Tehillim Class 2

(1) The LORD is king, He is robed in grandeur; the LORD is robed, He is girded with strength. The world stands firm; it cannot be shaken. (2) Your throne stands firm from of old; from eternity You have existed. (3) The ocean sounds, O LORD, the ocean sounds its thunder, the ocean sounds its pounding. (4) Above the thunder of the mighty waters, more majestic than the breakers of the sea is the LORD, majestic on high. (5) Your decrees are indeed enduring; holiness befits Your house, O LORD, for all times.

(1) Why, O LORD, do You stand aloof, heedless in times of trouble? (2) The wicked in his arrogance hounds the lowly— may they be caught in the schemes they devise! (3) The wicked crows about his unbridled lusts; the grasping man reviles and scorns the LORD. (4) The wicked, arrogant as he is, in all his scheming [thinks], “He does not call to account; God does not care.” (5) His ways prosper at all times; Your judgments are far beyond him; he snorts at all his foes. (6) He thinks, “I shall not be shaken, through all time never be in trouble.” (7) His mouth is full of oaths, deceit, and fraud; mischief and evil are under his tongue. (8) He lurks in outlying places; from a covert he slays the innocent; his eyes spy out the hapless. (9) He waits in a covert like a lion in his lair; waits to seize the lowly; he seizes the lowly as he pulls his net shut; (10) he stoops, he crouches, and the hapless fall prey to his might. (11) He thinks, “God is not mindful, He hides His face, He never looks.” (12) Rise, O LORD! Strike at him, O God! Do not forget the lowly. (13) Why should the wicked man scorn God, thinking You do not call to account? (14) You do look! You take note of mischief and vexation! To requite is in Your power. To You the hapless can entrust himself; You have ever been the orphan’s help. (15) O break the power of the wicked and evil man, so that when You look for his wickedness You will find it no more. (16) The LORD is king for ever and ever; the nations will perish from His land. (17) You will listen to the entreaty of the lowly, O LORD, You will make their hearts firm; You will incline Your ear (18) to champion the orphan and the downtrodden, that men who are of the earth tyrannize no more.

(1) For the leader; with instrumental music on the sheminith. A psalm of David. (2) O LORD, do not punish me in anger, do not chastise me in fury. (3) Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I languish; heal me, O LORD, for my bones shake with terror. (4) My whole being is stricken with terror, while You, LORD—O, how long! (5) O LORD, turn! Rescue me! Deliver me as befits Your faithfulness. (6) For there is no praise of You among the dead; in Sheol, who can acclaim You? (7) I am weary with groaning; every night I drench my bed, I melt my couch in tears. (8) My eyes are wasted by vexation, worn out because of all my foes. (9) Away from me, all you evildoers, for the LORD heeds the sound of my weeping. (10) The LORD heeds my plea, the LORD accepts my prayer. (11) All my enemies will be frustrated and stricken with terror; they will turn back in an instant, frustrated.

(1) Of David. A psalm. The earth is the LORD’s and all that it holds, the world and its inhabitants. (2) For He founded it upon the ocean, set it on the nether-streams. (3) Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in His holy place?— (4) He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not taken a false oath by My life or sworn deceitfully. (5) He shall carry away a blessing from the LORD, a just reward from God, his deliverer. (6) Such is the circle of those who turn to Him, Jacob, who seek Your presence. Selah. (7) O gates, lift up your heads! Up high, you everlasting doors, so the King of glory may come in! (8) Who is the King of glory?— the LORD, mighty and valiant, the LORD, valiant in battle. (9) O gates, lift up your heads! Lift them up, you everlasting doors, so the King of glory may come in! (10) Who is the King of glory?— the LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory! Selah.

(1) The land...are the Lord’s The land of Israel.

(1) Who will ascend upon the Lord’s mount Although all the inhabitants of the world are His, not everyone deserves to come near to Him, except these: he who has clean hands, etc.

The Gemara explains: When Solomon built the Temple and sought to bring the Ark into the Holy of Holies, the gates clung together and could not be opened. Solomon uttered twenty-four songs of praise, and his prayer was not answered. He said: “Lift up your heads, you gates, and be you lifted up, you everlasting doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle” (Psalms 24:7-8). And it is stated: “Lift up your heads, you gates, yea, lift them up, you everlasting doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who then is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts; He is the King of glory. Selah” (Psalms 24:9-10), and he was not answered. Once he said: “O Lord God, turn not away the face of Your anointed; remember the good deeds of David Your servant” (II Chronicles 6:42), he was immediately answered, and the gates opened (II Chronicles 7:1). At that moment, the faces of all of David’s enemies turned dark like the charred bottom of a pot. And all of the Jewish people knew that the Holy One, Blessed be He, had forgiven him for that sin, as it was only by David’s merit that Solomon’s prayer was answered.

(1) For the leader; on the gittith. Of Asaph. (2) Sing joyously to God, our strength; raise a shout for the God of Jacob. (3) Take up the song, sound the timbrel, the melodious lyre and harp. (4) Blow the horn on the new moon, on the full moon for our feast day. (5) For it is a law for Israel, a ruling of the God of Jacob; (6) He imposed it as a decree upon Joseph when he went forth from the land of Egypt; I heard a language that I knew not. (7) I relieved his shoulder of the burden, his hands were freed from the basket. (8) In distress you called and I rescued you; I answered you from the secret place of thunder I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah. (9) Hear, My people, and I will admonish you; Israel, if you would but listen to Me! (10) You shall have no foreign god, you shall not bow to an alien god. (11) I the LORD am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide and I will fill it. (12) But My people would not listen to Me, Israel would not obey Me. (13) So I let them go after their willful heart that they might follow their own devices. (14) If only My people would listen to Me, if Israel would follow My paths, (15) then would I subdue their enemies at once, strike their foes again and again. (16) Those who hate the LORD shall cower before Him; their doom shall be eternal. (17) He fed them the finest wheat; I sated you with honey from the rock.