Twenty-three verses of courtroom. Asaph opens with God summoning heaven and earth as witnesses, then puts two parties on the stand: the people who bring offerings and think the account is settled, and the man who recites the covenant out loud while breaking it. Nothing here abolishes the sacrifices, and verse 8 says so in as many words. What is refused is the accounting behind them, the idea that an animal is a transfer of goods to a God who needs goods. In the printed monthly cycle of Tehilim the psalm falls on the ninth day. For a learner it is a long drill in the second person possessive suffix: your sacrifices, your burnt offerings, your house, your pens, your vows, your mouth, your tongue, your brother.
1
מִזְמוֹר לְאָסָף
אֵל אֱלֹהִים יְהֹוָה דִּבֶּר וַיִּקְרָא אָרֶץ
מִמִּזְרַח שֶׁמֶשׁ עַד מְבֹאוֹ
וַיִּקְרָא
va-yik-RA
and He summoned
God, God the LORD, has spoken and summoned the earth,
מִמִּזְרַח
mi-miz-RACH
from the rising of
מְבֹאוֹ
me-vo-O
its setting
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Three names for God stacked before the first verb, and the verb is legal language: He has spoken, He has issued a summons. East to west is the reach of the court, not a description of scenery.
2
מִצִּיּוֹן מִכְלַל יֹפִי
אֱלֹהִים הוֹפִיעַ
מִצִּיּוֹן
mi-tzi-YON
out of Zion
מִכְלַל
mich-LAL
the perfection of
Out of Zion, perfect in beauty,
הוֹפִיעַ
ho-FI-a
has shone forth
God has shone forth.
Zion is where the light comes from, not where God is kept. The verse fixes the direction of the appearing before it says anything about its content.
3
יָבֹא אֱלֹהֵינוּ וְאַל יֶחֱרַשׁ
אֵשׁ לְפָנָיו תֹּאכֵל
וּסְבִיבָיו נִשְׂעֲרָה מְאֹד
אֱלֹהֵינוּ
e-lo-hei-NU
our God
וְאַל
ve-AL
and let Him not
יֶחֱרַשׁ
ye-che-RASH
be silent
Our God comes and will not keep silent.
לְפָנָיו
le-fa-NAV
before Him
A fire devours before Him,
וּסְבִיבָיו
us-vi-VAV
and around Him
נִשְׂעֲרָה
nis-a-RA
it storms
and around Him it storms violently.
The end of a long silence, which the psalm will come back to at verse 21. Fire and storm are the standard furniture of a revelation, and they arrive here to seat a court.
4
יִקְרָא אֶל הַשָּׁמַיִם מֵעָל
וְאֶל הָאָרֶץ לָדִין עַמּוֹ
הַשָּׁמַיִם
ha-sha-MA-yim
the heavens
He calls to the heavens above,
הָאָרֶץ
ha-A-retz
the earth
and to the earth, to bring His people to trial.
Heaven and earth are subpoenaed, in the idiom Deuteronomy uses when the covenant is enforced. They are witnesses rather than spectators, and the defendant is God's own people.
5
אִסְפוּ לִי חֲסִידָי
כֹּרְתֵי בְרִיתִי עֲלֵי זָבַח
חֲסִידָי
cha-si-DAI
My faithful ones
Gather My faithful ones to Me,
כֹּרְתֵי
kor-TEI
those who cut
בְרִיתִי
vri-TI
My covenant
those who sealed My covenant over a sacrifice.
The first words God speaks are an order to assemble the loyal, the ones already bound by a covenant cut over a slaughtered animal. The trial opens among insiders, not enemies.
6
וַיַּגִּידוּ שָׁמַיִם צִדְקוֹ
כִּי אֱלֹהִים שֹׁפֵט הוּא סֶלָה
וַיַּגִּידוּ
va-ya-gi-DU
and they declare
שָׁמַיִם
sha-MA-yim
the heavens
צִדְקוֹ
tzid-KO
His righteousness
And the heavens declare His righteousness,
for God Himself is the judge. Selah.
The witnesses testify before any charge is read, and what they attest to is the standing of the judge rather than the guilt of anybody in the room.
7
שִׁמְעָה עַמִּי וַאֲדַבֵּרָה
יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָעִידָה בָּךְ
אֱלֹהִים אֱלֹהֶיךָ אָנֹכִי
וַאֲדַבֵּרָה
va-a-da-be-RA
and let Me speak
Listen, My people, and I will speak;
יִשְׂרָאֵל
yis-ra-EL
Israel
וְאָעִידָה
ve-a-i-DA
and let Me testify
Israel, and I will testify against you.
אֱלֹהֶיךָ
e-lo-hei-CHA
your God
God, your God, am I.
The teaching formula, listen and I will speak, followed by the relationship that gives the speaker standing to accuse. He is not a prosecutor from outside.
8
לֹא עַל זְבָחֶיךָ אוֹכִיחֶךָ
וְעוֹלֹתֶיךָ לְנֶגְדִּי תָמִיד
זְבָחֶיךָ
ze-va-chei-CHA
your sacrifices
אוֹכִיחֶךָ
o-chi-che-CHA
do I reprove you
It is not for your sacrifices that I reprove you;
וְעוֹלֹתֶיךָ
ve-o-lo-tei-CHA
and your burnt offerings
לְנֶגְדִּי
le-neg-DI
are in front of Me
your burnt offerings are before Me continually.
The line that keeps the psalm from being an attack on the cult. The offerings arrive, they are accepted, they never stop. The dispute is somewhere else entirely.
9
לֹא אֶקַּח מִבֵּיתְךָ פָר
מִמִּכְלְאֹתֶיךָ עַתּוּדִים
מִבֵּיתְךָ
mi-beit-CHA
from your house
I will take no bull from your house,
מִמִּכְלְאֹתֶיךָ
mi-mich-le-o-tei-CHA
from your pens
עַתּוּדִים
a-tu-DIM
he-goats
no he-goats from your pens.
Two standard animals of the altar, refused here not because they are unfit but because taking them was never a transfer of property in the first place.
10
כִּי לִי כׇל חַיְתוֹ יָעַר
בְּהֵמוֹת בְּהַרְרֵי אָלֶף
For every beast of the forest is Mine,
בְּהֵמוֹת
be-he-MOT
the cattle
בְּהַרְרֵי
be-har-REI
on the hills of
the cattle on a thousand hills.
The reason, and it is ownership. What is carried to the altar belonged to Him before it was carried, so it cannot be a gift in the way the giver imagined.
11
יָדַעְתִּי כׇּל עוֹף הָרִים
וְזִיז שָׂדַי עִמָּדִי
הָרִים
ha-RIM
the mountains
I know every bird of the mountains,
וְזִיז
ve-ZIZ
and the teeming life of
עִמָּדִי
i-ma-DI
is with Me
and whatever stirs in the field is with Me.
The claim widens from livestock to everything that flies and creeps, that is, from the animals a person can own to the ones nobody can bring anywhere.
12
אִם אֶרְעַב לֹא אֹמַר לָךְ
כִּי לִי תֵבֵל וּמְלֹאָהּ
אֶרְעַב
er-AV
I were hungry
If I were hungry I would not tell you,
וּמְלֹאָהּ
um-lo-AH
and all that fills it
for the world is Mine, and all that fills it.
The reductio. Feeding is the logic of offering in the surrounding cultures, and the verse says the logic cannot even start, since hunger would presuppose a lack.
13
הַאוֹכַל בְּשַׂר אַבִּירִים
וְדַם עַתּוּדִים אֶשְׁתֶּה
הַאוֹכַל
ha-o-CHAL
do I eat
בְּשַׂר
be-SAR
the flesh of
Do I eat the flesh of bulls,
וְדַם
ve-DAM
or the blood of
עַתּוּדִים
a-tu-DIM
he-goats
אֶשְׁתֶּה
esh-TE
do I drink
or drink the blood of he-goats?
A rhetorical question with some brutality in it: the sacrificial meal is described as if God were at the table eating. Saying it out loud is the whole argument.
14
זְבַח לֵאלֹהִים תּוֹדָה
וְשַׁלֵּם לְעֶלְיוֹן נְדָרֶיךָ
Offer thanksgiving as your sacrifice to God,
וְשַׁלֵּם
ve-sha-LEM
and fulfil
לְעֶלְיוֹן
le-eli-ON
to the Most High
נְדָרֶיךָ
ne-da-rei-CHA
your vows
and pay your vows to the Most High.
The correction, and the hinge of the psalm. The verb still means slaughter, but its object is now thanks, and a vow is something you pay rather than something you feed to anyone.
15
וּקְרָאֵנִי בְּיוֹם צָרָה
אֲחַלֶּצְךָ וּתְכַבְּדֵנִי
וּקְרָאֵנִי
uk-ra-e-NI
and call Me
And call on Me on the day of trouble;
אֲחַלֶּצְךָ
a-cha-letz-CHA
I will rescue you
וּתְכַבְּדֵנִי
ut-chab-de-NI
and you will honour Me
I will rescue you, and you will honour Me.
What is wanted instead of provisions: to be called on. The exchange is laid out as a chain, call and rescue and honour, and the honour comes back to God at the end of it.
16
וְלָרָשָׁע אָמַר אֱלֹהִים
מַה לְּךָ לְסַפֵּר חֻקָּי
וַתִּשָּׂא בְרִיתִי עֲלֵי פִיךָ
וְלָרָשָׁע
ve-la-ra-SHA
but to the wicked man
But to the wicked man God says:
לְסַפֵּר
le-sa-PER
to recite
what business have you reciting My statutes,
וַתִּשָּׂא
va-ti-SA
that you carry
בְרִיתִי
vri-TI
My covenant
and carrying My covenant on your lips?
The second speech begins and the defendant changes. Nothing so far applied to this man. The charge against him is not sacrificing badly but reciting a covenant he has no part in.
17
וְאַתָּה שָׂנֵאתָ מוּסָר
וַתַּשְׁלֵךְ דְּבָרַי אַחֲרֶיךָ
שָׂנֵאתָ
sa-ne-TA
you have hated
You yourself hate correction,
וַתַּשְׁלֵךְ
va-tash-LECH
and you threw
אַחֲרֶיךָ
a-cha-rei-CHA
behind you
and you throw My words behind you.
The indictment proper, in two verbs of rejection. Behind the back is where a person puts what he has no intention of looking at again.
18
אִם רָאִיתָ גַנָּב וַתִּרֶץ עִמּוֹ
וְעִם מְנָאֲפִים חֶלְקֶךָ
וַתִּרֶץ
va-TI-retz
then you joined
When you saw a thief, you fell in with him,
מְנָאֲפִים
me-na-a-FIM
adulterers
חֶלְקֶךָ
chel-ke-CHA
is your portion
and your lot was with adulterers.
From attitude to the company he keeps. Theft here, adultery here, false speech in the next two verses: the charge sheet is the second tablet of the ten commandments.
19
פִּיךָ שָׁלַחְתָּ בְרָעָה
וּלְשׁוֹנְךָ תַּצְמִיד מִרְמָה
שָׁלַחְתָּ
sha-lach-TA
you have let loose
You let your mouth loose for evil,
וּלְשׁוֹנְךָ
ul-shon-CHA
and your tongue
תַּצְמִיד
tatz-MID
harnesses
and your tongue is harnessed to deceit.
Speech as the third count, and the mouth was already the problem back in verse 16, where it was carrying a covenant it had no right to carry.
20
תֵּשֵׁב בְּאָחִיךָ תְדַבֵּר
בְּבֶן אִמְּךָ תִּתֶּן דֹּפִי
בְּאָחִיךָ
be-a-chi-CHA
against your brother
תְדַבֵּר
te-da-BER
you speak
You sit and speak against your brother;
בְּבֶן
BE-ven
against the son of
against your own mother's son you lay a slander.
The last count and the closest to home. The victim is not a stranger, and the second half narrows the target further, to the son of the same mother.
21
אֵלֶּה עָשִׂיתָ וְהֶחֱרַשְׁתִּי
דִּמִּיתָ הֱיוֹת אֶהְיֶה כָמוֹךָ
אוֹכִיחֲךָ וְאֶעֶרְכָה לְעֵינֶיךָ
עָשִׂיתָ
a-si-TA
you have done
וְהֶחֱרַשְׁתִּי
ve-he-che-rash-TI
and I kept silent
These things you did, and I kept silent;
דִּמִּיתָ
di-mi-TA
you imagined
כָמוֹךָ
cha-mo-CHA
like you
you imagined that I would be just like you.
אוֹכִיחֲךָ
o-chi-cha-CHA
I will reprove you
וְאֶעֶרְכָה
ve-e-er-CHA
and I will set it in order
לְעֵינֶיךָ
le-ei-nei-CHA
before your eyes
I will reprove you and set the case out before your eyes.
The answer to the whole indictment, and the reason the silence of verse 3 mattered. The delay was read as agreement, and a God who waits was mistaken for a God shaped like the accused.
22
בִּינוּ נָא זֹאת שֹׁכְחֵי אֱלוֹהַּ
פֶּן אֶטְרֹף וְאֵין מַצִּיל
שֹׁכְחֵי
shoch-CHEI
you who forget
Understand this, you who forget God,
אֶטְרֹף
et-ROF
I tear apart
וְאֵין
ve-EIN
and there is no
or I will tear, and no one will rescue.
The warning, and the address goes plural for the first time since verse 5. Forgetting is named as the offence, not disbelief, and the verb of tearing is a predator's.
23
זֹבֵחַ תּוֹדָה יְכַבְּדָנְנִי
וְשָׂם דֶּרֶךְ אַרְאֶנּוּ בְּיֵשַׁע אֱלֹהִים
זֹבֵחַ
zo-VE-ach
the one who sacrifices
יְכַבְּדָנְנִי
ye-chab-dan-NI
honours Me
Whoever offers thanksgiving honours Me,
וְשָׂם
ve-SAM
and the one who sets
אַרְאֶנּוּ
ar-e-NU
I will show him
בְּיֵשַׁע
BYE-sha
in the salvation of
and to the one who sets his way straight I will show the salvation of God.
The verdict, and it is an offer rather than a sentence. The two halves supply exactly what was missing: thanks instead of provisions, and a way deliberately set rather than drifted into.
♦ 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 lawsuit, start to finish. Verse 1 is the summons, verse 4 calls heaven and earth as witnesses in the idiom Deuteronomy uses when the covenant is enforced, and verses 5 and 6 seat the court. Then two speeches: verses 7 to 15 to the people who bring offerings, verses 16 to 21 to the man who recites the covenant while breaking it. Verse 8 carries the whole reading, because it states outright that the sacrifices are not the charge. What is on trial is a theory about them, the one in which the animal is a delivery of goods to a God who needs goods. Verse 23 says what the offering was actually for.
רמז · Remez: allusion
The frame is a pun on silence. Verse 3 asks that God not stay silent, יֶחֱרַשׁ (ye-che-rash, v.3), and verse 21 discloses that He had been silent all along, וְהֶחֱרַשְׁתִּי (ve-he-che-rash-ti, v.21), the same root, and that the accused took the silence for consent. A second pun carries the resolution: תּוֹדָה (to-da, v.14) and תּוֹדָה (to-da, v.23) are the word todah, which means both thanks and the thanksgiving offering, so verse 14 can be heard as bring a thanksgiving sacrifice or as let thanks be your sacrifice, and the psalm seems to want both readings at once. וְזִיז (ve-ziz, v.11) is a rare noun, occurring only here and in one other psalm, usually taken as the teeming or moving life of the open country. וַתִּרֶץ (va-ti-retz, v.18) is unsettled too: the consonants can be traced to the root meaning to run or to the root meaning to be pleased with, so the man either ran along with the thief or simply approved of him.
דרש · Drash: midrashic reading
Verse 2 became a statement about Jerusalem in rabbinic hands: the Talmud has ten measures of beauty coming down to the world with nine of them taken by Jerusalem, and מִכְלַל (mich-lal, v.2) is the phrase it hangs on. Verse 5 gave the tradition חֲסִידָי (cha-si-dai, v.5), the faithful gathered in as those who cut a covenant over a sacrifice, and the line has been read both as the people who keep the covenant and as the people who give themselves up for it, since the sacrifice in the phrase has no stated object. On verse 14 there is a widely quoted midrashic saying that in the world to come every offering will cease except the thanksgiving offering. That reading turns the psalm from a critique of the sacrificial system into its distillation: what survives is the part that was never a payment.
סוד · Sod: mystical reading
Verse 1 stacks three divine names in three consecutive words, beginning at אֵל (el, v.1), and the mystical reading treats such a stack as the measures under which God is acting, strict judgement and compassion appearing together the moment a court convenes. The rest follows from the psalm's own argument. If nothing can be given to God that was not already His, then the only thing a person genuinely owns and can therefore offer is his intention, and וְשָׂם (ve-sam, v.23), the deliberate setting of a way, is the form that intention takes over time. The fire before Him and the storm around Him in verse 3 are the same apparatus as the mountain in Exodus, and hearing the two scenes together makes this trial a renewal of the covenant rather than its cancellation.