For the opening Praise the LORD, see 104.35. Verses 1b-2 are similar to 134.1; here is added a parallel line for the Temple as the courts of the house of our God (verse 2b). As in 134.1 it is impossible to say whether the servants of the LORD, you that stand in the house of the LORD (verses 1b-2a) are the officiating priests and Levites or the worshipers as such. Good News Translation here has taken it in the more general sense (so Anderson). Good News Translation, which did not use “you servants” in 134.1, uses that form here, thus providing a better model for many translations. Our God refers to the God of the priests and the Temple worshipers, and will have to be rendered in an inclusive form in languages which must make that kind of distinction, for it includes the worshipers being addressed. One may have to avoid the possessive pronoun and say instead “the God we (inclusive) worship.”

It is much more common for the vocative (the persons addressed) to be placed immediately before or after the command, or in the following line. Here it is placed in the third line and expanded in both lines of verse 2. In languages which must place the vocative first, some adjustments will be required. For example, “You servants of the LORD, praise the LORD….” In the same way it may be necessary to repeat the command to praise the LORD in verse 2; for example, “You who serve (or, worship) in the LORD’s Temple, praise the LORD.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .