Twenty-five verses that swing between panic and confidence, twice over: the speaker is slandered, besieged, avoided in the street and forgotten like a dead man, and each time the description of the trouble hits bottom he turns and says again that he has taken refuge. Verse 6 is the line most people know before they know the psalm, since its first half is said at bedtime and reworked in the third person in Adon Olam. For a learner the psalm is a drill in the suffix: almost every verb in it carries an object suffix meaning me, and almost every noun a possessive suffix meaning my or Your. Watch the space vocabulary too, because verse 10 says literally that it is tight for the speaker and verse 9 answers with feet set in a wide place.
1
לַמְנַצֵּחַ
מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד
לַמְנַצֵּחַ
lam-na-TZE-ach
for the choirmaster
For the choirmaster.
A performance heading, not part of the prayer. It marks the psalm as something handed to a musician rather than a private note.
2
בְּךָ יְהֹוָה חָסִיתִי
אַל אֵבוֹשָׁה לְעוֹלָם
בְּצִדְקָתְךָ פַלְּטֵנִי
חָסִיתִי
cha-si-TI
I have taken refuge
In You, LORD, I have taken refuge;
אֵבוֹשָׁה
e-vo-SHA
I be put to shame
let me never be put to shame;
בְּצִדְקָתְךָ
be-tzid-kat-CHA
in Your righteousness
פַלְּטֵנִי
fal-te-NI
rescue me
in Your righteousness set me free.
The opening puts the verb in the perfect: the refuge is already taken, before any request is made. What is asked for is only that the choice not turn out to have been humiliating.
3
הַטֵּה אֵלַי אׇזְנְךָ מְהֵרָה הַצִּילֵנִי
הֱיֵה לִי לְצוּר מָעוֹז
לְבֵית מְצוּדוֹת לְהוֹשִׁיעֵנִי
אׇזְנְךָ
oz-ne-CHA
Your ear
הַצִּילֵנִי
ha-tzi-le-NI
rescue me
Turn Your ear to me, rescue me quickly;
לְצוּר
le-TZUR
as a rock of
be for me a rock of refuge,
לְבֵית
le-VEIT
as a house of
מְצוּדוֹת
me-tzu-DOT
strongholds
לְהוֹשִׁיעֵנִי
le-ho-shi-e-NI
to save me
a fortified house, to save me.
Four imperatives in one verse, and the metaphors are all architecture: rock, refuge, fortified house. The speaker is asking to be moved inside something with walls.
4
כִּי סַלְעִי וּמְצוּדָתִי אָתָּה
וּלְמַעַן שִׁמְךָ תַּנְחֵנִי וּתְנַהֲלֵנִי
וּמְצוּדָתִי
um-tzu-da-TI
and my fortress
For You are my crag and my fortress,
וּלְמַעַן
ul-ma-AN
and for the sake of
תַּנְחֵנִי
tan-che-NI
You lead me
וּתְנַהֲלֵנִי
ut-na-ha-le-NI
and You guide me
and for Your name's sake You lead me and guide me.
The request of verse 3 is restated as a fact. Note the reason given for the guidance: not the speaker's merit, but the name, which is the same argument Psalm 23 makes at its own turning point.
5
תּוֹצִיאֵנִי מֵרֶשֶׁת זוּ טָמְנוּ לִי
כִּי אַתָּה מָעוּזִּי
תּוֹצִיאֵנִי
to-tzi-e-NI
bring me out
מֵרֶשֶׁת
me-RE-shet
from the net
Bring me out of the net they hid for me,
מָעוּזִּי
ma-u-ZI
my stronghold
for You are my stronghold.
The threat becomes concrete for the first time, and it is a trap rather than an army. The enemies here work by concealment, which is why the whole psalm is preoccupied with tongues and whispering.
6
בְּיָדְךָ אַפְקִיד רוּחִי
פָּדִיתָ אוֹתִי יְהֹוָה אֵל אֱמֶת
בְּיָדְךָ
byad-CHA
into Your hand
Into Your hand I entrust my spirit;
פָּדִיתָ
pa-di-TA
You have redeemed
You have redeemed me, LORD, God of truth.
The verb is the one used for leaving property with someone for safekeeping. The spirit is deposited, not surrendered, and the second half already speaks of the rescue as finished.
7
שָׂנֵאתִי הַשֹּׁמְרִים הַבְלֵי שָׁוְא
וַאֲנִי אֶל יְהֹוָה בָּטָחְתִּי
הַשֹּׁמְרִים
ha-shom-RIM
those who keep
הַבְלֵי
hav-LEI
the empty things of
I hate those who keep worthless idols,
בָּטָחְתִּי
ba-tach-TI
I have trusted
but I have trusted in the LORD.
A line of separation. The speaker defines himself against a group before naming what he is for, and the two halves are built to mirror each other verb for verb.
8
אָגִילָה וְאֶשְׂמְחָה בְּחַסְדֶּךָ
אֲשֶׁר רָאִיתָ אֶת עׇנְיִי
יָדַעְתָּ בְּצָרוֹת נַפְשִׁי
אָגִילָה
a-gi-LA
I will exult
וְאֶשְׂמְחָה
ve-es-me-CHA
and I will rejoice
בְּחַסְדֶּךָ
be-chas-de-CHA
in Your kindness
I will exult and rejoice in Your kindness,
רָאִיתָ
ra-i-TA
You have seen
אֶת
et
(direct object marker)
עׇנְיִי
on-YI
my affliction
for You have seen my affliction,
יָדַעְתָּ
ya-da-TA
You have known
בְּצָרוֹת
be-tza-ROT
in the troubles of
You have known the troubles of my soul.
The grounds for joy are not that the trouble ended but that it was witnessed. Seeing and knowing are the two verbs, and both are in the perfect.
9
וְלֹא הִסְגַּרְתַּנִי בְּיַד אוֹיֵב
הֶעֱמַדְתָּ בַמֶּרְחָב רַגְלָי
הִסְגַּרְתַּנִי
his-gar-ta-NI
You have handed me over
בְּיַד
byad
into the hand of
You have not handed me over to an enemy;
הֶעֱמַדְתָּ
he-e-mad-TA
You have set
בַמֶּרְחָב
va-mer-CHAV
in the broad place
You have set my feet in open ground.
The end of the first movement, and the high point of confidence in the psalm. Rescue is described spatially, as room to stand, which is exactly what the next verse takes away.
10
חׇנֵּנִי יְהֹוָה כִּי צַר לִי
עָשְׁשָׁה בְכַעַס עֵינִי
נַפְשִׁי וּבִטְנִי
חׇנֵּנִי
cho-ne-NI
be gracious to me
Be gracious to me, LORD, for I am in distress;
עָשְׁשָׁה
ash-SHA
has wasted away
בְכַעַס
ve-cha-AS
with grief
my eye is wasted with grief,
וּבִטְנִי
u-vit-NI
and my belly
my soul and my body too.
The psalm restarts from zero. The Hebrew literally says it is tight for me, which is the opposite of the wide place two lines earlier, and the damage is then listed body part by body part.
11
כִּי כָלוּ בְיָגוֹן חַיַּי וּשְׁנוֹתַי בַּאֲנָחָה
כָּשַׁל בַּעֲוֺנִי כֹחִי
וַעֲצָמַי עָשֵׁשׁוּ
כָלוּ
cha-LU
have come to an end
וּשְׁנוֹתַי
ush-no-TAI
and my years
בַּאֲנָחָה
ba-a-na-CHA
in sighing
For my life is spent in sorrow, and my years in sighing;
כָּשַׁל
ka-SHAL
has stumbled
בַּעֲוֺנִי
ba-a-o-NI
because of my guilt
my strength fails through my guilt,
וַעֲצָמַי
va-a-tza-MAI
and my bones
עָשֵׁשׁוּ
a-she-SHU
have wasted away
and my bones waste away.
The one line in the psalm that concedes fault. Everywhere else the trouble comes from outside, and here the speaker names his own guilt as part of what is wearing him down.
12
מִכׇּל צֹרְרַי הָיִיתִי חֶרְפָּה
וְלִשְׁכֵנַי מְאֹד
וּפַחַד לִמְיֻדָּעָי
רֹאַי בַּחוּץ נָדְדוּ מִמֶּנִּי
מִכׇּל
mi-KOL
because of all
צֹרְרַי
tzor-RAI
my adversaries
הָיִיתִי
ha-yi-TI
I have become
חֶרְפָּה
cher-PA
a disgrace
Because of all my adversaries I have become a disgrace,
וְלִשְׁכֵנַי
ve-lish-che-NAI
and to my neighbours
and to my neighbours most of all,
וּפַחַד
u-fa-CHAD
and a dread
לִמְיֻדָּעָי
lim-yu-da-AI
to those who know me
a dread to those who know me;
רֹאַי
ro-AI
those who see me
בַּחוּץ
ba-CHUTZ
in the street
those who see me in the street run from me.
The circle of rejection tightens from enemies to neighbours to friends. The worst of it is not the adversaries but the people who used to know him crossing the road.
13
נִשְׁכַּחְתִּי כְּמֵת מִלֵּב
הָיִיתִי כִּכְלִי אֹבֵד
נִשְׁכַּחְתִּי
nish-kach-TI
I am forgotten
כְּמֵת
kmet
like a dead man
מִלֵּב
mi-LEV
from the heart
I am forgotten like a dead man, gone from the heart;
הָיִיתִי
ha-yi-TI
I have become
כִּכְלִי
kich-LI
like a vessel
אֹבֵד
o-VED
that is perishing
I have become like a vessel thrown away.
The lowest point. Social death is described first, then reduced to a household image: a pot that broke and was not worth keeping.
14
כִּי שָׁמַעְתִּי דִּבַּת רַבִּים
מָגוֹר מִסָּבִיב
בְּהִוָּסְדָם יַחַד עָלַי
לָקַחַת נַפְשִׁי זָמָמוּ
שָׁמַעְתִּי
sha-ma-TI
I have heard
דִּבַּת
di-BAT
the whispering of
For I have heard the whispering of many,
מִסָּבִיב
mi-sa-VIV
from all around
terror on every side,
בְּהִוָּסְדָם
be-hi-vas-DAM
when they conspire
as they take counsel together against me,
זָמָמוּ
za-ma-MU
they have plotted
they plot to take my life.
Rumour turns into conspiracy inside a single verse. The two words for terror on every side are the phrase the book of Jeremiah keeps returning to.
15
וַאֲנִי עָלֶיךָ בָטַחְתִּי יְהֹוָה
אָמַרְתִּי אֱלֹהַי אָתָּה
בָטַחְתִּי
va-tach-TI
I have trusted
But I have trusted in You, LORD;
אָמַרְתִּי
a-mar-TI
I have said
I said: You are my God.
The hinge of the second movement, and the same move as verse 7: the opening word sets the speaker apart from the many of the previous line.
16
בְּיָדְךָ עִתֹּתָי
הַצִּילֵנִי מִיַּד אוֹיְבַי וּמֵרֹדְפָי
בְּיָדְךָ
byad-CHA
in Your hand
עִתֹּתָי
i-to-TAI
are my times
My times are in Your hand;
הַצִּילֵנִי
ha-tzi-le-NI
rescue me
מִיַּד
mi-YAD
from the hand of
וּמֵרֹדְפָי
u-me-rod-FAI
and from my pursuers
rescue me from my enemies and from those who chase me.
The same phrase as verse 6 opens the line, but what is deposited has changed from the spirit to the timing of events. Two hands are then set against each other in one verse.
17
הָאִירָה פָנֶיךָ עַל עַבְדֶּךָ
הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי בְחַסְדֶּךָ
הָאִירָה
ha-i-RA
make shine
פָנֶיךָ
fa-nei-CHA
Your face
עַבְדֶּךָ
av-de-CHA
Your servant
Make Your face shine on Your servant;
הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי
ho-shi-e-NI
save me
בְחַסְדֶּךָ
ve-chas-de-CHA
in Your kindness
save me in Your kindness.
The image is borrowed from the priestly blessing. After a verse about hands, the request moves to a face, which is the psalm's word for attention being given.
18
יְהֹוָה אַל אֵבוֹשָׁה כִּי קְרָאתִיךָ
יֵבֹשׁוּ רְשָׁעִים יִדְּמוּ לִשְׁאוֹל
אֵבוֹשָׁה
e-vo-SHA
I be put to shame
קְרָאתִיךָ
kra-ti-CHA
I have called You
LORD, let me not be put to shame, for I have called on You;
יֵבֹשׁוּ
ye-vo-SHU
let them be put to shame
רְשָׁעִים
re-sha-IM
the wicked
יִדְּמוּ
yid-MU
let them be silenced
let the wicked be shamed, silenced down in Sheol.
The verb of verse 2 comes back word for word, now with a second clause attached. The prayer is no longer only for himself, and it is the one place where the psalm asks for something to happen to someone else.
19
תֵּאָלַמְנָה שִׂפְתֵי שָׁקֶר
הַדֹּבְרוֹת עַל צַדִּיק עָתָק בְּגַאֲוָה וָבוּז
תֵּאָלַמְנָה
te-a-lam-NA
let them be struck dumb
שִׂפְתֵי
sif-TEI
the lips of
Let lying lips be struck dumb,
הַדֹּבְרוֹת
ha-dov-ROT
that speak
צַדִּיק
tza-DIK
a righteous one
בְּגַאֲוָה
bga-a-VA
with pride
that speak insolently against the righteous, with pride and contempt.
The punishment asked for fits the crime exactly: the weapon in this psalm is speech, so what is requested is silence rather than defeat.
20
מָה רַב טוּבְךָ אֲשֶׁר צָפַנְתָּ לִּירֵאֶיךָ
פָּעַלְתָּ לַחֹסִים בָּךְ נֶגֶד בְּנֵי אָדָם
טוּבְךָ
tuv-CHA
is Your goodness
צָפַנְתָּ
tza-fan-TA
You have stored up
לִּירֵאֶיךָ
li-re-ei-CHA
for those who fear You
How great is Your goodness, stored up for those who fear You,
פָּעַלְתָּ
pa-al-TA
You have done
לַחֹסִים
la-cho-SIM
for those who take refuge
which You have done for those who take refuge in You, in full view of everyone.
The turn to praise, and the pronoun opens outward: it is no longer me but those who take refuge, the class the speaker joined back in verse 2. The goodness is both hidden away and done in public.
21
תַּסְתִּירֵם בְּסֵתֶר פָּנֶיךָ מֵרֻכְסֵי אִישׁ
תִּצְפְּנֵם בְּסֻכָּה מֵרִיב לְשֹׁנוֹת
תַּסְתִּירֵם
tas-ti-REM
You hide them
בְּסֵתֶר
be-SE-ter
in the shelter of
פָּנֶיךָ
pa-nei-CHA
Your face
מֵרֻכְסֵי
me-ruch-SEI
from the plots of
You hide them in the shelter of Your presence from human scheming;
תִּצְפְּנֵם
titz-PNEM
You conceal them
בְּסֻכָּה
be-su-KA
in a booth
מֵרִיב
me-RIV
from the strife of
לְשֹׁנוֹת
le-sho-NOT
tongues
You keep them in a booth from the strife of tongues.
The architecture of verse 3 returns, but softened: not a fortress now, a booth. The threat it protects against is still speech, which no wall would stop anyway.
22
בָּרוּךְ יְהֹוָה
כִּי הִפְלִיא חַסְדּוֹ לִי בְּעִיר מָצוֹר
הִפְלִיא
hif-LI
He has made wondrous
חַסְדּוֹ
chas-DO
His kindness
for He made His kindness wondrous to me in a city under siege.
A blessing formula, which usually opens a prayer and here closes one. The setting named is a siege, the one situation in which walls and no room are the same fact.
23
וַאֲנִי אָמַרְתִּי בְחׇפְזִי נִגְרַזְתִּי מִנֶּגֶד עֵינֶיךָ
אָכֵן שָׁמַעְתָּ קוֹל תַּחֲנוּנַי בְּשַׁוְּעִי אֵלֶיךָ
בְחׇפְזִי
ve-chof-ZI
in my panic
נִגְרַזְתִּי
nig-raz-TI
I am cut off
מִנֶּגֶד
mi-NE-ged
from before
עֵינֶיךָ
ei-nei-CHA
Your eyes
And I said in my panic: I am cut off from Your sight;
שָׁמַעְתָּ
sha-ma-TA
You heard
תַּחֲנוּנַי
ta-cha-nu-NAI
my pleas
בְּשַׁוְּעִי
be-shav-I
when I cried out
yet You heard my pleas when I cried out to You.
The speaker quotes his own despair and immediately contradicts it. The admission that the panic was wrong is what licenses the two verses of instruction that follow.
24
אֶהֱבוּ אֶת יְהֹוָה כׇּל חֲסִידָיו
אֱמוּנִים נֹצֵר יְהֹוָה
וּמְשַׁלֵּם עַל יֶתֶר עֹשֵׂה גַאֲוָה
אֶת
et
(direct object marker)
חֲסִידָיו
cha-si-DAV
His faithful ones
Love the LORD, all His faithful ones;
אֱמוּנִים
e-mu-NIM
the loyal
the LORD guards the loyal,
וּמְשַׁלֵּם
um-sha-LEM
and He repays
עֹשֵׂה
o-SE
the one who acts with
and repays in full measure the one who acts in arrogance.
The first plural imperative in the psalm. Having spent twenty-two verses saying I, the speaker turns and addresses a room, and what he has learned is put as a rule that applies to them.
25
חִזְקוּ וְיַאֲמֵץ לְבַבְכֶם
כׇּל הַמְיַחֲלִים לַיהֹוָה
וְיַאֲמֵץ
ve-ya-a-METZ
and let take courage
לְבַבְכֶם
le-VAV-chem
your heart
Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
הַמְיַחֲלִים
ham-ya-cha-LIM
you who wait
לַיהֹוָה
lai-ho-VA
for the LORD
all you who wait for the LORD.
The psalm ends on an instruction rather than a rescue. Nothing has been reported as resolved; what is offered is a way to stand while it is not.
♦ 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
The psalm says the same thing twice from opposite ends. Verses 2 to 9 run refuge, request, and thanks for a rescue already given, and close at their most confident with feet set in a wide place. Verse 10 then starts again from nothing, and the second lament goes much further down: wasted eyes, failing strength, neighbours crossing the street, a body treated as a broken pot. Verses 15 to 19 repeat the petition almost word for word, and verses 20 to 25 answer it with praise. The last two verses are the real ending, because the grammar changes: after twenty-two verses of I and You, the speaker turns and gives a plural instruction to other people. Nothing in the situation is reported as fixed. What has changed is who is being spoken to.
רמז · Remez: allusion
The psalm is built on a contrast between narrow and wide. Verse 10 does not say I am in distress, it says צַר (tzar, v.10), it is tight, and the rescue in the verse before is בַמֶּרְחָב (va-mer-chav, v.9), a broad place, room to put your feet down. The siege of מָצוֹר (ma-tzor, v.22) is the same idea made literal: a city with walls is also a city with nowhere to go. Two other threads hold the halves together. The plea not to be put to shame appears in identical form at אֵבוֹשָׁה (e-vo-sha, v.2) and again at אֵבוֹשָׁה (e-vo-sha, v.18), bracketing everything between them. And מָגוֹר (ma-gor, v.14) with the word after it, terror on every side, is the phrase the book of Jeremiah uses repeatedly, including as a name given to a man in Jeremiah 20. Which text is drawing on which is not settled, and the psalm carries no date that would settle it.
דרש · Drash: midrashic reading
The first half of verse 6 was lifted out of the psalm and given a nightly job: בְּיָדְךָ (byad-cha, v.6) and the two words after it are said before sleep, in the reading of the Shema at bedtime, and Adon Olam reworks the same clause into the third person. Read that way, sleep is rehearsal. The verb is the one used for leaving goods with a trusted keeper, so the soul is not given up but deposited, with the expectation of collecting it in the morning. The same phrase opens verse 16, where what is deposited is not the spirit but the timing of a life, which extends the reading from one night to a whole biography. The closing verse also has a near twin: חִזְקוּ (chiz-ku, v.25) and what follows it stand in the singular at the end of Psalm 27, the psalm many communities say every day from the start of Elul, so the same encouragement reaches a learner from two directions.
סוד · Sod: mystical reading
In the mystical reading the deposit of verse 6 is taken literally as the nightly return of the soul to its source, and the morning blessing over the soul restored is its answer. Shelter is the other image the reading works on. Verse 21 puts the protected inside בְּסֻכָּה (be-su-ka, v.21), a booth, immediately after saying they are hidden in the shelter of the face, and a booth is the standard image for a covering that surrounds rather than a wall that blocks: it is closed on all sides yet open above, so the protection and the exposure are the same structure. Read this way the psalm is not asking for the siege to lift. It is asking for the space inside the siege to be experienced as a shelter, which is why the last word of the psalm is about waiting and not about deliverance.