Psalms:
Bk 1: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41
Bk 2: 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72
Bk 3: 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89
Bk 4: 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106
Bk 5: 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119a 119b 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132
133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150
Additional Psalms: 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 Samuel Chronicles
Essays: Intro - Music - Form & Language
Before beginning this Psalm, I need to quote myself, from the Pesukei d'Zimrah section of "A Myrtle Among Reeds":
"According to Maimonides, who based his teaching on Shabbat 118b, Pesukei d’Zimrah is really the 'Six Psalms', by which he meant the last six Psalms of all, numbers 145 to 150. These are now recited here in full, the first of them introduced with single-line quotations from Psalm 84 (v5) and 144 (v15). Far be it for me to correct the Rambam, but in Shabbat 118b Rabbi Jose clearly intends the recitation of Hallel when he speaks of the 'Six Psalms'. Clearly intends? He overtly states it: 'May my portion be with those who recite the Hallel daily'. Then is it possible that these were once the Hallel hymns, and not the ones we think they are today?I can add no further comment to that, except to say that Pesukei d'Zimrah has been a major section of the daily morning prayers for the best part of two thousand years and can be found in any daily Siddur (and of course the recommendation of the purchase of my book, if you are interested in learning more).
But I do need to add two further comments, before commencing, so that you can follow both of these as we read on: that the Psalm is alphabetically acrostical (yet it only appears to have twenty-one verses); and that each verse is a triplet, metred as iambic tetrameters.
And then one more: that this Psalm forms the main part of the Ashrey prayer, recited thrice daily in modern synagogues, though it is begins and ends with lines taken from elsewhere. A full account of Ashrey can be found in "A Myrtle Among Reeds"; a Talmudic account at this link.
Psalm 145
145:1 TEHILAH LE DAVID AROMIMCHA ELOHAI HA MELECH VA AVARACHAH SHIMCHA LE OLAM VA ED
תְּהִלָּה לְדָוִד אֲרוֹמִמְךָ אֱלוֹהַי הַמֶּלֶךְ וַאֲבָרֲכָה שִׁמְךָ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד
KJ: (David's Psalm of praise.) I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.
BN: A Tehilah for David. {N} I will raise you to majesty, my god who is the king; and I will bless your name for ever and ever.
TEHILAH LE DAVID: Given the acrostical nature of the piece, these opening three words really should be separated from verse 1, and regarded, if not as the title of the piece, then at least as a stand-alone dedication. Presumably the Nun achieves that in the Yehudit format; and in doing so extends this Psalm to twenty-two verses, with AROMIMCHA providing the Aleph for our alphabetical acrostic.
"Tehilim" is the general name for the Psalms in the Yehudit (Hebrew) language, and best translated as "Songs of Praise", though in fact there are multiple sub-categories of Psalm, and nothing in the title of this one tells us to which of those categories it belongs.
What we can say, however, is that this is dedicated "to" David, and not written "by" him, though the intention may be "in the style of" those Psalms which it is entirely possible that a human king named Yedid-Yah, or Daoud/David for short, did write, though Yedid-Yah also infers Shelomoh (Solomon).
AROMIMCHAH: The root is RUM, which is connected to the root RAM, both having a sense of "greatness". What is not obvious here is: where does that second Mem belong? Is it the double-suffix MIMCHAH, "from you"? In which case it is the poet who will be raised to majesty by the deity, and not the other way around, as usually translated. And if not, then my question hangs in the air, still unanswered. Psalm 118:16 is the other obvious place to look, but there is also 1 Chronicles 25:4 and 31, where a man named Romamti-Ezer is mentioned.
"Tehilim" is the general name for the Psalms in the Yehudit (Hebrew) language, and best translated as "Songs of Praise", though in fact there are multiple sub-categories of Psalm, and nothing in the title of this one tells us to which of those categories it belongs.
What we can say, however, is that this is dedicated "to" David, and not written "by" him, though the intention may be "in the style of" those Psalms which it is entirely possible that a human king named Yedid-Yah, or Daoud/David for short, did write, though Yedid-Yah also infers Shelomoh (Solomon).
AROMIMCHAH: The root is RUM, which is connected to the root RAM, both having a sense of "greatness". What is not obvious here is: where does that second Mem belong? Is it the double-suffix MIMCHAH, "from you"? In which case it is the poet who will be raised to majesty by the deity, and not the other way around, as usually translated. And if not, then my question hangs in the air, still unanswered. Psalm 118:16 is the other obvious place to look, but there is also 1 Chronicles 25:4 and 31, where a man named Romamti-Ezer is mentioned.
145:2 BE CHOL YOM AVARACHECHA VA AHALELAH SHIMCHA LE OLAM VA ED
בְּכָל יוֹם אֲבָרֲכֶךָּ וַאֲהַלְלָה שִׁמְךָ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד
KJ: Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.
BN: Every day I will bless you, and I will praise your name for ever and ever.
BE CHOL YOM: And perhaps this phrase is one of the reasons why we might reckon Maimonides to have been wrong; "daily" applies to Pesukei d'Zimrah, but Hallel, today, is only recited at the new moon, and certain other festivals (see the link), so it would be quite absurd to recite this verse, with sincerity and without hypocrisy, on that occasion. However - and I said "might reckon" deliberately - Hallel in Temple times was probably not time-fixed, but sung at any point and on any occasion of the aliyah either to Yisra-El, to Yeru-Shala'im, to the Temple, from the Women's to the Men's Courtyard, or along the ramp to the Mizbe'ach, the sacrificial altar.
AHALELAH: And perhaps this phrase is one of the reasons why we should reckon Maimonides to have been correct; the root is HALLEL. As it is of MEHULAL in the next verse.
145:3 GADOL YHVH U MEHULAL ME'OD VE LIGDULATO EYN CHEKER
גָּדוֹל יְהוָה וּמְהֻלָּל מְאֹד וְלִגְדֻלָּתוֹ אֵין חֵקֶר
KJ: Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.
BN: YHVH is great, and highly to be praised; his greatness is beyond our capacity to understand.
EYN CHEKER: I am not convinced by "unsearchable". The point is not that you cannot look, but that it is highly unlikely that you will find. And, indeed, the studying is integral to Jewish halachah, as per Deuteronomy 6:7.
This verse is one of literally dozens that are combined to make the Second Vidu'i or "Confession" of the daily prayers, the one that is known as "Shem'a tephillah".
145:4 DOR LE DOR YESHABACH MA'ASEYCHA U GEVUROTEYCHA YAGIYDU
145:4 DOR LE DOR YESHABACH MA'ASEYCHA U GEVUROTEYCHA YAGIYDU
דּוֹר לְדוֹר יְשַׁבַּח מַעֲשֶׂיךָ וּגְבוּרֹתֶיךָ יַגִּידוּ
KJ: One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.
BN: Each generation shall laud your works to the next, and declare your mighty acts.
DOR LE DOR: "From generation to generation", the reason why you "teach your children" in the Shem'a.
145:5 HADAR KEVOD HODECHA VE DIVREY NIPHLE'OTEYCHA ASIYCHAH
הֲדַר כְּבוֹד הוֹדֶךָ וְדִבְרֵי נִפְלְאוֹתֶיךָ אָשִׂיחָה
KJ: I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.
BN: I will recount the glorious splendour of your majesty, and your wondrous works.
And I promise not to keep re-stating this with each example that arises, but from a verse like this one you can easily see why Maimon believed it must be Hallel.
145:6 VE EZUZ NOR'OTEYCHA YO'MERU U GEDULOTEYCHA ASAPRENAH
וֶעֱזוּז נוֹרְאֹתֶיךָ יֹאמֵרוּ וּגְדוּלֹּתֶיךָ אֲסַפְּרֶנָּה
KJ: And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness.
BN: And men shall speak of the might of your extraordinary acts; and I will tell of your greatness.
145:7 ZECHER RAV TUVCHA YABIY'U VE TSIDKAT'CHA YERANENU
זֵכֶר רַב טוּבְךָ יַבִּיעוּ וְצִדְקָתְךָ יְרַנֵּנוּ
KJ: They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness.
BN: They shall tell and re-tell the memories of your great goodness, and shall sing of your righteousness.
ZECHER RAV: Surely the RAV ("great") is attached to the ZECHER ("memory"), and not to the TUV ("goodness")? Or is the unsyntactical positioning less about the need to place the Zayin first, for the acrostic, than the aspiration to make the same adjective apply to two nouns?
YABIY'U: Worth seeing the link to see how many very different usages there are of this root.
145:8 CHANUN VE RACHUM YHVH ERECH APAYIM U GEDAL CHASED
חַנּוּן וְרַחוּם יְהוָה אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וּגְדָל חָסֶד
KJ: The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.
BN: The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.
On this occasion we can definitely regard the needs of the acrostic as taking precedence, because really the RACHUM should come before the CHANUN, as per the full list known as the "Thirteen Attributes", and which can be found at Exodus 34:6. What is not obvious is why VE RAV CHESED in Exodus has been changed to GEDAL CHESED here, or why EMET ("truth") has been left out - and the whole of 34:7 as well. Two probable answers. The first, that the poet took it for granted his audience knew the original, and therefore he didn't need the full quote. The second, and this is absolutely certain, is the form and structure: GEDAL CHESED provides the extra syllable that RAV CHESED lacks - so the iambic tetrameter still works.
145:9 TOV YHVH LA KOL VE RACHAMAV AL KOL MA'ASAV
טוֹב יְהוָה לַכֹּל וְרַחֲמָיו עַל כָּל מַעֲשָׂיו
KJ: The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
BN: YHVH is good to everybody, and his compassion is evident in all his works.
How does a verse like this accord itself comfortably with calls elswhere to destroy "my enemies", and other forms of non-mercy, non-compassion, even revenge? See verse 20.
145:10 YODUCHA YHVH KOL MA'ASEYCHA VA CHASIYDEYCHA YEVARACHUCHAH
יוֹדוּךָ יְהוָה כָּל מַעֲשֶׂיךָ וַחֲסִידֶיךָ יְבָרֲכוּכָה
KJ: All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee.
BN: All your creations shall praise you, YHVH, and your pious followers shall bless you.
145:11 KEVOD MALCHUT'CHA YO'MERU U GEVURAT'CHA YEDABERU
כְּבוֹד מַלְכוּתְךָ יֹאמֵרוּ וּגְבוּרָתְךָ יְדַבֵּרוּ
KJ: They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power;
BN: They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom, and talk of your might...
MALCHUT'CHA: I have heard many people, when singing this word, pronounce both of the shevot (or should that be sheva'im?): malechutecha - here and in other hymns and prayers that use the word. The positioning of the shevot suggests that both ought to be silent (the rule is "second-syllable silent"). However, having said this, see verse 13.
145:12 LEHODIY'A LIVNEY HA ADAM GEVUROTAV U CHEVOD HADAR MALCHUTO
MALCHUT'CHA: I have heard many people, when singing this word, pronounce both of the shevot (or should that be sheva'im?): malechutecha - here and in other hymns and prayers that use the word. The positioning of the shevot suggests that both ought to be silent (the rule is "second-syllable silent"). However, having said this, see verse 13.
145:12 LEHODIY'A LIVNEY HA ADAM GEVUROTAV U CHEVOD HADAR MALCHUTO
לְהוֹדִיעַ לִבְנֵי הָאָדָם גְּבוּרֹתָיו וּכְבוֹד הֲדַר מַלְכוּתוֹ
KJ: To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.
BN: ... to make known to Humankind his mighty acts, and the glory of the majesty of his kingdom.
GEVUROTAV: Why the switch from direct to indirect address? "Your" in verse 11, "his" here. And grammatically it is the same sentence, enjambed.
145:13 MALCHUTECHA MALCHUT KOL OLAMIM U MEMSHELTECHA BE CHOL DOR VA DOR
מַלְכוּתְךָ מַלְכוּת כָּל עֹלָמִים וּמֶמְשֶׁלְתְּךָ בְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר
KJ: Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.
BN: Your kingdom is a kingdom for all ages, and your dominion endures throughout all the generations.
MEMSHELTECHA: Whereas the sheva with ...TECHA on this occasion is pronounced, a consequence of the sheva under the Lamed, which is the silent "second syllable" (fourth in fact, but Yehudit words come in syllabic pairs). But why is there a segol under the Sheen, and not a qamats? Every Jew in the world pronounces this MEMSHALTECHA (as in the link below). Perhaps this was the mediaeval pronunication and it changed in later times.
This verse, followed by ADONAI MELECH ADONAI MALACH ADONAI YIMLOCH LE OLAM VA ED is part of "Ayn Kamocha", sung when taking out the scrolls in synagogue. Though in fact, on occasions when "Ayn kamocha" is not sung, but rather "Atah hareyta", that phrase (which is from Deuteronomy 4:35) is combined with this one, and also Psalms 10:16, 29:11 and 86:8, as well as Exodus 15:18, to give praise by a different route to the mighty attributes of the deity.
There are all manner of answers that have been postulated down the centuries, most of them, this being Judaism, mystical nonsense. And all proven as such when the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the cave at Qumran. Because that version does have a Nun verse:
“Ne’eman Elohim bi-devarav ve-chasid be-chol ma’asav - Elohim is faithful in his words, and pious in all his works”.
ELOHIM, not YHVH!
145:14 SOMECH YHVH LE CHOL HA NOPHLIM VE ZOKEPH LE CHOL HA KEPHUPHIM
סוֹמֵךְ יְהוָה לְכָל הַנֹּפְלִים וְזוֹקֵף לְכָל הַכְּפוּפִים
KJ: The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that bebowed down.
BN: YHVH holds steady all who are falling, and raises up all those that are bowed down.
CHOL HA NOPHLIM: Possibly pure coincidence (though, given the author and the subject-matter, I doubt it), but "All That Fall" is the title of a play by Samuel Beckett (not to be confused with "After The Fall", which is a play by Arthur Miller).
And actually it shouldn't be translated as "All That Fall", which is indeed present tense, but not the "continuous present", which is the grammatical form here.
SOMECH NOPHLIM is also a key phrase in the Amidah, alongside ROPHEH CHOLIM ("he heals the sick"), and MATIR ASURIM ("he frees the bound")... click here for the full text.
145:15 EYNEY CHOL ELEYCHA YESABERU VE ATAH NOTEN LAHEM ET ACHLAM BE ITO
145:15 EYNEY CHOL ELEYCHA YESABERU VE ATAH NOTEN LAHEM ET ACHLAM BE ITO
עֵינֵי כֹל אֵלֶיךָ יְשַׂבֵּרוּ וְאַתָּה נוֹתֵן לָהֶם אֶת אָכְלָם בְּעִתּוֹ
KJ: The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.
BN: The eyes of all seek you out [wait expectantly for you], and you give them their food in due season.
YESABERU: And if the former of my two options is the case, then it also confirms my reading of verse 3! But option 2 has to be considered: the root, SAVAR, means "to inspect" or "to examine", though it is also used (Ruth 1:13 for example) to mean "wait" in the sense of "hope" and even "expectation".
There are sound games being played in these last two verses: Kuph and Kaf and Chaf in the previous, Ayin-Yud Aleph-Yud and absent-Yud in this one - how do you create an English equivalent?
145:16 POT'E'ACH ET YADECHA U MASBIY'A LE CHOL CHAI RATSON
פּוֹתֵחַ אֶת יָדֶךָ וּמַשְׂבִּיעַ לְכָל חַי רָצוֹן
KJ: Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.
BN: You open your hand, and satisfy the wishes of every living creature.
The fifth blessing in "Le-Shem Yichud", the first of the prayers that accompany the laying of tefillin in synagogue, includes this verse as part of the section entitled "U-mey-chachmat'cha"
145:17 TSADIK YHVH BE CHOL DERACHAV VE CHASID BE CHOL MA'ASAV
צַדִּיק יְהוָה בְּכָל דְּרָכָיו וְחָסִיד בְּכָל מַעֲשָׂיו
KJ: The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.
BN: YHVH is righteous in all his ways, and devoted in all his works.
145:18 KAROV YHVH LE CHOL KOR'AV LE CHOL ASHER YIKRA'UHU VE EMET
קָרוֹב יְהוָה לְכָל קֹרְאָיו לְכֹל אֲשֶׁר יִקְרָאֻהוּ בֶאֱמֶת
KJ: The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.
BN: YHVH is nearby for all those who call upon him, for all those who call upon him ingenuously.
VE EMET: The great complaint of all the prophets, not that people fail to honour or worship, but that they do so mechanically, insincerely, without the depth of kavanah that the act deserves.
145:19 RETSON YER'E'AV YA'ASEH VE ET SHAV'ATAM YISHMA VE YOSHIY'EM
רְצוֹן יְרֵאָיו יַעֲשֶׂה וְאֶת שַׁוְעָתָם יִשְׁמַע וְיוֹשִׁיעֵם
KJ: He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.
BN: He will fulfil the desires of those who fear him, and he will hear their cries, and save them.
145:20 SHOMER YHVH ET KOL OHAVAV VE ET KOL HA RESHA'IM YASHMID
שׁוֹמֵר יְהוָה אֶת כָּל אֹהֲבָיו וְאֵת כָּל הָרְשָׁעִים יַשְׁמִיד
KJ: The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.
BN: YHVH watches over all those who love him, but he will destroy the wicked.
See my note to verse 9.
145:21 TEHILAT YHVH YEDABER PI VIYVARECH KOL BASAR SHEM KADSHO LE OLAM VA ED
תְּהִלַּת יְהוָה יְדַבֶּר פִּי וִיבָרֵךְ כָּל בָּשָׂר שֵׁם קָדְשׁוֹ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד
KJ: My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.
BN: So will my mouth speak praise for YHVH; and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever. {P}
When this Psalm is sung as Ashrey, a final verse is added - click here for the full text in Hebrew and English:
“Va-anachnu nevarech Yah, mey atah ve-ad olam, Hallelu-Yah - we will bless Yah from this time and forever, Hallelu-Yah.
which infers a pre-Yisra-Eli hymn to the moon-goddess that was adopted, then adapted, then appended; though it is slightly odd to use a hymn to Yah, the full moon goddess, in a hymn to Asherah, the goddess of the waxing moon, and then sing it as Hallel, on the occasion of the birth of the new moon! Perhaps the triplet was deliberate, in the epoch of the Omnideity, when all gods and goddesses were being absorbed into the single One.
Psalms:
Bk 1: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41
Bk 2: 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72
Bk 3: 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89
Bk 4: 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106
Bk 5: 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119a 119b 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132
133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150
Additional Psalms: 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 Samuel Chronicles
Essays: Intro - Music - Form & Language
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