I will extol You, my God and king,
and bless Your name forever and ever.
2Every day will I bless You
and praise Your name forever and ever.
3Great is the LORD and much acclaimed;
His greatness cannot be fathomed.
4One generation shall laud Your works to another
and declare Your mighty acts.
5The glorious majesty of Your splendor
a-and Your wondrous acts-a will I recite.
6Men shall talk of the might of Your awesome deeds,
and I will recount Your greatness.
7They shall celebrate Your abundant goodness,
and sing joyously of Your beneficence.
8The LORD is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
9The LORD is good to all,
and His mercy is upon all His works.
10All Your works shall praise You, O LORD,
and Your faithful ones shall bless You.
11They shall talk of the majesty of Your kingship,
and speak of Your might,
12to make His mighty acts known among men
and the majestic glory of His kingship.
13Your kingship is an eternal kingship;
Your dominion is for all generations.
14The LORD supports all who stumble,
and makes all who are bent stand straight.
15The eyes of all look to You expectantly,
and You give them their food when it is due.
16You give it openhandedly,
feeding every creature to its heart’s content.
17The LORD is beneficent in all His ways
and faithful in all His works.
18The LORD is near to all who call Him,
to all who call Him with sincerity.
19He fulfills the wishes of those who fear Him;
He hears their cry and delivers them.
20The LORD watches over all who love Him,
but all the wicked He will destroy.
21My mouth shall utter the praise of the LORD,
and all creaturesb shall bless His holy name forever and ever.
146 Hallelujah.
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
2I will praise the LORD all my life,
sing hymns to my God while I exist.
3Put not your trust in the great,
in mortal man who cannot save.
4His breath departs;
he returns to the dust;
on that day his plans come to nothing.
5Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,
6maker of heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
7who secures justice for those who are wronged,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free;
8The LORD restores sight to the blind;
the LORD makes those who are bent stand straight;
the LORD loves the righteous;
9The LORD watches over the stranger;
He gives courage to the orphan and widow,
but makes the path of the wicked tortuous.
10The LORD shall reign forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Hallelujah.
147 Hallelujah.
It is good to chant hymns to our God;
it is pleasant to sing glorious praise.
2The LORD rebuilds Jerusalem;
He gathers in the exiles of Israel.
3He heals their broken hearts,
and binds up their wounds.
4He reckoned the number of the stars;
to each He gave its name.
5Great is our LORD and full of power;
His wisdom is beyond reckoning.
6The LORD gives courage to the lowly,
and brings the wicked down to the dust.
7Sing to the LORD a song of praise,
chant a hymn with a lyre to our God,
8who covers the heavens with clouds,
provides rain for the earth,
makes mountains put forth grass;
9who gives the beasts their food,
to the raven’s brood what they cry for.
10He does not prize the strength of horses,
nor value the fleetnessa of men;
11but the LORD values those who fear Him,
those who depend on His faithful care.
12O Jerusalem, glorify the LORD;
praise your God, O Zion!
13For He made the bars of your gates strong,
and blessed your children within you.
14He endows your realm with well-being,
and satisfies you with choice wheat.
15He sends forth His word to the earth;
His command runs swiftly.
16He lays down snow like fleece,
scatters frost like ashes.
17He tosses down hail like crumbs—
who can endure His icy cold?
18He issues a command—it melts them;
He breathes—the waters flow.
19He issued His commands to Jacob,
His statutes and rules to Israel.
20He did not do so for any other nation;
of such rules they know nothing.
Hallelujah.
148 Hallelujah.
Praise the LORD from the heavens;
praise Him on high.
2Praise Him, all His angels,
praise Him, all His hosts.
3Praise Him, sun and moon,
praise Him, all bright stars.
4Praise Him, highest heavens,
and you waters that are above the heavens.
5Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for it was He who commanded that they be created.
6He made them endure forever,
establishing an order that shall never change.
7Praise the LORD, O you who are on earth,
all sea monsters and ocean depths,
8fire and hail, snow and smoke,
storm wind that executes His command,
9all mountains and hills,
all fruit trees and cedars,
10all wild and tamed beasts,
creeping things and winged birds,
11all kings and peoples of the earth,
all princes of the earth and its judges,
12youths and maidens alike,
old and young together.
13Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for His name, His alone, is sublime;
His splendor covers heaven and earth.
14He has exalted the horn of His people
for the glory of all His faithful ones,
Israel, the people close to Him.
Hallelujah.
149 Hallelujah.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
His praises in the congregation of the faithful.
2Let Israel rejoice in its maker;
let the children of Zion exult in their king.
3Let them praise His name in dance;
with timbrel and lyre let them chant His praises.
4For the LORD delights in His people;
He adorns the lowly with victory.
5Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them shout for joy upon their couches,
6with paeans to God in their throats
and two-edged swords in their hands,
7to impose retribution upon the nations,
punishment upon the peoples,
8binding their kings with shackles,
their nobles with chains of iron,
9executing the doom decreed against them.
This is the glory of all His faithful.
Hallelujah.
150 Hallelujah.
Praise God in His sanctuary;
praise Him in the sky, His stronghold.
2Praise Him for His mighty acts;
praise Him fora His exceeding greatness.
3Praise Him with blasts of the horn;
praise Him with harp and lyre.
4Praise Him with timbrel and dance;
praise Him with lute and pipe.
5Praise Him with resounding cymbals;
praise Him with loud-clashing cymbals.
6Let all that breathes praise the LORD.
Hallelujah.
a Or “recites”; lit. “utters.”
b-b Or “he does prospers.”
a Lit. “utter.”
b-b Compare 2 Sam. 7.14, and Ps. 89.27 ff.
c-c Meaning of Heb. uncertain; others “rejoice with trembling.”
d-d Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
a A liturgical direction of uncertain meaning.
b Lit. “cheek.”
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b Others “be still.”
c-c Lit. “Lift up the light of Your countenance upon us”; cf. Num. 6.25 f.
d-d Or “for You, O LORD, keep me alone and secure.”
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b-b Or “as You are righteous, lead me.”
c Lit. “mouth.”
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b-b Meaning of Heb. uncertain; others “or stripped my foe clean.”
c-c Or “in Your fury against my foes.”
d Lit. “kidneys.”
e-e Cf. Ibn Ezra and Kimhi; lit. “My Shield is upon God.”
f-f Others “has indignation.”
g-g Meaning of vv. 13–14 uncertain; an alternate rendering, with God as the main subject, is: 13If one does not turn back, He whets His sword, /bends His bow and aims it;|14deadly weapons He prepares for him, /and makes His arrows sharp.
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b-b Meaning of Heb. uncertain; or “You whose splendor is celebrated all over the heavens!”
c Or “the angels.”
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain; some mss. and ancient versions, ‘al muth labben, as though “over the death of the son.”
b-b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
c-c Or “O You who dwell in Zion.”
d-d Order of Hebrew clauses inverted for clarity.
e-e Lit. “the Daughter of Zion.”
f Others “return to.”
a-a Or “they (i.e., the lowly) are caught by the schemes they devised.”
b-b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
c-c Lit. “There is no God.”
d-d Lit. “Lift Your hand.”
e-e A play on darash, which in vv. 4 and 13 means “to call to account.”
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain; lit. “your hill, bird!”
b-b Or “For the foundations are destroyed; what has the Righteous One done?” Or “If the foundations are destroyed, what has the righteous man accomplished?”
c-c Lit. “the portion of their cup.”
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
a Cf. Ps. 53.
b-b Lit. “There is no God”; cf. Ps. 10.4.
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain; or “who has no slander upon his tongue.”
a Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b-b Others “I have no good but in You.”
c-c Meaning of Heb. uncertain; “holy and mighty ones” taken as epithets for divine beings; cf. qedoshim in Ps. 89.6, 8, and ‘addirim in 1 Sam. 4.8.
d Lit. “cup.”
e Lit. “kidneys.”
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b Cf. Prov. 1.19; lit. “paths.”
c-c Or “from my enemies who avidly.”
a This poem occurs again at 2 Sam. 22, with a number of variations, some of which are cited in the following notes.
b-b Not in 2 Sam. 22.2.
c-c Lit. “horn of rescue.”
d-d Construction of Heb. uncertain.
e 2 Sam. 22.5, “breakers.”
f I.e., the netherworld, like “Death” and “Sheol.”
g-g 2 Sam. 22.13, “blazed.”
h-h Not in 2 Sam. 22.14.
i Cf. note to 2 Sam. 22.30; or “troop.”
j Taking bamothai as a poetic form of bamoth; cf. Hab. 3.19; others “my.”
k Meaning of Heb. uncertain; others “condescension.”
l-l Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
m-m 2 Sam. 22.51, “Tower of victory.”
a-a With Septuagint, Symmachus, and Vulgate; or “their sound is not heard.”
b Cf. Septuagint, Symmachus, and Vulgate; Arabic qawwah, “to shout.”
c Viz., the heavens.
d-d Or “arrogant men”; cf. Ps. 119.51.
e For leb as a source of speech, see note to Eccl. 5.1.
a Reference to azkara, “token portion” of meal offering; Lev. 2.2, 9, 16, etc.
b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
c-c Or, in the light of v. 7, “O LORD, grant victory to the king; may He answer us when we call.”
a-a Or “at the time of Your anger.”
b-b Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
a-a Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
b-b Or “But You are holy, enthroned upon the praises of Israel.”
c-c Lit. “they open wide with a lip.”
d-d Lit. “I am poured out like water.”
e-e With Rashi; cf. Isa. 38.13.
f Lit. “only one.”
g Lit. “answer.”
h Or “plight.”
i-i Lit. “From You is my praise.”
j-j Meaning of Heb. uncertain; others “All the fat ones of the earth shall eat and worship; All they that go down to the dust shall kneel before Him,/Even he that cannot keep his soul alive.”
a-a Others “still waters.”
b-b Others “the valley of
