalm 133:1), and its oil and dew are each given as what that is like (Psalm 133:2-3), so there can also be read as wherever brothers live together in unity. The psalm doesn't say which, and these notes don't choose.

The verses

“A Song of Ascents. By David. See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, that ran down on the beard, even Aaron’s beard, that came down on the edge of his robes, like the dew of Hermon, that comes down on the hills of Zion; for there the LORD gives the blessing, even life forever more.”
Psalm 133:1-3 · World English Bible
“May the LORD bless you out of Zion, and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life.”
Psalm 128:5 · World English Bible
“For the LORD has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his habitation. “This is my resting place forever. I will live here, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation. Her saints will shout aloud for joy. I will make the horn of David to bud there. I have ordained a lamp for my anointed.”
Psalm 132:13-17 · World English Bible
“May the LORD bless you from Zion, even he who made heaven and earth.”
Psalm 134:3 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 133

Psalm 133: How good and how pleasant

Both of Psalm 133's pictures come down: the oil ran down Aaron's beard and came down on his robes, and Hermon's dew comes down on Zion, one Hebrew verb three times (133:2-3). Its precious oil is, in Hebrew, the good oil of "how good" (133:1-2), and its brothers living together share their Hebrew words with only one other verse: "If brothers dwell together" (Deuteronomy 25:5).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions