Psalms as Ancient Hebrew Texts

A psalm of praise. Of David.

1 I will exalt you, my God the King;
    I will praise your name for ever and ever.
2 Every day I will praise you
    and extol your name for ever and ever.

3 Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
    his greatness no one can fathom.
4 One generation commends your works to another;
    they tell of your mighty acts.
5 They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—
    and I will meditate on your wonderful works.[b]
6 They tell of the power of your awesome works—
    and I will proclaim your great deeds.
7 They celebrate your abundant goodness
    and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
    slow to anger and rich in love.

9 The Lord is good to all;
    he has compassion on all he has made.
10 All your works praise you, Lord;
    your faithful people extol you.
11 They tell of the glory of your kingdom
    and speak of your might,
12 so that all people may know of your mighty acts
    and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
    and your dominion endures through all generations.

The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises
    and faithful in all he does.[c]
14 The Lord upholds all who fall
    and lifts up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to you,
    and you give them their food at the proper time.
16 You open your hand
    and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
    and faithful in all he does.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
    he hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord watches over all who love him,
    but all the wicked he will destroy.

21 My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.
    Let every creature praise his holy name
    for ever and ever.

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 145:1 This psalm is an acrostic poem, the verses of which (including verse 13b) begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
2. Psalm 145:5 Dead Sea Scrolls and Syriac (see also Septuagint); Masoretic Text On the glorious splendor of your majesty / and on your wonderful works I will meditate
3. Psalm 145:13 One manuscript of the Masoretic Text, Dead Sea Scrolls and Syriac (see also Septuagint); most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text do not have the last two lines of verse 13.

Thanksgiving and Praise

A Psalm of David.

138 I give thee thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
    before the gods I sing thy praise;
2 I bow down toward thy holy temple
    and give thanks to thy name for thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness;
for thou hast exalted above everything
    thy name and thy word.[a]
3 On the day I called, thou didst answer me,
    my strength of soul thou didst increase.[b]

4 All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord,
    for they have heard the words of thy mouth;
5 and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
    for great is the glory of the Lord.
6 For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly;
    but the haughty he knows from afar.

7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
    thou dost preserve my life;
thou dost stretch out thy hand against the wrath of my enemies,
    and thy right hand delivers me.
8 The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me;
    thy steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever.
    Do not forsake the work of thy hands.

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 138:2 Cn: Heb thou hast exalted thy word above all thy name
2. Psalm 138:3 Syr Compare Gk Tg: Heb thou didst make me arrogant in my soul with strength

Psalms of lament for a community

Plea for Help in Evil Times

To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.

12 Help, Lord; for there is no longer any that is godly;
    for the faithful have vanished from among the sons of men.
2 Every one utters lies to his neighbor;
    with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

3 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
    the tongue that makes great boasts,
4 those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,
    our lips are with us; who is our master?”

5 “Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan,
    I will now arise,” says the Lord;
    “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
6 The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure,
    silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
    purified seven times.

7 Do thou, O Lord, protect us,
    guard us ever from this generation.
8 On every side the wicked prowl,
    as vileness is exalted among the sons of men.

Psalm of individual lament

Trust in God under Adversity

A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.

3 O Lord, how many are my foes!
    Many are rising against me;
2 many are saying of me,
    there is no help for him in God.Selah

3 But thou, O Lord, art a shield about me,
    my glory, and the lifter of my head.
4 I cry aloud to the Lord,
    and he answers me from his holy hill.Selah

5 I lie down and sleep;
    I wake again, for the Lord sustains me.
6 I am not afraid of ten thousands of people
    who have set themselves against me round about.

7 Arise, O Lord!
    Deliver me, O my God!
For thou dost smite all my enemies on the cheek,
    thou dost break the teeth of the wicked.

8 Deliverance belongs to the Lord;
    thy blessing be upon thy people!Selah

Notes:

• psalms: for thanksgiving, individual lamentation, royal psalms
• community-building - nation-building
• Judaism as a theocracy
• daily life is *governed* by religion
• a Jew cannot be an individual
• *prescriptive vs descriptive*
• Tora and Talmud
• Richard II (where Shakespeare evokes pathos), Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah (lyrics)(explanation here)
• they were a wandering community, therefore community identity is *a must*
• And this community identity is the reason they are resilient - they have survived the Holocaust, and, before that, the rise of Christianity
• Why is Antisemitism a common sentiment at all?

1. any religion this strict get no patience from others
2. economics