---
title: Psalms 133:2
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/psalms-133-2/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/psalms-133-2.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Psalms 133:2
testament: OT
section: Poetry
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Psalms 133:2

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> It is like fine oil on the head, running down on the beard, running down Aaron’s beard over the collar of his robes.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "It is like fine oil poured on the head That runs down the beard, Aaron's beard, And runs down onto the collar of his garments."

## JW Usage

The Watchtower reads Psalm 133:2 as part of David's celebration of unity among brothers — anointing oil running down Aaron's beard symbolises blessing and shared identity. The reference to the high priest's beard is acknowledged historically but not treated as relevant to the Watchtower's beard policy: Aaron's facial hair is read as a cultural feature of the Old Testament priestly office, not as a biblical norm for Christian male appearance.

## Protestant Usage

Psalm 133:2 names Aaron's beard explicitly — the high priest of Israel whom Jehovah chose to represent his people had a beard, and the beard is treated as part of the picture of blessing. Pair Psalm 133:2 with the Watchtower's sixty-year prohibition on beards (until the October 2023 reversal): brothers were denied pioneering, judicial-committee privileges, and prospective marriages over a rule that ran counter to the appearance of Aaron the high priest, the prophets, the apostles, and Jesus himself. Romans 14:5 ("let each one be fully convinced in his own mind") and Colossians 2:20-23 (decrees of "do not handle, do not taste, do not touch" as "self-made religion") are the standard Protestant counter. Wherever an organisation binds the conscience on a matter Scripture leaves to the believer — and then unbinds it decades later when the cultural climate shifts — the rule was never from God to begin with.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Beard Ban — A Rule the Bible Never Made](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jw-beard-ban.md) — Romans 14:5 / Colossians 2:20-23 [Practice]