Psalm 141-145
Complete Jewish Bible
141 (0) A psalm of David:
(1) Adonai, I have called you; come to me quickly!
Listen to my plea when I call to you.
2 Let my prayer be like incense set before you,
my uplifted hands like an evening sacrifice.
3 Set a guard, Adonai, over my mouth;
keep watch at the door of my lips.
4 Don’t let my heart turn to anything evil
or allow me to act wickedly
with men who are evildoers;
keep me from eating their delicacies.
5 Let the righteous strike me, let him correct me;
it will be an act of love.
Let my head not refuse such choice oil,
for I will keep on praying about their wickedness.
6 When their rulers are thrown down from the cliff,
[the wicked] will hear that my words were fitting.
7 As when one plows and breaks the ground into clods,
our bones are strewn at the mouth of Sh’ol.
8 For my eyes, Adonai, Adonai, are on you;
in you I take refuge; don’t pour out my life.
9 Keep me from the trap they have set for me,
from the snares of evildoers.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
while I pass by in safety.
142 (0) A maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A prayer:
2 (1) With my voice I cry to Adonai,
with my voice I plead to Adonai for mercy.
3 (2) Before him I pour out my complaint,
before him I tell my trouble.
4 (3) When my spirit faints within me,
you watch over my path.
By the road that I am walking
they have hidden a snare for me.
5 (4) Look to my right, and see
that no one recognizes me.
I have no way of escape;
nobody cares for me.
6 (5) I cried out to you, Adonai;
I said, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”
7 (6) Listen to my cry,
for I have been brought very low.
Rescue me from my persecutors,
for they are too strong for me.
8 (7) Lead me out of prison,
so that I can give thanks to your name;
in me the righteous will be crowning themselves,
because you will have treated me generously.
143 (0) A psalm of David:
(1) Adonai, hear my prayer;
listen to my pleas for mercy.
In your faithfulness, answer me,
and in your righteousness.
2 Don’t bring your servant to trial,
since in your sight no one alive
would be considered righteous.
3 For an enemy is pursuing me;
he has crushed my life into the ground
and left me to live in darkness,
like those who have been long dead.
4 My spirit faints within me;
my heart is appalled within me.
5 I remember the days of old,
reflecting on all your deeds,
thinking about the work of your hands.
6 I spread out my hands to you,
I long for you like a thirsty land. (Selah)
7 Answer me quickly, Adonai,
because my spirit is fainting.
Don’t hide your face from me,
or I’ll be like those who drop down into a pit.
8 Make me hear of your love in the morning,
because I rely on you.
Make me know the way I should walk,
because I entrust myself to you.
9 Adonai, rescue me from my enemies;
I have hidden myself with you.
10 Teach me to do your will,
because you are my God;
Let your good Spirit guide me
on ground that is level.
11 For your name’s sake, Adonai, preserve my life;
in your righteousness, bring me out of distress.
12 In your grace, cut off my enemies;
destroy all those harassing me;
because I am your servant.
144 (0) By David:
(1) Blessed be Adonai, my rock,
who trains my hands for war
and my fingers for battle.
2 He shows me grace; and he is my fortress,
my stronghold, in whom I find shelter,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues my people under me.
3 Adonai, what are mere mortals,
that you notice them at all;
humans, that you think about them?
4 Man is like a puff of wind,
his days like a fleeting shadow.
5 Adonai, lower the heavens, and come down;
touch the mountains, make them pour out smoke.
6 Shoot out lightning, and scatter them;
send out your arrows, and rout them.
7 Reach out your hands from on high;
rescue me; save me out of deep water,
out of the power of strangers,
8 whose mouths speak worthless words
and whose right hands swear false oaths.
9 God, I will sing a new song to you;
sing praises to you with a ten-stringed harp.
10 You give kings their victories;
you save your servant David from the cruel sword.
11 Rescue me, save me from the power of strangers,
whose mouths speak worthless words
and whose right hands swear false oaths.
12 Our sons in their youth will be
like full-grown saplings,
our daughters will be like sculptured pillars
fit for the corner of a palace.
13 Our barns are full with crops of every kind;
the sheep in our fields number thousands, tens of thousands.
14 our oxen are well-fed,
our city walls have no breach,
our people are not taken captive,
and there are no cries of protest in our cities’ open places.
15 How happy the people who live in such conditions!
How happy the people whose God is Adonai!
145 (0) Praise. By David:
(1) I will praise you to the heights, my God, the king;
I will bless your name forever and ever.
2 Every day I will bless you;
I will praise your name forever and ever.
3 Great is Adonai and greatly to be praised;
his greatness is beyond all searching out.
4 Each generation will praise your works to the next
and proclaim your mighty acts.
5 I will meditate on the glorious splendor
of your majesty and on the story of your wonders.
6 People will speak of your awesome power,
and I will tell of your great deeds.
7 They will gush forth the fame of your abounding goodness,
and they will sing of your righteousness.
8 Adonai is merciful and compassionate,
slow to anger and great in grace.
9 Adonai is good to all;
his compassion rests on all his creatures.
10 All your creatures will thank you, Adonai,
and your faithful servants will bless you.
11 They will speak of the glory of your kingship,
and they will tell about your might;
12 to let everyone know of your mighty acts
and the glorious majesty of your kingship.
13 Your kingship is an everlasting kingship,
your reign continues through all generations.
14 Adonai supports all who fall
and lifts up all who are bent over.
15 The eyes of all are looking to you;
you give them their food at the right time.
16 You open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17 Adonai is righteous in all his ways,
full of grace in all he does.
18 Adonai is close to all who call on him,
to all who sincerely call on him.
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.
20 Adonai protects all who love him,
but all the wicked he destroys.
21 My mouth will proclaim the praise of Adonai;
all people will bless his holy name forever and ever.
Tehillim 141-145
Orthodox Jewish Bible
141 (Mizmor of Dovid) Hashem, I cry unto Thee; make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto Thee.
2 Let my tefillah be set forth before Thee like ketoret; and the lifting up of my hands as the minchat erev.
3 Be shomer, Hashem, over my mouth; guard the door of my lips.
4 Let not my lev incline to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men that work iniquity; and let me not eat of their dainties.
5 Let the tzaddik strike me; it shall be chesed; and let him reprove me; it shall be shemen, which my rosh shall not refuse; for still shall my tefillah be against their evil deeds.
6 Their shofetim are overthrown in stony places; they hear my words; for they are pleasant.
7 Atzameinu (our bones) are scattered at the mouth of Sheol, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon ha’aretz.
8 But mine eyes are unto Thee, Hashem Adonoi; in Thee do I take refuge; leave not my nefesh defenseless.
9 Keep me from the pach (snare, trap) which they have laid for me, and the traps of the workers of iniquity.
10 Let the resha’im fall into their own nets, while I escape safely.
142 (Mashkil of Dovid; A tefillah when he was in the me’arah) I cried out unto Hashem with my voice; with my voice unto Hashem did I make my techinnah (supplication).
2 (3) I poured out my complaint before Him; I showed before Him my tzoros.
3 (4) When my ruach became faint within me, then Thou had da’as of my path. In the way wherein I walked have they laid a pach (snare, hidden trap) for me.
4 (5) I looked on my right, and behold, there was no man that would know me; refuge failed me; no man cared for my nefesh.
5 (6) I cried unto Thee, Hashem; I said, Thou art my refuge and my chelek (portion) in the Eretz HaChayyim.
6 (7) Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low; save me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.
7 (8) Release my nefesh from prison, to praise Shemecha (Thy Name); the tzaddikim shall gather about me; for Thou shalt deal bountifully with me.
143 (Mizmor of Dovid) Hear my tefillah, Hashem, give ear to my techinot (supplications); in Thy emunah answer me, and in Thy tzedakah.
2 And enter not into mishpat with Thy eved; for in Thy sight shall no man living be yitzadak (justified).
3 For the oyev (enemy) hath persecuted my nefesh; he hath struck down my life to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in places of choshech (darkness), like metei olam (those long dead).
4 Therefore is my ruach become faint within me; my lev within me is desolate.
5 I remember yamim mikedem (days of old), I meditate on all Thy works; I muse on the ma’aseh (work) of Thy hands.
6 I stretch forth my hands unto Thee; my nefesh thirsteth after Thee, like an eretz ayefah (a parched, thirsty land). Selah.
7 Hear me speedily, Hashem; my ruach faileth; hide not Thy face from me, lest I be like those that go down into the bor (pit).
8 Cause me to hear Thy chesed in the boker; for in Thee do I trust; cause me to know the Derech wherein I should walk; for I lift up my nefesh unto Thee.
9 Save me, Hashem, from mine oyevim (enemies); I flee unto Thee to hide me.
10 Teach me to do Retzonecha (Thy will); for Thou art Elohai; may Thy Ruach Tov lead me on level ground.
11 Revive me, Hashem, l’ma’an (for the sake of) Thy Shem (Name); in Thy tzedakah bring my nefesh out of tzoros.
12 And in Thy chesed silence mine enemies, and destroy all them that oppress my nefesh; for I am Thy eved.
144 (Mizmor of Dovid). Baruch Hashem my Tzur (rock) which teacheth my hands for war, and my fingers for milchamah (battle);
2 My Chesed, and my Metzudah (Fortress); my Stronghold, and my Deliverer; my Mogen, and He in Whom I take refuge; Who subdueth my people under me.
3 Hashem, what is adam, that Thou takest knowledge of him! Or the ben enosh, that Thou takest account of him!
4 Adam is like hevel; his days are as a tzel that passeth away.
5 Part Thy heavens, Hashem, and come down; touch the harim, and they shall smoke.
6 Cast forth lightning, and scatter them; shoot Thine khitzim (arrows), and destroy them.
7 Send Thine Yad from above; rescue me, and deliver me out of mayim rabbim, from the yad Bnei Nekhar;
8 Whose mouth speaketh shav (lies), and their right hand is a right hand of sheker.
9 I will sing a shir chadash unto Thee, O Elohim; upon a nevel of ten strings will I make music unto Thee.
10 It is He that giveth Teshu’ah (deliverance, salvation) unto melachim; Who delivereth Dovid His eved from the cherev ra’ah.
11 Rescue me, and save me from the yad Bnei Nekhar, whose mouth speaketh shav (lies) and their right hand is a right yad of sheker;
12 In their youth, may baneinu (our sons) be like plants full grown; may benoteinu (our daughters) be like cornerstones, columns wrought for the Heikhal;
13 That our barns may be full, affording all manner of provision; that our tzon may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our meadows;
14 That our oxen may be strong to labor; that there be no peretz (breach) nor golus; that there be no cry of anquish in our streets.
15 Ashrei are such people; Ashrei is the people that Hashem is Elohav.
145 (Tehillah of Dovid). [Alef} I will extol Thee, Elohai HaMelech; and I will bless Thy Shem l’olam va’ed .
2 [Beis] Kol yom will I bless Thee; and I will praise Thy Shem l’olam va’ed.
3 [Gimel] Gadol is Hashem, and me’od to be praised; and His greatness is not cheker (searchable).
4 [Dalet] Dor l’dor (generation to generation) shall praise Thy ma’asim, and shall declare Thy gevurot (mighty acts).
5 [Heh] I will speak of the hadar kavod of Thy hod, and of Thy nifle’ot (wonderful works).
6 [Vav] And men shall speak of the power of Thy norot; and I will declare Thy greatness.
7 [Zayin] They shall utter the zekher (memory, recollection) of Thy rav tov and shall sing of Thy tzedakah.
8 [Chet] Channun (gracious) is Hashem, and full of compassion; erech apayim (slow to anger), and of great chesed.
9 [Tet] Tov is Hashem to all; and His rachamim is over all His ma’asim.
10 [Yod] All Thy ma’asim shall praise Thee, Hashem; and Thy chasidim shall bless Thee.
11 [Khaf] They shall speak of the kavod of Thy Malchus, and tell of Thy gevurah;
12 [Lamed] To make known to the Bnei HaAdam His gevurah, and the kavod hadar of His Malchus.
13 [Mem] Thy Malchus is a Malchus kol olamim, and Thy Memshelet for kol dor vador.
14 [Samekh] Hashem upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that are bowed down.
15 [Ayin] The eyes of all look to Thee; and Thou givest them their okhel (food) in its season.
16 [Peh] Thou openest Thine Yad, and satisfiest the ratzon of kol chai.
17 [Tzadi] Tzaddik is Hashem in all His drakhim, and chasid in all His ma’asim,
18 [Koph] Karov (near) is Hashem unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in emes.
19 [Resh] He will fulfil the ratzon of them that fear Him; He also will hear their cry, and will save them.
20 [Shin] Shomer is Hashem over all them that love Him; but kol haresha’im will He destroy.
21 [Tav] My mouth shall speak the tehillat Hashem; and let kol basar bless His Shem Kodesh l’olam va’ed. [T.N. See Messianic Psalms which include Ps 2, 22, 45, 72, 110, 47, 93, 96-99, 89 and which indicate Moshiach’s righteous character, experience, ideals, call, and reign.]
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
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