Psalms 135:17

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

They have ears, but they can't hear; Neither is there any breath in their mouths.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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יַאֲזִ֑ינוּ

ʼâzan

H238

“to hear”

Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural

Appears 41× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 4:23

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 57

to hear, listen - (Hiphil) - to hear, listen, give ear - to be obedient, harken - to hear or listen to prayers (of God)

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

9: words
8: distinct lemmas
Wisdom: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

יַאֲזִ֑ינוּ to hear H238 occurs in 41 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

1 verb
3 nouns
1 preposition
4 particles

Verb forms

יַאֲזִ֑ינוּ Hiphil · Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 15 words from the Hebrew and 15 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the same length.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

You’re reading Greek Psalm 134 (Hebrew Psalm 135). The Septuagint counts the superscription, so verse numbers can differ from the Hebrew — chapter-level alignment, not verse-by-verse. Numbering follows Rahlfs.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Psalms 135:17 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

אָזְנַ֣יִם לָ֭הֶם וְלֹ֣א יַאֲזִ֑ינוּ אַ֝֗ף אֵין יֶשׁ ר֥וּחַ בְּפִיהֶֽם

They have ears, but they can't hear; Neither is there any breath in their mouths.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Greek Psalm 134:17 Septuagint · lemma form

οὖς ἔχω καί οὐ ἐνωτίζομαι ἔχω καί οὐ ὀσφραίνομαι χείρ ἔχω καί οὐ ψηλαφάω πούς ἔχω καί οὐ περιπατέω οὐ φωνέω ἐν ὁ λάρυγξ αὐτός οὐδέ γάρ εἰμί πνεῦμα ἐν ὁ στόμα αὐτός

they have ears, but they can’t hear; for there is no breath in their mouth.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Commentary

Notes on Psalms 135:17 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Psa 135:17 They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there [any] breath in their mouths.

Ver. 17. Neither is there any breath in their mouths] If they utter oracles, it was the devil in them, and by them. As for those statues of Daedalus which are said to have moved, spoken, and run away if they were not tied to a place, &c., it is either a fiction, or else to be attributed to causes external and artificial, as quicksilver, &c. (Aristot.; Diod.; Sic.; Plato).

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. A. Alexander on Psalms

Joseph Addison Alexander

17. (Psa 135:17) (There are) ears to them, and (yet) they hear not; likewise there is no breath in their mouth. See above, on Psa 115:6. This verse contains the most considerable variation of the passages. The second clause in both begins with the same Hebrew word; but in the one case it is a noun, meaning the nose, in the other an adverb, meaning likewise. This kind of variation, in which the form is retained but with a change of meaning, is perfectly agreeable to Hebrew usage.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 17. To this verse one of Kennicott's MSS. adds the 6th and 7th verses of Psalm cxv. Ps 115:6-7

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

John Gill's Exposition

They that make them are like unto them,.... Are as blind, stupid, and senseless as they; or "let them that make them", &c. (q); so some versions and interpreters; See Gill on Psa 115:8;

so is everyone that trusteth in them; alike ignorant and sottish: and so are all such that set up idols and lusts in their own hearts, and serve them; or trust to their own righteousness; even all unregenerate and self-righteous persons: they cannot speak a word for God and his grace, for Christ and his righteousness, for the Spirit of God, and his work upon their hearts, of all which they are ignorant; they are blind and have no sight and sense of their sin and misery, and of their need of Christ and his righteousness; they are deaf to his Gospel, and the charming voice of it; they are lifeless and breathless, are dead in trespasses and sins, and have no pantings and desires after spiritual things.

(q) So V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Sept. Syr. Arab. Ethiop.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Treasury of David

Charles H. Spurgeon

Ver. 17. They have ears, and very large ones, too, if we remember certain of the Hindu idols. But they hear not. Useless are their ears; in fact, they are mere counterfeits and deceits. Ears which men make are always deaf: the secret of hearing is wrapped up with the mystery of life, and both are in the unsearchable mind of the Lord. It seems that these heathen gods are dumb, and blind, and deafa pretty bundle of infirmities to be found in a deity! Neither is there any breath in their mouths; they are dead, no sign of life is perceptible; and breathing, which is of the essence of animal life, they never knew. Shall a man waste his breath in crying to an idol which has no breath? Shall life offer up petitions to death? Verily, this is a turning of things upside down.

Psalms 135:18*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

neither is there any breath in their mouth There is not even any breath in their mouth like an animal. Now, since they have no breath [in the mouth], he need not explain [that they do not have] the breath of the nose. This אף is vowelized with a “pattah,” whereas (115:6): “they have a nose (אף) but they do not smell,” is vowelized with a “kamatz.” (This is not found in all editions.)

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Psalms, in the Wisdom, opens this verse with 9 words (8 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʼâzan (“to hear”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “to hear” (ʼâzan) shape what this verse is saying?
How does Genesis 4:23, which shares the word «to hear», read alongside this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«יַאֲזִ֑ינוּ» is a Hiphil Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and J. A. Alexander on Psalms read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 8 words in this verse.
8 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 9 words in this verse.