💾 Archived View for scholasticdiversity.us.to › scriptures › jewish › t › Steinsaltz%20on%20Psalms%2… captured on 2024-05-10 at 13:38:14. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
9 ‎[1] **For the chief musician, on the death of Laben,**** a psalm by David.** Written mostly in first-person singular, this psalm is intended to be studied and taught. To facilitate memorization, this Hebrew text, like many others, is arranged in an alphabetical acrostic. The alphabet is not complete, however, and there are non-alphabetical verses inserted between consecutive letters.
‎[2] **I will thank You, Lord, with all my heart. I will tell of all Your wonders.**
‎[3] **I will be glad and delight in You. I will sing for Your name, Most High. **
‎[4] **When my enemies are turned back, they stumble and perish before You. **
‎[5] This will occur,** for You have performed my judgment and my verdict. **When the time came for me to be judged by You, I knew that You would find my enemies guilty.** You sat on Your throne** of justice,** Judge of** **righteousness. **
‎[6] **You rebuked the nations, **and since God’s rebuke manifests itself in the physical world of man, the outcome is that these evil nations are struck down. **You obliterated the wicked **to such an extent that **You blotted out their name forever and ever.**
‎[7] **The enemy is no more, **and all that is left of their territory lies **in eternal ruin. You have destroyed their cities. **The word *natashta* is translated here as “You have destroyed,” similar to the word *natatzta*, “You have shattered.” **The memory of them is lost. **Not only have the cities fallen in conquest, but their memory has been obliterated as well.
‎[8] **But** in contrast to the aforementioned enemies whose end is described here,** the Lord will endure forever. He has prepared His throne for judgment, **
‎[9] **and He will judge the world in righteousness. He will administer fair judgment to the nations. **
‎[10] **The Lord is a fortress for the oppressed, a fortress in times of trouble. **
‎[11] **And those who know Your name, **who believe in You and recognize You, and are thus close to You, **place their trust in You, for You, Lord, do not forsake those who seek You. **
‎[12] **Sing to the Lord **a song of thanksgiving,** dweller in** **Zion; make His deeds known among the peoples.** Tell all the nations how He saved you from danger and from the attacks of your enemies.** **
‎[13] **For He avenges blood. **The word *doresh*, translated here as “avenges,” literally means “searches.” God investigates, as it were, incidents of bloodshed, and **He remembers them, **the righteous who have been unjustly slain. **He does not forget the cries of the humble, **those who have conducted themselves with righteousness and humility.
‎[14] **Be gracious to me, Lord; see my deprivation, inflicted** **by my enemies. You lift me up from the gates of death,**
‎[15] **so I might speak Your praise **when I experience Your salvation, **at the gates of the daughter of Zion.** The gates of a city were the public spaces, akin to a central plaza. **I rejoice in Your salvation** and tell others about it.
‎[16] In contrast to my joy, **the nations have sunk into the pit they made, their feet trapped in the nets they hid. **The evil nations will fall into the very pits they dug; their feet will be caught in the traps they set for others.
‎[17] **The Lord is known through the judgments He executes** throughout the world. **The evildoer is snared in the work of his own hands. Reflect upon this, Selah. **The word *higgayon*, translated here as “reflect upon this,” can mean: This topic deserves consideration; think about it and discuss it with others.
‎[18] **The wicked will return to, **or go in the direction of,** the netherworld. **Alternatively, one might say that in a certain sense, evildoers are creatures emanating from the netherworld who are forced to return to their origin. The same may be said of **all nations who have no memory of God. **
‎[19] **For the needy will not always be forgotten **and** the hopes of the poor forever lost. **Even if the needy appear to be abandoned, hope is not lost; God ultimately turns toward them.
‎[20] **Arise, Lord. **Stir Yourself to action and reveal Yourself through justice. **Let man not be arrogant. **The wicked will not prevail once God’s presence is revealed in the world; no one then will dare to be insolent. **Let the nations be judged in Your sight. **
‎[21] **Place fear in them, Lord. **While this spelling of *mora*, with a *heh*, means “edict,” some interpret the word in the sense of *mora* with an *alef*, meaning “fear.” Thus, the verse can either mean issue an edict against them or instill fear in them. Either way, this is **so that nations know they are but mortal men, Selah.** The nations must acknowledge that they are far from invincible; being human, they are *enosh*, “mortal,” and both their power and their very lives will inevitably come to an end. The use of the word is significant in this context, as it evokes the similarly spelled word *anush*, someone who is critically ill.
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
Source: https://korenpub.com/collections/the-steinsaltz-tanakh/products/steinsaltz-tanakh
License: Copyright: Steinsaltz Center