Thirty-six verses of victory procession, and the hardest Hebrew in the book. Something like a dozen words here occur nowhere else in the Bible, several more occur only in forms nobody can parse with confidence, and the ancient translators were already guessing at them. Read it as a march: God goes out from Sinai, crosses the wilderness, scatters kings, chooses a mountain over the taller ones and sits down on it, and the last third is the parade arriving at the sanctuary with singers in front, drummers in the middle and foreign envoys bringing tribute at the back. Many rites say it on Shavuot, on the strength of verse 19. The one thing to notice while learning it: how often these notes have to say that a word is uncertain. That is not caution on this page, it is the condition of the text.
1
לַמְנַצֵּחַ לְדָוִד
מִזְמוֹר שִׁיר
לַמְנַצֵּחַ
lam-na-TZE-ach
for the choirmaster
For the choirmaster. Of David.
Two genre words stacked at the end, psalm and song, which is unusual and tells the performer this is music for a procession rather than for private prayer.
2
יָקוּם אֱלֹהִים
יָפוּצוּ אוֹיְבָיו
וְיָנוּסוּ מְשַׂנְאָיו מִפָּנָיו
יָפוּצוּ
ya-fu-TZU
let them scatter
אוֹיְבָיו
oi-VAV
His enemies
let His enemies be scattered,
וְיָנוּסוּ
ve-ya-nu-SU
and let them flee
מְשַׂנְאָיו
me-san-AV
those who hate Him
מִפָּנָיו
mi-pa-NAV
from before Him
and let those who hate Him flee from before Him.
The opening is a rewriting of the words spoken whenever the ark set out, in Numbers 10:35. There it is an imperative addressed to God; here it is a third person wish, and the divine name has been changed. The psalm starts by quoting the moment a march begins.
3
כְּהִנְדֹּף עָשָׁן תִּנְדֹּף
כְּהִמֵּס דּוֹנַג מִפְּנֵי אֵשׁ
יֹאבְדוּ רְשָׁעִים מִפְּנֵי אֱלֹהִים
כְּהִנְדֹּף
ke-hin-DOF
as is driven off
תִּנְדֹּף
tin-DOF
may You drive off
As smoke is driven off, so drive them off;
כְּהִמֵּס
ke-hi-MES
as melts
מִפְּנֵי
mip-NEI
from before
as wax melts before fire,
יֹאבְדוּ
yov-DU
let them perish
רְשָׁעִים
re-sha-IM
the wicked
מִפְּנֵי
mip-NEI
from before
let the wicked perish before God.
Two images of something that cannot hold its shape, and both verbs of dissolution are passive or intransitive. Nothing is described as being fought. The enemy simply stops being able to stay solid.
4
וְצַדִּיקִים יִשְׂמְחוּ
יַעַלְצוּ לִפְנֵי אֱלֹהִים
וְיָשִׂישׂוּ בְשִׂמְחָה
וְצַדִּיקִים
ve-tza-di-KIM
but the righteous
יִשְׂמְחוּ
yis-me-CHU
will rejoice
But the righteous will rejoice,
יַעַלְצוּ
ya-al-TZU
they will exult
they will exult before God,
וְיָשִׂישׂוּ
ve-ya-si-SU
and they will be glad
בְשִׂמְחָה
ve-sim-CHA
with gladness
and they will be glad with gladness.
Three verbs of joy against the three verbs of dissolution in the verse before. The last one takes a noun from its own root, a Hebrew way of intensifying that English can only render as be glad with gladness.
5
שִׁירוּ לֵאלֹהִים זַמְּרוּ שְׁמוֹ
סֹלּוּ לָרֹכֵב בָּעֲרָבוֹת
בְּיָהּ שְׁמוֹ וְעִלְזוּ לְפָנָיו
זַמְּרוּ
zam-RU
make music to
Sing to God, make music to His name,
סֹלּוּ
so-LU
build a road for
לָרֹכֵב
la-ro-CHEV
the one riding
בָּעֲרָבוֹת
ba-a-ra-VOT
through the desert plains
build a road for the One who rides through the desert plains;
וְעִלְזוּ
ve-il-ZU
and exult
לְפָנָיו
le-fa-NAV
before Him
Yah is His name, and exult before Him.
The verb glossed build a road for is the one used of clearing and raising a highway, so the singing is itself the roadwork. The word after it, given here as desert plains, is contested and carries the whole picture with it; see the remez.
6
אֲבִי יְתוֹמִים וְדַיַּן אַלְמָנוֹת
אֱלֹהִים בִּמְעוֹן קׇדְשׁוֹ
יְתוֹמִים
ye-to-MIM
orphans
וְדַיַּן
ve-da-YAN
and judge of
אַלְמָנוֹת
al-ma-NOT
widows
Father of orphans and judge of widows
בִּמְעוֹן
bim-ON
in the dwelling of
קׇדְשׁוֹ
kod-SHO
His holiness
is God in His holy dwelling.
The storm rider is defined by two legal roles at the bottom of the social scale. Judge of widows means the one who takes their case, not the one who tries them.
7
אֱלֹהִים מוֹשִׁיב יְחִידִים בַּיְתָה
מוֹצִיא אֲסִירִים בַּכּוֹשָׁרוֹת
אַךְ סוֹרְרִים שָׁכְנוּ צְחִיחָה
יְחִידִים
ye-chi-DIM
the solitary
God settles the solitary in a home,
אֲסִירִים
a-si-RIM
prisoners
בַּכּוֹשָׁרוֹת
ba-ko-sha-ROT
into prosperity
brings prisoners out into prosperity;
סוֹרְרִים
sor-RIM
the rebellious
צְחִיחָה
tze-chi-CHA
a scorched land
only the rebellious dwell in a scorched land.
The word rendered into prosperity occurs only here and nobody knows what it means. Proposals include good fortune, singing, and at the right season. The sentence works whichever is chosen, which is why the guess has survived so long.
8
אֱלֹהִים בְּצֵאתְךָ לִפְנֵי עַמֶּךָ
בְּצַעְדְּךָ בִישִׁימוֹן סֶלָה
בְּצֵאתְךָ
be-tzet-CHA
when You went out
עַמֶּךָ
a-me-CHA
Your people
O God, when You went out before Your people,
בְּצַעְדְּךָ
be-tza-de-CHA
when You marched
בִישִׁימוֹן
vi-shi-MON
through the wasteland
when You marched through the wasteland. Selah.
Two infinitives with the suffix Your, one clause each, and no main verb until the next verse. The grammar leaves the sentence hanging on purpose while the earth answers it.
9
אֶרֶץ רָעָשָׁה
אַף שָׁמַיִם נָטְפוּ מִפְּנֵי אֱלֹהִים
זֶה סִינַי
מִפְּנֵי אֱלֹהִים אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
שָׁמַיִם
sha-MA-yim
the heavens
מִפְּנֵי
mip-NEI
from before
the heavens too poured down before God,
מִפְּנֵי
mip-NEI
from before
אֱלֹהֵי
e-lo-HEI
the God of
יִשְׂרָאֵל
yis-ra-EL
Israel
before God, the God of Israel.
The two words given here as this Sinai sit in the line with nothing attaching them grammatically to what surrounds them. Read as a demonstrative they are an aside pointing at the mountain; read as an old relative pronoun, which some Semitic languages have, they make a title, the One of Sinai.
10
גֶּשֶׁם נְדָבוֹת תָּנִיף אֱלֹהִים
נַחֲלָתְךָ וְנִלְאָה אַתָּה כוֹנַנְתָּהּ
נְדָבוֹת
ne-da-VOT
of free gifts
תָּנִיף
ta-NIF
You shook down
A rain of free gifts You shook down, O God;
נַחֲלָתְךָ
na-cha-lat-CHA
Your inheritance
וְנִלְאָה
ve-nil-A
and it was weary
כוֹנַנְתָּהּ
cho-nan-TAH
set it firm
Your inheritance, when it was weary, You Yourself set firm.
Rain of free gifts uses the word for a voluntary offering, so the downpour is described as a donation rather than as weather. The second half is compressed to the point of ambiguity: it is not certain whether the inheritance is the land or the people.
11
חַיָּתְךָ יָשְׁבוּ בָהּ
תָּכִין בְּטוֹבָתְךָ לֶעָנִי אֱלֹהִים
חַיָּתְךָ
cha-yat-CHA
Your living company
Your living company settled in it;
תָּכִין
ta-CHIN
You provide
בְּטוֹבָתְךָ
be-to-vat-CHA
in Your goodness
לֶעָנִי
le-a-NI
for the poor
in Your goodness You provide for the poor, O God.
The first word is the ordinary noun for a living creature, in the singular with Your attached, used here for a group. Translations pick flock, troop or community according to whether they read the march as pastoral or military.
12
אֲדֹנָי יִתֶּן אֹמֶר
הַמְבַשְּׂרוֹת צָבָא רָב
הַמְבַשְּׂרוֹת
ham-vas-ROT
the women announcing it
the women who bring the news are a great army.
The participle for those who bring the news is feminine plural, so the messengers of victory are women, as in the songs of Miriam and Deborah. English translations that write heralds erase the grammar; the ending is unambiguous.
13
מַלְכֵי צְבָאוֹת יִדֹּדוּן יִדֹּדוּן
וּנְוַת בַּיִת תְּחַלֵּק שָׁלָל
מַלְכֵי
mal-CHEI
the kings of
יִדֹּדוּן
yi-do-DUN
they flee
יִדֹּדוּן
yi-do-DUN
they flee
Kings of armies flee, they flee;
וּנְוַת
un-VAT
and she who abides at
תְּחַלֵּק
te-cha-LEK
divides
and she who stays at the house divides the spoil.
The verb is repeated with no conjunction, which in Hebrew reads as continuous action, running and running. The woman at home dividing the plunder is the last word of a battle report, and the phrase behind she who abides is not certain; some read it as the beauty of the house.
14
אִם תִּשְׁכְּבוּן בֵּין שְׁפַתָּיִם
כַּנְפֵי יוֹנָה נֶחְפָּה בַכֶּסֶף
וְאֶבְרוֹתֶיהָ בִּירַקְרַק חָרוּץ
תִּשְׁכְּבוּן
tish-ke-VUN
you lie down
שְׁפַתָּיִם
shfa-ta-YIM
the sheepfolds
When you lie down among the sheepfolds,
כַּנְפֵי
kan-FEI
the wings of
נֶחְפָּה
nech-PA
are sheathed
בַכֶּסֶף
va-KE-sef
in silver
the wings of a dove are sheathed in silver,
וְאֶבְרוֹתֶיהָ
ve-ev-ro-tei-A
and her pinions
בִּירַקְרַק
bi-rak-RAK
in the yellow-green of
her pinions in yellow-green gold.
One of the least understood verses in the psalter. The word given here as sheepfolds is a dual noun that appears in one other place and may mean sheepfolds, saddlebags or ash heaps, and nobody can say how the silver dove follows from lying down among them. The image is beautiful and the sentence is broken.
15
בְּפָרֵשׂ שַׁדַּי מְלָכִים בָּהּ
תַּשְׁלֵג בְּצַלְמוֹן
בְּפָרֵשׂ
be-fa-RES
when scatters
When Shaddai scattered kings in it,
תַּשְׁלֵג
tash-LEG
it snows
בְּצַלְמוֹן
be-tzal-MON
on Zalmon
it snowed on Zalmon.
Snow on a dark wooded hill, immediately after scattered kings. Whether the snow is a picture of the whitened bones of a defeated army, or of drifting fugitives, or simply a change of weather marking the event, the verse does not say.
16
הַר אֱלֹהִים הַר בָּשָׁן
הַר גַּבְנֻנִּים הַר בָּשָׁן
A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan,
גַּבְנֻנִּים
gav-nu-NIM
many peaks
a mountain of many peaks is the mountain of Bashan.
The word mountain four times in eight words. Mountain of God here works as a superlative, an enormous mountain, and the compliment is set up only so that the next verse can take it away.
17
לָמָּה תְּרַצְּדוּן הָרִים גַּבְנֻנִּים
הָהָר חָמַד אֱלֹהִים לְשִׁבְתּוֹ
אַף יְהֹוָה יִשְׁכֹּן לָנֶצַח
תְּרַצְּדוּן
te-ratz-DUN
do you look with envy
גַּבְנֻנִּים
gav-nu-NIM
of many peaks
Why do you look on with envy, you many-peaked mountains,
לְשִׁבְתּוֹ
le-shiv-TO
for His seat
at the mountain God desired for His seat?
יִשְׁכֹּן
yish-KON
will dwell
לָנֶצַח
la-ne-TZACH
forever
The LORD will dwell there forever.
The whole argument of the middle of the psalm: the chosen mountain is not the tallest one. The verb glossed look with envy occurs only here and is guessed at from context, look askance, watch resentfully, or possibly leap about.
18
רֶכֶב אֱלֹהִים רִבֹּתַיִם אַלְפֵי שִׁנְאָן
אֲדֹנָי בָֿם סִינַי בַּקֹּדֶשׁ
רֶכֶב
RE-chev
the chariotry of
רִבֹּתַיִם
ri-bo-TA-yim
twice ten thousand
אַלְפֵי
al-FEI
thousands of
שִׁנְאָן
shin-AN
repetition
The chariotry of God is twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands;
בַּקֹּדֶשׁ
ba-KO-desh
in holiness
the Lord is among them, Sinai in holiness.
The last word of the count appears nowhere else in the Bible. Thousands upon thousands renders the guess that it comes from a root meaning to repeat; readings taking it as a place, a class of angels or a scribal slip have all been proposed. The second line is four words with no verb in it.
19
עָלִיתָ לַמָּרוֹם שָׁבִיתָ שֶּׁבִי
לָקַחְתָּ מַתָּנוֹת בָּאָדָם
וְאַף סוֹרְרִים לִשְׁכֹּן יָהּ אֱלֹהִים
עָלִיתָ
a-li-TA
You went up
לַמָּרוֹם
la-ma-ROM
to the height
שָׁבִיתָ
sha-vi-TA
You took captive
You went up to the height, You took captives,
לָקַחְתָּ
la-kach-TA
You took
בָּאָדָם
ba-a-DAM
among humankind
You took gifts among men,
לִשְׁכֹּן
lish-KON
so as to dwell
even from rebels, so that Yah God might dwell there.
The best known verse of the psalm, and the reason it is read on Shavuot. The Hebrew says gifts were taken, not given; the direction of the exchange is part of what the later readings argue about. See the drash.
20
בָּרוּךְ אֲדֹנָי
יוֹם יוֹם יַעֲמׇס לָנוּ
הָאֵל יְשׁוּעָתֵנוּ סֶלָה
בָּרוּךְ
ba-RUCH
blessed is
Blessed is the Lord,
יַעֲמׇס
ya-a-MOS
He carries the load
day by day He carries the load for us,
יְשׁוּעָתֵנוּ
ye-shu-a-te-NU
our deliverance
the God who is our deliverance. Selah.
The verb in the middle is the one used for loading a pack animal, and the preposition after it can mean for us or onto us. So the line reads either He carries our burden or He loads us up, and both have been defended. Day by day is a doubled noun, the Hebrew way of saying every single day.
21
הָאֵל לָנוּ אֵל לְמוֹשָׁעוֹת
וְלֵיהֹוִה אֲדֹנָי לַמָּוֶת תֹּצָאוֹת
לְמוֹשָׁעוֹת
le-mo-sha-OT
of deliverances
The God for us is a God of deliverances,
וְלֵיהֹוִה
ve-lei-ho-VI
and to the LORD
לַמָּוֶת
la-MA-vet
for death
תֹּצָאוֹת
to-tza-OT
are the ways out
and to the LORD, the Lord, belong the ways out from death.
Deliverances is plural, which reads as repeated rescues rather than one final one. The last word means exits or outlets, the same noun used for the boundary points of a territory, so death is described as a place with doors that belong to someone else.
22
אַךְ אֱלֹהִים יִמְחַץ רֹאשׁ אֹיְבָיו
קׇדְקֹד שֵׂעָר מִתְהַלֵּךְ בַּאֲשָׁמָיו
יִמְחַץ
yim-CHATZ
will smash
אֹיְבָיו
oi-VAV
His enemies
Surely God will smash the head of His enemies,
קׇדְקֹד
kod-KOD
the crown of
מִתְהַלֵּךְ
mit-ha-LECH
of one who walks on
בַּאֲשָׁמָיו
ba-a-sha-MAV
in his guilt
the hairy crown of the one who walks on in his guilt.
The march turns violent again. The participle glossed walks on is the reflexive form used for going about one's business, so the enemy is not caught fighting but caught continuing, which is the point of the line.
23
אָמַר אֲדֹנָי
מִבָּשָׁן אָשִׁיב אָשִׁיב
מִמְּצֻלוֹת יָם
מִבָּשָׁן
mi-ba-SHAN
from Bashan
אָשִׁיב
a-SHIV
I will bring back
אָשִׁיב
a-SHIV
I will bring back
From Bashan I will bring back, I will bring back
מִמְּצֻלוֹת
mim-tzu-LOT
from the depths of
from the depths of the sea,
Bashan is the high ground of verse 16 and the sea depths are its opposite, so the pair means from the top of the world to the bottom of it. What gets brought back is not stated, and translations supply either the enemy or the exiles.
24
לְמַעַן תִּמְחַץ רַגְלְךָ בְּדָם
לְשׁוֹן כְּלָבֶיךָ מֵאֹיְבִים מִנֵּהוּ
תִּמְחַץ
tim-CHATZ
you may smash
רַגְלְךָ
rag-le-CHA
your foot
so that your foot may smash through blood,
לְשׁוֹן
le-SHON
the tongue of
כְּלָבֶיךָ
kla-vei-CHA
your dogs
מֵאֹיְבִים
me-oi-VIM
from the enemies
מִנֵּהוּ
mi-ne-HU
its portion
the tongue of your dogs have its portion from the enemies.
The same verb as in verse 22, now with a human subject. The last word is obscure and the line has been read as wade rather than smash on the strength of a similar-looking root; either way this is the most brutal image in the psalm, and it is addressed to the listener, not to God.
25
רָאוּ הֲלִיכוֹתֶיךָ אֱלֹהִים
הֲלִיכוֹת אֵלִי מַלְכִּי בַקֹּדֶשׁ
הֲלִיכוֹתֶיךָ
ha-li-cho-tei-CHA
Your processions
They have seen Your processions, O God,
הֲלִיכוֹת
ha-li-CHOT
the processions of
בַקֹּדֶשׁ
va-KO-desh
into the sanctuary
the processions of my God, my King, into the sanctuary.
The camera turns. Everything up to here was reported; from here it is watched, and the noun repeated twice is the plural of a word for a way of walking, so what is seen is the gait of the procession rather than its destination.
26
קִדְּמוּ שָׁרִים
אַחַר נֹגְנִים
בְּתוֹךְ עֲלָמוֹת תּוֹפֵפוֹת
קִדְּמוּ
kid-MU
went in front
Singers went in front,
בְּתוֹךְ
be-TOCH
in the midst of
עֲלָמוֹת
a-la-MOT
young women
תּוֹפֵפוֹת
to-fe-FOT
beating hand drums
among young women beating hand drums.
The order of the parade, given as a stage direction with no verb in the middle clause. The drummers are the same instrument and the same social role as the women at the Sea in Exodus 15:20.
27
בְּמַקְהֵלוֹת בָּרְכוּ אֱלֹהִים אֲדֹנָי
מִמְּקוֹר יִשְׂרָאֵל
בְּמַקְהֵלוֹת
be-mak-he-LOT
in assemblies
In assemblies bless God, the Lord,
מִמְּקוֹר
mim-KOR
from the fountain of
יִשְׂרָאֵל
yis-ra-EL
Israel
you who are from Israel's fountain.
Fountain of Israel is a metaphor for descent, the spring a people flows from. The line is what the procession is chanting, quoted inside the description of it.
28
שָׁם בִּנְיָמִן צָעִיר רֹדֵם
שָׂרֵי יְהוּדָה רִגְמָתָם
שָׂרֵי זְבֻלוּן שָׂרֵי נַפְתָּלִי
בִּנְיָמִן
bin-ya-MIN
Benjamin
There is Benjamin, the youngest, leading them,
שָׂרֵי
sa-REI
the princes of
רִגְמָתָם
rig-ma-TAM
their throng
the princes of Judah in their throng,
שָׂרֵי
sa-REI
the princes of
שָׂרֵי
sa-REI
the princes of
נַפְתָּלִי
naf-ta-LI
Naphtali
the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.
Four tribes only, two from the south and two from the far north, standing for the whole. The word glossed their throng occurs once in the Bible and its meaning is unknown; throng, council and shouting have all been proposed.
29
צִוָּה אֱלֹהֶיךָ עֻזֶּךָ
עוּזָּה אֱלֹהִים
זוּ פָּעַלְתָּ לָּנוּ
צִוָּה
tzi-VA
has commanded
אֱלֹהֶיךָ
e-lo-hei-CHA
your God
עֻזֶּךָ
u-ze-CHA
your strength
Your God has commanded your strength;
פָּעַלְתָּ
pa-al-TA
You have done
You who have acted for us.
The first three words can be pointed as a statement, your God has ordained your strength, or as an imperative addressed to God, command Your strength. The versions split on it, and the difference decides who is being asked for something in this verse.
30
מֵהֵיכָלֶךָ עַל יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם
לְךָ יוֹבִילוּ מְלָכִים שָׁי
מֵהֵיכָלֶךָ
me-hei-cha-le-CHA
from Your temple
יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם
ye-ru-sha-LA-yim
Jerusalem
From Your temple above Jerusalem,
יוֹבִילוּ
yo-vi-LU
they will bring
kings will bring You tribute.
The march has arrived, and the direction of traffic reverses: until now God has been coming in, from here the nations come in. Tribute is a single short word, the formal term for a present brought to a sovereign.
31
גְּעַר חַיַּת קָנֶה
עֲדַת אַבִּירִים בְּעֶגְלֵי עַמִּים
מִתְרַפֵּס בְּרַצֵּי כָסֶף
בִּזַּר עַמִּים קְרָבוֹת יֶחְפָּצוּ
חַיַּת
cha-YAT
the beast of
Rebuke the beast of the reeds,
בְּעֶגְלֵי
be-eg-LEI
among the calves of
the herd of bulls among the calves of the peoples,
מִתְרַפֵּס
mit-ra-PES
trampling
בְּרַצֵּי
bra-TZEI
on pieces of
trampling on pieces of silver.
בִּזַּר
bi-ZAR
He has scattered
יֶחְפָּצוּ
yech-pa-TZU
they delight in
He has scattered the peoples who delight in battles.
The most damaged verse in the psalm. The beast of the reeds is usually taken as a marsh animal standing for Egypt, the bulls and calves as rulers and their followers, and the two words before silver are so uncertain that translations range from submitting himself to trampling to scattering.
32
יֶאֱתָיוּ חַשְׁמַנִּים מִנִּי מִצְרָיִם
כּוּשׁ תָּרִיץ יָדָיו לֵאלֹהִים
יֶאֱתָיוּ
ye-e-tai-U
they will come
חַשְׁמַנִּים
chash-ma-NIM
envoys
מִצְרָיִם
mitz-ra-YIM
Egypt
Envoys will come out of Egypt;
Cush will hurry to stretch out its hands to God.
The word glossed envoys occurs only here. Envoys is a guess supported by similar-looking words in neighbouring languages; bronze objects and nobles have also been proposed. Cush is the region south of Egypt, along the upper Nile.
33
מַמְלְכוֹת הָאָרֶץ
שִׁירוּ לֵאלֹהִים זַמְּרוּ אֲדֹנָי סֶלָה
מַמְלְכוֹת
mam-le-CHOT
the kingdoms of
הָאָרֶץ
ha-A-retz
the earth
Kingdoms of the earth,
זַמְּרוּ
zam-RU
make music to
sing to God, make music to the Lord. Selah.
The two imperatives of verse 5 come back, addressed now to the kingdoms rather than to Israel. The psalm closes by handing its own opening line to everyone else.
34
לָרֹכֵב בִּשְׁמֵי שְׁמֵי קֶדֶם
הֵן יִתֵּן בְּקוֹלוֹ קוֹל עֹז
לָרֹכֵב
la-ro-CHEV
to the one riding
בִּשְׁמֵי
bish-MEI
in the heavens of
שְׁמֵי
shmei
the heavens of
to the One who rides the highest heavens, the ancient ones;
בְּקוֹלוֹ
be-ko-LO
with His voice
behold, He sounds His voice, a voice of power.
The rider of verse 5 returns, and this time the place he rides is unambiguous, the heavens of heavens. That the doubtful word in verse 5 gets replaced here by a clear one is itself an argument in the dispute over what it meant.
35
תְּנוּ עֹז לֵאלֹהִים
עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל גַּאֲוָתוֹ
וְעֻזּוֹ בַּשְּׁחָקִים
יִשְׂרָאֵל
yis-ra-EL
Israel
גַּאֲוָתוֹ
ga-a-va-TO
His majesty
His majesty is over Israel,
וְעֻזּוֹ
ve-u-ZO
and His strength
בַּשְּׁחָקִים
bash-cha-KIM
in the clouds
and His strength in the clouds.
Give strength to God is not a contribution but an acknowledgement, the same idiom as in Psalm 29. The verse divides the territory: majesty over one people, strength across the sky.
36
נוֹרָא אֱלֹהִים מִמִּקְדָּשֶׁיךָ
אֵל יִשְׂרָאֵל הוּא נֹתֵן עֹז וְתַעֲצֻמוֹת לָעָם
בָּרוּךְ אֱלֹהִים
מִמִּקְדָּשֶׁיךָ
mi-mik-da-shei-CHA
from Your sanctuaries
Awesome is God from Your sanctuaries;
יִשְׂרָאֵל
yis-ra-EL
Israel
וְתַעֲצֻמוֹת
ve-ta-a-tzu-MOT
and might
the God of Israel, He gives strength and might to the people.
בָּרוּךְ
ba-RUCH
blessed is
Blessed is God.
The strength the congregation was told to ascribe in the verse before is handed straight back to them here, by the same noun. The psalm ends on two words, blessed and God, which is as short as a closing formula gets.
♦ 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 march in three movements. Verses 2 to 11 are the departure: God rises, the enemy dissolves, the column goes out through the wilderness and the mountain shakes. Verses 12 to 24 are the campaign: kings run, spoil is divided, a mountain is chosen and occupied, captives and tribute are taken. Verses 25 to 36 are the arrival, and the pace changes completely, because now the poem is describing something being watched rather than something being done. Singers in front, instrumentalists behind, drummers in the middle, four tribes named, then envoys from Egypt and Cush, then the kingdoms of the earth told to sing the same two verbs Israel was told to sing in verse 5. Read the geography and the argument is plain: the movement is from Sinai to Jerusalem, from a mountain in the desert to a smaller hill that was chosen over taller ones, and the whole psalm exists to say that the God of the wilderness now has an address.
רמז · Remez: allusion
This is the hardest text in the Psalter and the honest report is a list of unsolved words. The largest is בָּעֲרָבוֹת (ba-a-ra-vot, v.5) in the call to prepare a road for the rider. The Masoretic pointing gives the plural of the noun for desert plain, and the sense is then the One who rides through the steppes, which fits a psalm about crossing a wilderness. A second reading takes it as a cognate of the word for cloud found in Ugaritic poetry, where the storm god carries the standing title rider of the clouds, and reads the One who rides the clouds. Verse 34 gives the same participle with an unambiguous sky word, which is evidence for the cloud reading; verse 8 gives the desert with an unambiguous word, which is evidence for the other. Neither is decisive. Around it sit words that occur once and are guessed from context: בַּכּוֹשָׁרוֹת (ba-ko-sha-rot, v.7), תְּרַצְּדוּן (te-ratz-dun, v.17), שִׁנְאָן (shin-an, v.18), רִגְמָתָם (rig-ma-tam, v.28), חַשְׁמַנִּים (chash-ma-nim, v.32). And זֶה (ze, v.9) with סִינַי (si-nai, v.9) may be a demonstrative, this Sinai, or an archaic relative particle of the kind Arabic still has, giving the One of Sinai as a title. When a translation of this psalm reads smoothly, that fluency was added by the translator.
דרש · Drash: midrashic reading
Verse 19 carries most of the later reading. You went up to the height, you took captive, you took gifts among men: the Talmud reads the ascent as Moses going up Sinai and the gifts as the Torah, brought down to human beings over the objection of the angels, and this is why the psalm is attached to Shavuot in the rites that assign it there. Note what the reading does with the grammar. The Hebrew says gifts were received, and the midrashic reading turns the receiving into a delivery, on the argument that what Moses took he took in order to give. Verse 28 has its own history: the Talmud brings it into the dispute about which tribe went into the Reed Sea first, dividing רֹדֵם (ro-dem, v.28) into two words so that Benjamin the youngest is not ruling them but going down to the sea. Verse 6, father of orphans and judge of widows, is the verse most often quoted from this psalm outside of any of that, and it is quoted for itself.
סוד · Sod: mystical reading
The Talmud's list of the seven heavens takes the name of the highest, Aravot, from בָּעֲרָבוֹת (ba-a-ra-vot, v.5) of this psalm, reading the rider not as crossing a desert but as enthroned above the outermost firmament, where justice and righteousness and the treasuries of life are stored. That is the mystical resolution of the philological problem in the remez: the obscure word is not decided between desert and cloud, it is read as the proper name of a place that is neither. On that reading the psalm's whole geography becomes vertical. The going out of verse 8 and the going up of verse 19 are one movement seen from two ends, and the mountain God desired for a seat in verse 17 is the point where the highest heaven touches a specific hill that is not the tallest one available. The chosen thing being smaller than its rivals is the recurring shape here, and the kabbalistic tradition treats it as the rule rather than the exception: a vessel receives in proportion to how little it insists on its own height.