1
לַמְנַצֵּחַ עַל מוּת לַבֵּן
מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד
לַמְנַצֵּחַ
lam-na-TZE-ach
for the leader / choirmaster
For the leader; upon "muth labben" (meaning uncertain).
Superscription. Al muth labben is one of the most obscure phrases in the Psalter; ancient versions read it "upon the death of the son," others as the name of a tune. The Masoretes themselves marked its meaning as uncertain. The acrostic proper begins at v.2.
2
אוֹדֶה יְהֹוָה בְּכָל לִבִּי
אֲסַפְּרָה כָּל נִפְלְאוֹתֶיךָ
I will praise the LORD with all my heart
אֲסַפְּרָה
a-sap-pe-RA
I will recount
נִפְלְאוֹתֶיךָ
nif-le-o-TEI-kha
Your wonders
I will recount all Your wonders.
אוֹדֶה (odeh, "I will thank/praise") opens the alphabet at א. The praise is total: be-khol libbi, "with all my heart," and kol nifle'oteikha, "all Your wonders." The verb asaprah ("I will recount") makes thanksgiving an act of telling, not merely feeling.
3
אֶשְׂמְחָה וְאֶעֶלְצָה בָךְ
אֲזַמְּרָה שִׁמְךָ עֶלְיוֹן
אֶשְׂמְחָה
es-me-CHA
I will rejoice
וְאֶעֶלְצָה
ve-e'el-TZA
and I will exult
I will rejoice and exult in You
אֲזַמְּרָה
a-zam-me-RA
I will sing
עֶלְיוֹן
el-YON
O Most High
I will sing to Your name, O Most High.
Three cohortative verbs in a row, all still on the letter א: esmechah (I will rejoice), e'eltzah (I will exult), azammerah (I will sing). The joy is bakh, "in You", not in the victory itself. עֶלְיוֹן (Elyon), "Most High," names God by His height, preparing the misgav of v.10.
4
בְּשׁוּב אוֹיְבַי אָחוֹר
יִכָּשְׁלוּ וְיֹאבְדוּ מִפָּנֶיךָ
בְּשׁוּב
be-SHUV
when they turn back
When my enemies turn back
יִכָּשְׁלוּ
yik-ka-she-LU
they stumble
וְיֹאבְדוּ
ve-yo-ve-DU
and perish
מִפָּנֶיךָ
mi-pa-NEI-kha
before You
they stumble and perish before You.
בְּשׁוּב (be-shuv) opens the letter ב. The enemies' fall is not caused by the singer but by God's mere presence: mi-paneikha, "from before Your face." To turn back (shuv aḥor) is already to stumble (yikkashlu) and perish (yovedu).
5
כִּי עָשִׂיתָ מִשְׁפָּטִי וְדִינִי
יָשַׁבְתָּ לְכִסֵּא שׁוֹפֵט צֶדֶק
עָשִׂיתָ
a-SI-ta
You have made / upheld
מִשְׁפָּטִי
mish-pa-TI
my right
וְדִינִי
ve-di-NI
and my cause
For You have upheld my right and my cause
יָשַׁבְתָּ
ya-SHAV-ta
You sat
לְכִסֵּא
le-khis-SE
on the throne
enthroned as righteous judge.
The reason (ki): God has "made" (asita) the singer's right and cause, He has enacted justice, not merely declared it. שׁוֹפֵט צֶדֶק (shofet tzedek), "righteous judge," introduces the central image of the psalm: the LORD seated (yashavta) on the throne of judgment.
6
גָּעַרְתָּ גוֹיִם אִבַּדְתָּ רָשָׁע
שְׁמָם מָחִיתָ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד
גָּעַרְתָּ
ga-AR-ta
You rebuked
אִבַּדְתָּ
ib-BAD-ta
You destroyed
You rebuked the nations, You destroyed the wicked
מָחִיתָ
ma-CHI-ta
You blotted out
You blotted out their name forever and ever.
גָּעַרְתָּ (ga'arta) opens the letter ג: "You rebuked." A divine rebuke is not words but an act that destroys (ibbadta). מָחִיתָ (machita), "You blotted out their name," is erasure from the record of being, the opposite of the name that endures.
7
הָאוֹיֵב תַּמּוּ חֳרָבוֹת לָנֶצַח
וְעָרִים נָתַשְׁתָּ
אָבַד זִכְרָם הֵמָּה
הָאוֹיֵב
ha-o-YEV
the enemy
תַּמּוּ
TAM-mu
are finished
לָנֶצַח
la-NE-tzach
forever
The enemy is no more, ruins forever
וְעָרִים
ve-a-RIM
and cities
נָתַשְׁתָּ
na-TASH-ta
You uprooted
and the cities You have uprooted,
זִכְרָם
zikh-RAM
their memory
הֵמָּה
HEM-ma
they [themselves]
their very memory is lost.
הָאוֹיֵב (ha-oyev) opens the letter ה; the verse is grammatically rough (the Masoretes flagged it). The enemy's ḥoravot (ruins) are "finished forever"; cities are natashta, "uprooted." The closing avad zikhram hemmah, "their memory is lost, they", leaves the pronoun dangling, as if the wicked themselves dissolve mid-sentence.
8
וַיהֹוָה לְעוֹלָם יֵשֵׁב
כּוֹנֵן לַמִּשְׁפָּט כִּסְאוֹ
וַיהֹוָה
va-do-NAY
but the LORD
יֵשֵׁב
ye-SHEV
abides / is enthroned
But the LORD abides forever
כּוֹנֵן
ko-NEN
He has established
לַמִּשְׁפָּט
lam-mish-PAT
for judgment
He has set up His throne for judgment.
The pivot of the psalm. Against the toppled thrones of the nations (v.7), "the LORD abides (yeshev) forever." כּוֹנֵן (konen), "He has established," is the same verb used for fixing the world at creation: His throne lammishpat, "for judgment," is set firm where theirs is uprooted.
9
וְהוּא יִשְׁפֹּט תֵּבֵל בְּצֶדֶק
יָדִין לְאֻמִּים בְּמֵישָׁרִים
בְּצֶדֶק
be-TZE-dek
with righteousness
And He judges the world with righteousness
יָדִין
ya-DIN
He rules / judges
לְאֻמִּים
le-um-MIM
the peoples
בְּמֵישָׁרִים
be-mei-sha-RIM
with equity
He rules the peoples with equity.
The universal scope of the judgment: tevel (the inhabited world) and le'ummim (the peoples). בְּמֵישָׁרִים (be-meisharim), "with equity / straightness," pairs with be-tzedek, "with righteousness", judgment that is both right and level, bent toward no one.
10
וִיהִי יְהֹוָה מִשְׂגָּב לַדָּךְ
מִשְׂגָּב לְעִתּוֹת בַּצָּרָה
מִשְׂגָּב
mis-GAV
a stronghold
לַדָּךְ
lad-DAKH
for the oppressed
The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed
מִשְׂגָּב
mis-GAV
a stronghold
לְעִתּוֹת
le-it-TOT
for times
בַּצָּרָה
batz-tza-RA
of trouble
a stronghold in times of trouble.
מִשְׂגָּב (misgav), repeated twice, is the heart-word of the psalm: a high stronghold, an inaccessible height (root שׂגב). For the dakh (the crushed, the thin one) God is not a wall but an elevation: refuge by ascent, "in times of trouble."
11
וְיִבְטְחוּ בְךָ יוֹדְעֵי שְׁמֶךָ
כִּי לֹא עָזַבְתָּ דֹרְשֶׁיךָ יְהֹוָה
וְיִבְטְחוּ
ve-yiv-te-CHU
and they trust
יוֹדְעֵי
yo-de-EI
those who know
שְׁמֶךָ
she-ME-kha
Your name
Those who know Your name trust in You
עָזַבְתָּ
a-ZAV-ta
You forsaken
דֹרְשֶׁיךָ
dor-SHEI-kha
those who seek You
for You have not forsaken those who seek You, O LORD.
יוֹדְעֵי שְׁמֶךָ (yod'ei shemekha), "those who know Your name", to know the name is to trust (yivtechu). דֹרְשֶׁיךָ (dorshecha), "those who seek You," shares the root דרשׁ with v.13's dorésh damim: God seeks out the blood of the afflicted as His faithful seek Him.
12
זַמְּרוּ לַיהֹוָה יֹשֵׁב צִיּוֹן
הַגִּידוּ בָעַמִּים עֲלִילוֹתָיו
לַיהֹוָה
la-do-NAY
to the LORD
יֹשֵׁב
yo-SHEV
who dwells in
Sing to the LORD who dwells in Zion
הַגִּידוּ
hag-GI-du
declare
בָעַמִּים
va-am-MIM
among the peoples
עֲלִילוֹתָיו
a-li-lo-TAV
His deeds
declare His deeds among the peoples.
זַמְּרוּ (zammeru) opens the letter ז: "Sing!" The first imperative to others, after eleven verses of the singer's own "I will." Yoshev Tziyon, "who dwells in Zion," places the throne of v.8 in a specific city; haggidu va-ammim, "tell among the peoples," makes the praise public, missionary.
13
כִּי דֹרֵשׁ דָּמִים אוֹתָם זָכָר
לֹא שָׁכַח צַעֲקַת עֲנָוִים
דֹרֵשׁ
do-RESH
the one who requires
For the One who requires bloodshed remembers them
צַעֲקַת
tza-a-KAT
the cry of
עֲנָוִים
a-na-VIM
the afflicted
He has not forgotten the cry of the afflicted.
דֹרֵשׁ דָּמִים (doresh damim), "the one who requires bloodshed," is the avenger of the murdered, God remembers (zakhar) them. The matching negative, lo shakhach, "He has not forgotten" the cry (tza'akat) of the afflicted, sets up the closing promise of v.19. (Ketiv aniyyim / qere anavim.)
14
חָנְנֵנִי יְהֹוָה רְאֵה עָנְיִי מִשֹּׂנְאָי
מְרוֹמְמִי מִשַּׁעֲרֵי מָוֶת
חָנְנֵנִי
chon-NE-ni
be gracious to me
עָנְיִי
on-YI
my affliction
מִשֹּׂנְאָי
mis-so-ne-AI
from those who hate me
Be gracious to me, O LORD; see my affliction from those who hate me
מְרוֹמְמִי
me-rom-ME-ni
who lifts me up
מִשַּׁעֲרֵי
mish-sha-a-REI
from the gates of
You who lift me up from the gates of death,
חָנְנֵנִי (chonneni) opens the letter ח with the cry "Be gracious to me!" The thanksgiving turns suddenly to petition. מְרוֹמְמִי (meromemi), "who lifts me high," echoes misgav (v.10), the same upward motion, out of sha'arei mavet, the gates of death.
15
לְמַעַן אֲסַפְּרָה כָּל תְּהִלָּתֶיךָ
בְּשַׁעֲרֵי בַת צִיּוֹן
אָגִילָה בִּישׁוּעָתֶךָ
אֲסַפְּרָה
a-sap-pe-RA
I may recount
תְּהִלָּתֶיךָ
te-hil-la-TEI-kha
Your praises
so that I may recount all Your praises
בְּשַׁעֲרֵי
be-sha-a-REI
in the gates of
in the gates of the daughter of Zion,
אָגִילָה
a-GI-la
I will exult
בִּישׁוּעָתֶךָ
bi-shu-a-TE-kha
in Your deliverance
I will exult in Your deliverance.
The purpose (lema'an) of being rescued: asaprah, "that I may recount", the same verb as v.2, closing a frame. שַׁעֲרֵי בַת צִיּוֹן (sha'arei bat-Tziyon), "the gates of the daughter of Zion," answer the gates of death in v.14: from the lowest gate to the highest, deliverance is the path between them.
16
טָבְעוּ גוֹיִם בְּשַׁחַת עָשׂוּ
בְּרֶשֶׁת זוּ טָמָנוּ נִלְכְּדָה רַגְלָם
בְּשַׁחַת
be-SHA-chat
in the pit
The nations sank in the pit they made
בְּרֶשֶׁת
be-RE-shet
in the net
נִלְכְּדָה
nil-ke-DA
is caught
in the net they hid, their own foot is caught.
טָבְעוּ (tav'u) opens the letter ט, the letter of this psalm: "they sank." The poetic justice is exact, the nations sink in the pit they made (shachat asu), their foot caught in the net they hid (reshet zu tamanu). Evil is self-trapping: the weapon turns on the hand that set it.
17
נוֹדַע יְהֹוָה מִשְׁפָּט עָשָׂה
בְּפֹעַל כַּפָּיו נוֹקֵשׁ רָשָׁע
הִגָּיוֹן סֶלָה
מִשְׁפָּט
mish-PAT
judgment
The LORD is made known by the judgment He has done
בְּפֹעַל
be-FO-al
by the work of
כַּפָּיו
kap-PAV
his [own] hands
the wicked is snared by the work of his own hands.
הִגָּיוֹן
hig-ga-YON
Higgaion (a meditation)
Higgaion. Selah.
נוֹדַע (noda) opens the letter י (Aleppo) / נ; the LORD is "made known" through the judgment He performs. The wicked is snared (nokesh) by the work of his own hands, the same self-trap as v.16. הִגָּיוֹן סֶלָה (higgayon selah) marks a meditative pause: higgayon a low murmur or string-tone, selah the held silence.
18
יָשׁוּבוּ רְשָׁעִים לִשְׁאוֹלָה
כָּל גּוֹיִם שְׁכֵחֵי אֱלֹהִים
יָשׁוּבוּ
ya-SHU-vu
shall return
רְשָׁעִים
re-sha-IM
the wicked
לִשְׁאוֹלָה
li-she-O-la
to Sheol
The wicked shall return to Sheol
שְׁכֵחֵי
she-khe-CHEI
who forget
all the nations who forget God.
יָשׁוּבוּ (yashuvu) opens the letter י: "they shall return / turn back", the wicked go down li-she'olah, "to Sheol." The defining mark is שְׁכֵחֵי אֱלֹהִים (shekhechei Elohim), "those who forget God", the mirror of v.13's God who does not forget. To forget is to fall.
19
כִּי לֹא לָנֶצַח יִשָּׁכַח אֶבְיוֹן
תִּקְוַת עֲנִיִּים תֹּאבַד לָעַד
לָנֶצַח
la-NE-tzach
forever
יִשָּׁכַח
yish-sha-KHACH
shall be forgotten
For the needy shall not be forgotten forever
תִּקְוַת
tik-VAT
the hope of
עֲנִיִּים
a-ni-YIM
the afflicted
תֹּאבַד
to-VAD
shall perish
nor the hope of the afflicted perish forever.
כִּי (ki) opens the letter כ. The promise that answers the whole psalm: lo lanetzach yishakhach evyon, "the needy shall not be forgotten forever", the negated yishakhach (forgotten) reverses v.18's forgetters. The hope (tikvah) of the afflicted shall not perish la'ad, "forever." (Ketiv anavim / qere aniyyim.)
20
קוּמָה יְהֹוָה אַל יָעֹז אֱנוֹשׁ
יִשָּׁפְטוּ גוֹיִם עַל פָּנֶיךָ
Arise, O LORD! Let not mortal man prevail
יִשָּׁפְטוּ
yish-shaf-TU
let them be judged
פָּנֶיךָ
pa-NEI-kha
Your face
let the nations be judged before Your face.
קוּמָה (kumah), "Arise!" The bold imperative addressed to God, the cry that opens the wars of Numbers 10:35. אֱנוֹשׁ (enosh), "mortal man," names humanity at its frailest: let it not prevail (ya'oz). The nations are judged al paneikha, "before Your face", echoing v.4.
21
שִׁיתָה יְהֹוָה מוֹרָה לָהֶם
יֵדְעוּ גוֹיִם אֱנוֹשׁ הֵמָּה סֶּלָה
מוֹרָה
mo-RA
fear / awe (?)
Set fear upon them, O LORD (meaning uncertain);
יֵדְעוּ
ye-de-U
let them know
let the nations know they are only mortals. Selah.
שִׁיתָה (shitah), "Set / put." Morah is read either as "fear / awe" (from ירא) or "a teacher / razor", the Masoretes again marked it uncertain. The final lesson the nations must know (yed'u): enosh hemmah, "they are but mortals." The psalm ends, like v.17, on סֶלָה (selah), the held pause.
♦ PARDES analysis: פרדס
The four levels of Jewish reading of the sacred text: פשט Peshat (literal meaning), רמז Remez (symbolic allusion), דרש Drash (midrashic interpretation), סוד Sod (mystical meaning). The word פרדס means "orchard", each level is a fruit.
פשט · Peshat: literal meaning
A thanksgiving for victory and a plea for ongoing justice. V.1: the superscription, al muth labben, whose meaning is already lost to the Masoretes ("upon the death of the son"?). V.2-3: "I will praise You, LORD, with all my heart… I will tell all Your wonders." V.4-7: the enemies retreat, stumble, and perish; the LORD has blotted out their name forever; the cities are torn down, their memory lost. V.8-9: but the LORD abides forever, His throne set up for judgment; He judges the world with righteousness. V.10-11: He is a stronghold for the oppressed; those who know His name trust Him. V.12-21: a summons to sing, a remembrance of the blood of the afflicted (v.13), a prayer from the gates of death (v.14), the nations sunk in their own pit (v.16), and the closing plea that the needy not be forgotten forever (v.19).
רמז · Remez: allusion
The key word is מִשְׂגָּב (misgav, v.10), repeated twice in one verse, a high place, a rock fortress out of reach, from the root שׂגב, "to be high, inaccessible." God is not a wall around the oppressed but a height they are lifted into. Note the mirrored verb in v.16: the nations sink (טָבְעוּ) in the pit they made (עָשׂוּ), caught in the net they hid (טָמָנוּ), three verbs of their own labor turned against them. And v.13, dorésh damim, the One who "requires" / "seeks out" blood does not forget the cry of the anavim (the afflicted); the same root דרשׁ returns in v.11 as those who seek Him (dorshecha): God seeks the blood, and He is sought by the faithful.
דרש · Drash: interpretation
This psalm is an unfinished alphabet. Letters א through כ run across Psalms 9 and 10 (ט falls here at v.16, tavu), but the sequence stutters and breaks. The Sages read this brokenness as deliberate: praise cannot be a closed, perfect form while the wicked still prosper and "the needy is forgotten" (v.19). The acrostic is a vessel cracked on purpose, so that the cry of Psalm 10 can pour through. The throne konen lammishpat (v.8, "established for judgment") answers the toppled thrones of the nations (v.7): one seat falls, one seat stands forever.
סוד · Sod: mystical meaning
Two thrones face each other across this psalm. The thrones of the nations are torn down (v.7), their very names blotted out (v.6, machita), erasure from the Book. Against them, the throne of the LORD is konen (v.8), firmly set, like the world established at creation. מִשְׂגָּב (misgav) names the dimension of ascent: the oppressed dakh (the crushed, the thin one, v.10) is raised from sha'arei mavet, the gates of death (v.14), to the sha'arei bat-Tziyon, the gates of the daughter of Zion (v.15), a journey from the lowest gate to the highest. And הִגָּיוֹן סֶלָה (higgayon selah, v.17) marks where words must stop: higgayon, a low murmur or string-tone, then selah, the held silence. The judgment is known not by speech but by the pause that follows it.