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Radak on Psalms 19:2

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2 ‎[1] **The heavens declare the glory of God:** – There are interpreters (Targumist and others) who take this as like "Or speak to the earth,and it shall teach thee" (Job 12:8), and "Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee" (ibid. 7); and so The heavens declare, for from the wonders and mighty works which man sees in the heavens he declares the glory of God. And this is what he (means when he) says: There is no speech nor words; Their voice cannot be heard, suggesting not that they declare in words, but from what man sees in them the sons of men declare the glory of God. We are able to explain declare with reference to the heavens and the firmament themselves, for by their course and circuit in an appointed order the glory of God – Blessed be He ! – is seen; and that is the "declaring" and "telling," on the analogy of "He sendeth out His commandment upon earth; His word runneth very swiftly." (Ps. 147:15.) And when he says: There is no speech nor words (he means) no words like the words of men, but the work they do stands for the words, and constitutes the "declaring" and the "telling"; and so he says: And their speech to the end of the world. The great teacher of righteousness, the great sage our Rabbi Moses, has interpreted (Guide for the Perplexed, 2. 5) "declare" of the heavens, for his opinion and that of the Philosophers is that the spheres are living intelligences, serving God and praising Him with great praise, and singing His glory in great and mighty songs. And so he says: The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament telleth His handywork, notwithstanding that the "declaring" and the "telling" are not with mouth and tongue. This is what he (means when he) says: There is neither speech nor language; Their voice cannot be heard, but the "declaring" and the "telling" are to them like an image of the words and praises which a man forms in his mind without their actual issuing forth in speech.

‎[2] **And the firmament telleth His handywork:** – A repetition, for it is equivalent to The heavens declare the glory of God; for the heavens are called "firmament," as it is said (Dan. 12:3) "as the brightness of the firmament" etc.; "and God set them in the firmament of the heavens" (Gen. 1:17); that is, according to the view of him who regards this as spoken with reference to the spheres. The learned Rabbi Abraham ben Ezra has expounded the firmament as meaning "the air."

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Version: R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919

Source: https://www.nli.org.il/he/books/NNL_ALEPH002055445

License: Public Domain

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