PSALMS
Chapter 16
1. A
michtam,1
by David. Watch over me, O G-d, for I have put my trust in You. 2. You, [my
soul,] have said to G-d, "You are my Master; You are not obligated to
benefit me.” 3. For the sake of the holy ones who lie in the earth, and for the
mighty-all my desires are fulfilled in their merit. 4. Those who hasten after
other [G-ds], their sorrows shall increase; I will not offer their libations of
blood, nor take their names upon my lips. 5. The Lord is my allotted portion
and my share; You guide my destiny. 6. Portions have fallen to me in pleasant
places; indeed, a beautiful inheritance is mine. 7. I bless the Lord Who has
advised me; even in the nights my intellect admonishes me.2
8. I have set the Lord before me at all times; because He is at my right hand,
I shall not falter. 9. Therefore my heart rejoices and my soul exults; my
flesh, too, rests secure. 10. For You will not abandon my soul to the grave,
You will not allow Your pious one to see purgatory.11. Make known to me the
path of life, that I may be satiated with the joy of Your presence, with the
bliss of Your right hand forever.
Chapter 17
1. A prayer
by David. Hear my sincere [plea], O Lord; listen to my cry; give ear to my
prayer, expressed by guileless lips. 2. Let my verdict come forth from before
You; let Your eyes behold uprightness. 3. You have probed my heart, examined it
in the night, tested me and found nothing; no evil thought crossed my mind; as
are my words so are my thoughts. 4. So that [my] human deeds conform with the
words of Your lips, I guard myself from the paths of the lawbreakers. 5.
Support my steps in Your paths, so that my feet shall not falter. 6. I have called
upon You, for You, O Lord, will answer me; incline Your ear to me, hear what I
say. 7.Withhold Your kindness-O You who delivers with Your right hand those who
put their trust in You-from those who rise up against [You]. 8. Guard me like
the apple of the eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings 9. from the wicked
who despoil me, [from] my mortal enemies who surround me. 10. Their fat has
closed [their hearts]; their mouths speak arrogantly. 11. They encircle our
footsteps; they set their eyes to make us stray from the earth. 12.His
appearance is like a lion longing to devour, like a young lion lurking in
hiding. 13. Arise, O Lord! Confront him, bring him to his knees; rescue my soul
from the wicked [who serves as] Your sword. 14. Let me be among those whose
death is by Your hand, O Lord, among those who die of old age, whose portion is
eternal life and whose innards are filled with Your concealed goodness; who are
sated with sons and leave their abundance to their offspring. 15. Because of my
righteousness, I shall behold Your countenance; in the time of resurrection, I
will be sated by Your image.
Chapter 18
1. For the
Conductor. By the servant of the Lord, by David, who chanted the words of this
song to the Lord on the day the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his
enemies, and from the hand of Saul. 2. He said, "I love You, Lord, my
strength. 3. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my rescuer. My G-d is my
strength in Whom I take shelter, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my
stronghold. 4. With praises I call upon the Lord, and I am saved from my
enemies. 5. For the pangs of death surrounded me, and torrents of evil people
terrified me. 6. Pangs of the grave encompassed me; snares of death confronted
me. 7. In my distress I called upon the Lord, I cried out to my G-d; and from
His Sanctuary He heard my voice, and my supplication before Him reached His
ears. 8. The earth trembled and quaked; the foundations of the mountains
shook-they trembled when His wrath flared. 9. Smoke rose in His nostrils,
devouring fire blazed from His mouth, and burning coals flamed forth from Him.
10. He inclined the heavens and descended, a thick cloud was beneath His feet.
11. He rode on a cherub and flew; He soared on the wings of the wind. 12. He
made darkness His concealment, His surroundings His shelter-of the dense clouds
with their dark waters. 13. Out of the brightness before Him, His clouds passed
over, with hailstones and fiery coals. 14. The Lord thundered in heaven, the
Most High gave forth His voice-hailstones and fiery coals. 15. He sent forth
His arrows and scattered them; many lightnings, and confounded them. 16. The
channels of water became visible, the foundations of the world were exposed-at Your
rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils. 17.He sent from
heaven and took me; He brought me out of surging waters. 18. He rescued me from
my fierce enemy, and from my foes when they had become too strong for me. 19.
They confronted me on the day of my misfortune, but the Lord was my support.
20. He brought me into spaciousness; He delivered me because He desires me. 21.
The Lord rewar-ded me in accordance with my righteousness; He repaid me
according to the cleanliness of my hands. 22. For I have kept the ways of the
Lord, and have not transgressed against my G-d; 23. for all His laws are before
me, I have not removed His statutes from me. 24.I was perfect with Him, and
have guarded myself from sin. 25. The Lord repaid me in accordance with my
righteousness, according to the cleanliness of my hands before His eyes. 26.
With the kindhearted You act kindly, with the upright man You act uprightly.27.
With the pure You act purely, but with the crooked You act cun- ningly. 28. For
the destitute nation You save, but haughty eyes You humble. 29. Indeed, You
light my lamp; the Lord, my G-d, illuminates my darkness. 30. For with You I
run against a troop; with my G-d I scale a wall. 31. The way of G-d is perfect;
the word of the Lord is pure; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him. 32.
For who is G-d except the Lord, and who is a rock except our G-d! 33. The G-d
Who girds me with strength, and makes my path perfect. 34. He makes my feet
like deers', and stands me firmly on my high places. 35. He trains my hands for
battle, my arms to bend a bow of bronze. 36. You have given me the shield of
Your deliverance, Your right hand upheld me; Your humility made me great. 37.
You have widened my steps beneath me, and my knees have not faltered. 38. I
pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back until I destroyed
them. 39. I crushed them so that they were unable to rise; they are fallen
beneath my feet. 40. You have girded me with strength for battle; You have
subdued my adversaries beneath me. 41. You have made my enemies turn their
backs to me, and my foes I cut down.42. They cried out, but there was none to
deliver them; to the Lord, but He did not answer them. 43. I ground them as the
dust before the wind, I poured them out like the mud in the streets. 44.You
have rescued me from the quarrelsome ones of the people, You have made me the
head of nations; a nation I did not know became subservient to me. 45. As soon
as they hear of me they obey me; strangers deny to me [their disloyalty]. 46.
Strangers wither away, they are terrified in their strongholds. 47. The Lord
lives; blessed is my Rock; exalted is the G-d of my deliverance.48. You are the
G-d Who executes retribution for me, and subjugates nations under me. 49. Who
rescues me from my enemies, Who exalts me above my adversaries, Who delivers me
from the man of violence. 50. Therefore I will laud You, Lord, among the
nations, and sing to Your Name. 51. He grants His king great salvations, and
bestows kindness upon His anointed, to David and his descendants forever."
TIKKUN HAKLALI
Chapter 32
7. You are a
refuge to me; protect me from distress; surround me with songs of deliverance
forever. 8. I will enlighten you and educate you in the path you should go; I
will advise you with what I have seen. 9. Be not like a horse, like a mule,
senseless, that must be muzzled with bit and bridle when being adorned, so that
it not come near you.
PSALM 89
7. Indeed,
who in heaven can be compared to the Lord, who among the supernal beings can be
likened to the Lord!
