Verses of Song

p'sukei d'zimra

פסוקי דזמרא

Israeli: ' marks a reduced vowel that Israeli speech drops (b'rachah); when the vowel is pronounced it is written e (lefanecha). - separates syllables that would otherwise run together.

How to read the transliterations

Psalm 146

Hebrew

הַלְלוּיָהּ.
הַלְלִי נַפְשִׁי אֶת־יְהֹוָה.
אֲהַלְלָה יְהֹוָה בְּחַיָּי, אֲזַמְּרָה לֵאלֹהַי בְּעוֹדִי.
אַל תִּבְטְחוּ בִנְדִיבִים, בְּבֶן־אָדָם שֶׁאֵין לוֹ תְשׁוּעָה.
תֵּצֵא רוּחוֹ יָשֻׁב לְאַדְמָתוֹ,
בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא אָבְדוּ עֶשְׁתֹּנֹתָיו.
אַשְׁרֵי שֶׁאֵל יַעֲקֹב בְּעֶזְרוֹ, שִׂבְרוֹ עַל יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהָיו.
עֹשֶׂה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ אֶת־הַיָּם וְאֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁר בָּם,
הַשֹּׁמֵר אֱמֶת לְעוֹלָם.
עֹשֶׂה מִשְׁפָּט לָעֲשׁוּקִים, נֹתֵן לֶחֶם לָרְעֵבִים,
יְהֹוָה מַתִּיר אֲסוּרִים, יְהֹוָה פֹּקֵחַ עִוְרִים,
יְהֹוָה זֹקֵף כְּפוּפִים, יְהֹוָה אֹהֵב צַדִּיקִים.
יְהֹוָה שֹׁמֵר אֶת־גֵּרִים,
יָתוֹם וְאַלְמָנָה יְעוֹדֵד, וְדֶרֶךְ רְשָׁעִים יְעַוֵּת.
יִמְלֹךְ יְהֹוָה לְעוֹלָם, אֱלֹהַיִךְ צִיּוֹן לְדֹר וָדֹר.
הַלְלוּיָהּ.

Israeli

haleluyah.
haleli nafshi et-adonai.
ahalelah Adonai b'chayai, azamerah leilohai be-odi.
al tivtechu vindivim, beven-adam she-ein lo t'shu-ah.
tetzei rucho yashuv le-admato,
bayom hahu avdu eshtonotav.
ashrei she-El Ya-akov be-ezro, sivro al Adonai elohav.
oseh shamayim va-aretz et-hayam ve-et-kol-asher bam,
hashomer emet le-olam.
oseh mishpat la-ashukim, noten lechem lare-evim,
Adonai matir asurim, Adonai pokeach ivrim,
Adonai zokef k'fufim, Adonai ohev tzadikim.
Adonai shomer et-gerim,
yatom ve-almanah ye-oded, vederech resha-im ye-avet.
yimloch Adonai le-olam, Elohayich Tziyon ledor vador.
haleluyah.

English

HALLELUYAH! Praise God. I will praise Adonai. I will praise Adonai as long as I live, sing to my God as long as I am here. Do not put your trust in the high and mighty, people who cannot save even themselves; their breath will depart, they will return to the earth from which they came, and on that day, their schemes will come to naught. Blessed is the person whose help is Jacob’s God, who looks with hope to Adonai who created heaven and earth, the sea and all that is within it; Adonai keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed, provides food for the hungry; releases the bound from their chains, gives sight to the blind, straightens those bent low, and loves those who act justly; Adonai cares for the stranger, sustains the orphan and the widow, blocks the path of the wicked—Adonai shall reign forever; your God, O Zion, from generation to generation. Praise God, halleluyah!

Commentary

PSALMS 146–150 constitute a series of five psalms, each opening and closing with the compound word hallelu-yah, “praise God”; these psalms bring the Book of Psalms to an exuberant conclusion. Rabbi Yose (2nd century, the Land of Israel) considered it a meritorious practice to recite these psalms, along with Psalm 145, each day (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 118b). These psalms constitute a celebratory way of preparing for the formal morning service, and by the end of the 1st millennium they had become a statutory part of the morning prayers, forming the core of P’sukei D’zimra, the “Verses of Song” (Sofrim 17:11). The five psalms are interconnected. For example, God is described in Psalm 146 as ruling justly and teaching just laws to Israel; in Psalms 147 and 148, as redeeming the people Israel; and in Psalm 149, as commissioning the people Israel to bring the corrupt rulers of the world to justice. Psalms 146–149 all touch on universal themes, but each ends by describing the special relation of God to Israel. The final psalm, 150, begins with Israel’s praises of God and concludes with a universal chorus: “Let every breath be praise of God.”

PSALM 146 consists of two parts: the first exhorts against putting one’s faith in human beings, even the most powerful, and the second contrasts God’s justice and compassion with corrupt human institutions. This second section is set off by the same word so central to the previous prayer, ashrei, meaning happy, blessed, and contented.

THEY WILL RETURN TO THE EARTH יָשֻׁב לְאַדְמָתוֹ. The imagery is from Genesis, where Adam is told that he “will return to the earth, for from it you were taken: for dust you are, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19).

JACOB’S GOD אֵל יַעֲקֹב. This is the only time this phrase is used in the Bible, and it is hard to say why it is used here. Perhaps it is due to the fact that Jacob is a figure who suffered and died in a foreign land and yet kept faith and hope. The people Israel, suffering yet hopeful, are Jacob’s descendants.

RELEASES THE BOUND יְהֹוָה מַתִּיר אֲסוּרִים. God is portrayed as compassionate, seeking justice for the weak, unlike powerful human beings whose plans may be self-serving. The qualities attributed to God in this psalm form the basis of several of the morning b’rakhot (pages 103–104).

ADONAI CARES FOR THE STRANGER, SUSTAINS THE ORPHAN AND THE WIDOW יְהֹוָה שֹׁמֵר אֶת־גֵּרִים, יָתוֹם וְאַלְמָנָה יְעוֹדֵד. In biblical society, these were the three groups least able to fend for themselves.

Adonai Secures Justice Ethics is not the corollary of the vision of God; it is that very vision. Ethics is an optic, such that everything I know of God and everything I can hear of God’s word and reasonably say to God must find an ethical expression. In the Holy Ark from which the voice of God is heard by Moses, there are only the tablets of the Law.… The knowledge of God comes to us like a commandment, like a mitzvah. To know God is to know what must be done.… The justice rendered to the Other, my neighbor, gives me an unsurpassable proximity to God. —EMMANUEL LEVINAS …