Paraphrase of the Psalms 132–151

… a hymn after the second. What is fair for mortals, and what pleasant, for brothers to dwell together in dear houses? … from the head down to the beard … where the Shepherd commanded all his blessing, … to be continually of life.

The third hymn of the thirteenth decade. All you servants of the Lord, sing the Shepherd of the world, standing in the house of the mighty King; all night in the houses of the Holy One lift up your hands. May the King give you ready praise from Zion, he who made the green earth and the broad heaven.

Always glorious, it goes about the fourth hymn. Sing the honoured Shepherd, wise children, … in the house of the mighty King, who frequent the well-fenced courts of the houses of God. Sing to me the King, since God is good; play the lyre to his name, since this is fair to sing. And he set famous Israel as his possession. I know in my dear heart how great the Shepherd has been; our King surpasses the other blessed ones, doing whatever … in his heart, in the starry heaven and on the much-nourishing earth … clouds from the last end of the earth on high; he set lightnings as signs, rain in the sky … together with the herds of four-footed beasts, … of mortals, making countless wonders in the middle of the Egyptian land; Pharaoh suffered these, and his servants did not escape … the lord of mighty Bashan … and, taking their land, he divided it by lot to his own, an inheritance for his servant Israel as was due …, holding comfort for grief among his dear servants. The idols of the peoples were gold and silver, … the elaborate works of wise hands, which have no voice, even if they have a mouth, nor do they bear light about …; they have only ears, and do not hear a cry, nor does the holy smell of the air come into their nostrils; they have no strength to grope, even if … hands, nor to set a footstep with feet on the fertile earth; for they have no breath to send forth through the mouth. And all are confident in mind in such things. Sing to me the King, house of wise Israel; famous house of Levi, sing the Shepherd of the world; you in whose hearts the fear of God is a care, shout to the Lord … dwelling in the God-pleasing houses about Jerusalem.

It brings a sweet and clear fifth song. … to me the King, the mighty King of kings, who fashioned the starry heaven with wise counsel, set firm upon the waters the earth that was not before, the stars and the moon, queen of the paths of night; who subdued together the race of the firstborn of Egypt, and, taking [Israel] from their midst, led them out with a very bold hand, trusting in his arm in all things, … breaking the Red Sea …, led them through its middle as they walked; who slew Pharaoh and his might in the Red Sea, and led [them] through the trackless land; … godlike Sihon, king of the Amorites … and, taking their land, he divided it by lot to his own, … for his servant as was due; who alone gives feasting to all that he created. Sing to me the great King of the starry pole.

A song of laments about Jeremiah, which … For in the middle of the rivers, over the fruit-destroying willow … How is it possible to sing a divine song in a foreign land? May my dear right hand forget itself; may my tongue, stuck to my throat, wither, if I am not always mindful of you in my heart, as of Jerusalem and gladness … And you, Blessed One, never forget the children of Edom … nor spare her any longer, while she still holds her foundations. He who, coming under the rock, will dash your infants …

This is of Zechariah and Haggai; it is the seventh upon the thirteenth decade. With unceasing heart, O King, I will sing your praise, because you have heard all kinds of words from me. … your undefiled temple … with zeal the undefiled name of the King of all … and your mercy and always true counsel, since your name, ruling over all, prevails over all things. Hear me when I call, when there is need to pray. May the kings of the whole earth sing the Immortal, because they heard all kinds of words from you with their ears; because glory always covers the earth with clouds. The Lord is always most high, but looks at the lowliest; he knows the highest, and sees from afar. You will keep me alive when I am subdued in the middle of destructive ruin; angered, you armed your hands against my enemies, … and … released me from the toils of evils. Nor overlook, O King, the works of your hand.

… upon the thirtieth. … nor do I escape your notice, sitting or rising. You understood my intentions afar off within my breast, tracking my footstep and my straight path; nor was any of my paths forgotten by your eyes. Wonder holds me when I consider your counsel in my heart, nor can I see very strongly with my mind. Then I would not be able to escape the great strength of your spirit. If I should go to heaven, this is your throne; there … of your hand, and of your right hand, so that my life may be firm. And I said: Perhaps mortal-destroying darkness will tread on me; but delight was kindled into the night, and darkness drove out the light. For your light has known how to cover darkness; no one would know what darkness or light was. Because, O King, you acquired our kidneys …, you are my defence, Blessed One, in my dear mother’s womb. … my King … my heart knew your works, Blessed One, to be very wonderful. You know from me the bones which you formed in secret, and the strength of my life is in the nether foundations. You saw me, O Lord, still unformed in my mother’s womb, fashioning all together in your undefiled book. But to me above all your friends are admired; and the force of their rulers appears greater. I would number them far more than the sand … always with you … I command my strength quickly … that they will sack my cities. My heart melted at those enemies, and they were enemies and hostile to me in heart. But search my mind clearly …

This too is a clear song of David’s singing. … Blessed One, from evil … lawless things in their heart; … their tongue like evil snakes, taking the venom of a murderous asp about their lips. Would that I might be guarded from the hateful hand of sinners; … me easily, Most Blessed, from unjust men, … who [planned] in their hearts to confound my footsteps. The overweening men secretly fixed nets for me … nets about my foot. I said to God the King: God, you have become my hope; hear my …, highest Shepherd. You are immortal, Blessed One, and have become the light of my life; … my head, shady … around their head … and the toil of their destructive lips covers them. May coals of tireless fire fall among them; from on high may you cast them down to the earth with a rushing torch, nor will they ever hold out, subdued in heart by evils. May an evil-devising season cast down the babbling man; and … will never pass over the justice of the needy with his eyes.

Of David, of the tenth and another decade … O Lord, hear me as I cry …, when, Blessed One, I call upon your helping hand; may you direct my prayer before you like incense. Set a guard and fence about our teeth; may you turn my heart away from … words … nor may a pretext for transgression be the care of my counsels, nor … with their first ones in … May I be subdued by the mercy and rebukes of the holy; may I no longer … my head with the oil of a destructive man. Still our prayer is about their … like a crest cut off from the root, may it roll; their bones were thus scattered near Hades. To you, Blessed One, my longing … may you destroy the fellow-workers of evil of the Immortal …

… the hundred and forty-[first] … I sent up a cry to the King, crying out; and I would declare to him my painful toil … I looked at my right hand …, and none of my friends thought to see us at all. My flight perished before me as I longed to flee, nor was there any who would track my heart as I fled. But I, crying, said: You have become my hope, my portion of life, Blessed One, in the land of the living …, because they are far stronger than me in force. Would that you would take my heart out of helpless prison, so that I may clearly sing your name. The generations of the righteous await my reward from you.

A famous hymn of David, … Absalom … blameless; yet it is the hundred and forty-[second]. In your righteousness, O Lord, hear me crying … for no one of mortals would appear holy before you. The enemy forced my groaning soul, driving it; he subjected my … to the nether places of the earth, seating me like the helpless dead under darkness … my heart in my mind … But I, remembering the season of former generations, … my hands to the King; my soul longs for you like the furrows of thirsty earth … before the breath of my limbs … Would that I might learn from dawn of your mercy, Blessed One; give me now a propitious path, where there is need to walk, … my heart always to you, since, fearing, I always found you an unbreakable tower. You yourself are my Lord, and may you teach me your mind; may the good Spirit of God bear me to a straight land. Give me justice, the nourisher of life, for your sake; … my groaning soul, O Lord, … and … my opponents in your mercy, because I pray to be your servant, pleasing to your heart.

And the third, following the former ones in wisdom; yet it is the hundred and forty-[third]. Let God always be praised with well-sounding songs; always, O Lord, you have become my mercy and tower, subduing my people under our hands. What is a mortal, O Lord, that you have stood openly by him? … he has become like images … touch the mountains, and you will make abundant dark smoke. Send, Blessed One, with your arrows, so that you may stir them up. May you send your hand from the sky, so that … me; rescue me, Most Blessed, from the hand of foreign sons. But I will sing a new song to you, Most High; on the harmony of the ten-string I will sing your glory, you who grant the light of life to our kings, and freed your servant David from the sword. But for their daughters there is such adornment of beauty that you would say with your eyes that you see a temple with golden headbands. From one [storehouse] to another unspeakable water flows around. For them well-grazed sheep and many blessed things have been made …, and well-fed oxen, far better than others. All things are firm for them, far from the wounds of ruin, nor is there any outcry in their broad roads. Blessed is the people for whom God is a care in heart.

Yet it is the hundred and forty-[fourth]. … continually, all days. Rejoicing, I will sing you continually day upon day, from generation to generation continually, all days. You are praised, Blessed One, and great glory has been lifted up for you. Races will cry your works to races, Most Blessed, and recount your conspicuous, magnificent glory, and with fear they will sing on their mouth your work beyond compare. Let none of your boastful works pass by unsung; your unshakable strength … The King most high is compassionate and merciful, having an enduring heart and increasing his mercy. God has known how to keep gentleness among all, pitying all the works which he fashioned with his hand. With unceasing heart, Most Blessed, the works will cry to you, and the race of the holy will sing your glorious praise. And they will hymn, O Lord, your unshakable strength, how you will hold immortal strength wonderful to mortals, and magnificent glory … God weaves faith with undefiled words, and righteousness has been mixed into his works. The Immortal has always known how to raise those who fall, to set upright the man fallen under a destructive fracture …, and may you give to all together suitable food, as is due; you will fill every race when you open your hand. Righteousness attends the paths of the King on every side; it stands around everyone who prays, and guards … My faithful mouth will sing the praise of the King of all, and the unspeakable races of mortals will sing the famous name of God.

This hymn is common to Zechariah and Haggai; yet it is the hundred and forty-[fifth]. Sing God, dear heart, the ruler of your life …; may you be confident in your heart … nor in the children of mortals, from whom light never came; whose soul flies away, and he goes back again to his earth … they waste away together … with the dead. Blessed is he for whom the most high God is helper, who made the green earth and the broad heaven, the loud-roaring sea and all that the swell of the sea nourishes. He himself knows how to save the one fettered in unbreakable fetters; he himself raises men from under the shuddering fracture; the Lord himself makes a wise mind for the blind; the King of all himself … the holy race; the Lord himself has known how to guard the newly arrived stranger.

… this hymn is of … and Haggai. Sing the King of all, since the song is good. Praise will be pleasing to our … those whose dear heart has been broken, … naming all the stars. Our God is great … beginning … the King with quick … who makes grass grow even on the high-haired mountains, who also gave fitting food to the herds of four-footed beasts. The Lord will never praise the unrestrained strength of the horse; rather … in his servants, … those for whom the mercy of the Lord is pleasing to the heart.

… Alleluia … yet it is the hundred and forty-[seventh] … He has praised in you your wise and glorious children; he who set your borders guarded in peace. And he, running swiftly, will go here and there …, showing on high the strength of cold snow, sprinkling the drought of mist like smoke-born ash. Who can match his strength? … all things will melt at the living word … Never did he do such a thing among foreign nations, nor did he show his justices to the peoples.

This hymn is common to Zechariah and Haggai, having the eighth …; yet it is the hundred and forty-[eighth]. Sing to me the great glory of the King from heaven … Sing, sun and radiant moon; sing God, all stars and unspeakable radiance; sing above the heavenly floors, above another heaven, and the holy water above the heavenly circles; because he himself spoke, and all things sprang up … and continually what he himself did. Fire with ice, and snow follow together with hail, and the breath of the dark storm … cedars of every kind, and flourishing trees, herds of four-footed beasts and mountain beasts of the earth … younger, coming together, because only the royal name has been exalted. His praise covers earth and heaven, and the horn of his people …

Sweet is the song, the hundred and forty-ninth. Sing to me a new and lovely song for the King; he always has the hymn of the holy as a care in their tents. Let them sing the royal name with …; let them sing to him, taking up drum and lyre, because his people has been pleasing to his heart. … may he lift up his dear race with light …, to destroy the evildoing men of all kinds of peoples; and he will rebuke the peoples who have let go the immortal yoke … and he will accomplish with zeal the written good order among them. Thus good glory has come to be for all his holy ones.

The song of the fifteenth decade … Sing to me the King, and let choirs of the righteous follow together; … him with lyre and harmony …; sing him, taking in your hands cymbals of shouting.

It is from outside [the number] of the fifteenth decade … Among my brothers I [was] very …, hearing, as a youth among all, in my father’s house. My hands … a lyre … The Lord himself knew how to hear my words; he himself sent a swift messenger of the heavenly army, … took me from the flock of sheep, and he himself anointed my body with rich oil. I had brothers, great and good; but the King did not wish to grant them good glory. And he, trusting in his idols, reviled me; and I, drawing the sharp sword from beside his thigh, standing beside him, cut off his head from his lofty neck. I bring divine praise to you, Highest among kings … of wise and most beautiful David …