Psalms · Psalm 138

"before the princes I shall sing Your praises" — before the eyes of the princes (kings).

"Of David: I will thank You with all my heart" — inwardly. "Before the mighty [elohim]" — these are the judges, who administer God's judgments on earth. "I will sing praises to You" — openly.

"With my whole heart" — with all my mind and understanding. Likewise, "I will sing praises to You" openly, "before the elohim" — these being the judges and the sages, as in "the matter of the two of them shall come before ha-elohim" [Exodus 22:8]. The thanksgiving may be in the heart alone, or together with the mouth, while the singing of praise is [always] with the mouth.

"In the presence of the mighty [Elohim]" — These are the judges and the wise, as in 'the case of both parties shall come before the judges [Elohim]' (Exodus 22:8).

'Of David' — he speaks of two kinds of governance by which Hashem governs His world: (1) the constant governance, in which He oversees by means of nature; (2) the miraculous governance, in which He governs not through an intermediary or agent, but He alone. Concerning the miraculous governance he says, 'I will thank You with all my heart; before God I will sing praises to You' — depicting that under this mode of governance, the one who gives thanks for the good stands before God face to face, without intermediary, and sees the King Himself — how He did him good Himself — and gives Him thanks while standing before Him.

"for You magnified Your word over all Your names" — Your name is mighty, jealous, and vengeful, but You magnified Your word, so that You skip over Your standards, over all Your names, and You forgive us.

"I will bow down" — some say that "Your holy temple" [means] the heavens, but this is far-fetched, on account of [the word] "I will bow down." And the correct view is that it is the place where the Ark was. We find throughout the book that every instance of "shimkha" [Your name] has a chataf-kamatz [reduced vowel]; therefore the commentator who said that ["Your name," in "You have magnified ... above all"] should be read with a cholam did not speak correctly. And "Your name" is the object [of the verb "magnified"], with the conjunctive vav omitted before "imratekha" ["Your word"]. And what seems correct to me is that the Glorious Name has descriptive names, such as "Adonai" (with the kamatz vowel), also "Elohim" and "El Shaddai"; but there is only [one] proper Name, which is written but not read [as written] — it is the Glorified and Awesome [Name] above all, and this Name was not known until Moses our master came, and Hashem told him this Name; and this is [the meaning of] "and I will give thanks to Your name" — that is, the proper Name. And so the sense of "for You have magnified [Your word] above all" is: above the [other] names that You have, which are the descriptive names — [in contrast to] the Glorified Name that You have spoken.

"I will bow down toward Your holy temple" — the house in which the Ark would be. "For Your mercy and for Your truth" — the kindness that He gave him the kingship, as He had promised him, for many troubles passed over him, and from all of them He rescued him. "For You have magnified Your word above all Your name" — [understand this] as if inverted: "for You have magnified Your name above all Your word." And the meaning of the verse, regarding what it says "and for Your truth" — as we explained, that He fulfilled for him what He had promised him — he says concerning this: "You have magnified Your name above all Your word," [meaning] that You say and do, decree and fulfill; and because of this You have magnified Your name, so that everyone will say, "Let Hashem be magnified," [seeing that] whatever He says, He does — just as You did with me what You had promised me, after everyone had said that the kingship would not be mine, for they saw my great turmoil.

"And for Your truth" — Because You make true the words of Your promise to accept those who repent. "For You have magnified Your word above all Your name" — For behold, all the names of the Omnipresent, blessed be He, indicate the abundance of His greatness; and one who rebels against a great king — is his law not one thing alone: to be put to death, with no appeasement availing at all? Therefore he says: For You have magnified Your word above every name that You have which indicates greatness and which accuses the sinner all the more severely — behold, above all of them You have magnified Your word, in that You promised to accept the penitent, even though You are a great King.

'I will bow down' — and regarding the second [mode of] governance, which is by means of nature, he depicts that he does not stand before God directly in his thanksgiving, for the King hides Himself in His palace — meaning, in the heavens — and before Him stand His messengers, who are the officers of the [celestial] system, through whom He oversees and performs hidden miracles. And accordingly: 'I will bow down toward Your holy temple, and give thanks to Your name.' For the King sits in His palace, in the innermost chambers, and He Himself is unknown — only His name [is known]. (And it has always been explained by us that the name depicts the matter by which one is known and made public, not the essence itself; and with regard to Hashem, [the name] depicts the ordinary, natural governance.) Regarding the first governance he said, 'for Your mercy,' and regarding the second he said, 'and for Your truth' — for it has already been explained that 'mercy' [chesed] denotes the miraculous governance, and 'truth' [emet] denotes the governance of nature. 'For You have magnified' — meaning, although Your name (which indicates the natural governance) is very great, and also through the publicizing of Your name by means of the fixed governance that proceeds in the way of nature, You have become great and known in the eyes of many peoples — nevertheless, 'Your word' — that is, at the time when Your word is revealed [surpasses this]. [This is] not like a king who hides himself in his palace, but like a king who reveals himself and issues commands, and everyone hears his sayings and his decrees — meaning, at the time when You answer the righteous who pray to You and perform for them miracles that are not according to nature — 'this You have magnified above all Your name' — this is far greater than Your name as known through the ordinary, natural governance. Now he explains what 'Your word,' which he mentioned, is. It is —

'In the day,' 'You emboldened me [tarhiveni]' — means: You strengthened me. 'Strength' is the object [pa'ul]; note that the word 'tarhiveni' [You emboldened me] is transitive, taking two objects.

"In the day that I called" — on the day that I was in distress, wandering and a fugitive, and I called to You, and You answered me, and You brought me back into a spacious place, out of the distress. "You embolden me in my soul with strength" — through this You strengthened me in my soul with might; that is, You gave great strength to my soul regarding my faith in You, for I know that there is no god besides You, and that You see and are attentive to the affairs of mankind.

"You embolden me" — You strengthen me, putting boldness and courage into my soul, to grow strong in Your service.

"You encouraged me" — an expression of strengthening, as in "yet their pride is but toil and vanity" (above, Psalm 90).

(3-4) "On the day I called, and You answered me" — at the time that I called out in prayer, You Yourself answered me, for then You would give Your word to answer the one who prays and perform a miracle for him. "Then all the kings of the earth shall thank You, Hashem, for they have heard the words of Your mouth" — for You are not like the wealthy among men, who hide themselves in their palaces and do not answer those who call to them, so that their words are not heard; but rather, they have heard the words of Your mouth, for You Yourself speak and answer. (And what is said, "You embolden me with strength in my soul," is a parenthetical remark, meaning: so You will embolden strength in my soul to think that when You answer me because I called, all the kings of the earth will thank You. For the fact that Hashem answers a righteous man in his prayer indicates the strength of his soul, which is a portion of God from above, and this emboldens it with strength, for it is bound to God, and He is near to it to hear its prayer.)

"for they heard" — When they heard the words of Your mouth: “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery,” they acknowledged the words of Your mouth: “I am [the Lord your God]” and “You shall have no [other god].” It is proper to make them first accept the yoke of His kingdom, and then He should levy all His decrees.

'They shall thank You' — the sense of 'they have heard the words of Your mouth' is: that You anointed me to be a ruler, and peoples shall serve me.

'All the kings of the earth shall give You thanks, O Hashem' — Because of this: that You answered me out of distress and fulfilled Your good word to me concerning the kingship, all the kings of the earth who know me will give You thanks, for they have heard the words of Your mouth, that You had promised me the kingship. And when they saw me wandering and fleeing, with Saul pursuing me to kill me, they despaired of my ever reigning, and it seemed far-fetched to them that it could happen; but now that You have fulfilled Your good word to me, [they give thanks]. This interpretation confirms the interpretation I gave for the phrase 'You have magnified Your word above all Your name' (Psalm 138:2).

"For they have heard" — When they hear the words of Your mouth, that You accept the penitent, then they will give You thanks.

'And they shall sing' — they will not have songs of desire, or songs of war, but only songs about the ways of Hashem and to recount His deeds.

'And they shall sing' — They will utter song and praise to Hashem, and shall sing of His ways and of His awesome deeds, for everything is in His hand — to bring low or to raise up. And they will say that the glory of Hashem is great, and that He alone is God. For concerning King David it is said, 'And David's fame went out into all the lands, and Hashem put the fear of him upon all the nations' (1 Chronicles 14:17); and in fearing him, they feared God, for they recognized and knew that this had come to him from Hashem. And from this they acknowledged the blessed God, that He is Lord over all, in that He made David king after everyone had despaired of him. So too Hiram, king of Tyre, sent word to Solomon and said, 'Blessed is Hashem, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given King David a wise son' (2 Chronicles 2:11) — thus, from David's greatness and his kingship, he acknowledged the blessed God, that He made heaven and earth.

"And they shall sing" — They will not sing songs of frivolity and desire, but rather they will sing of the ways of Hashem, of the conduct of His attributes. "For great, etc." — And it is therefore fitting to sing of His ways.

"And they shall sing" — then the kings shall sing of the ways of Hashem. "For great is the glory of Hashem" — He is great and exalted, for His glory depends on Himself alone, and His glory is not diminished by His attending to the lowly — on the contrary …

"He chastises" — Heb. יידע, chastises, like (Jud. 8:16): “and with them he broke (ויודע) the men of Succoth.”

'For' — then it will become clear to them that Hashem, although He is exalted above all, sees the lowly one, like me, who was at first a shepherd of flocks; and the meaning of 'sees' is that He will save him. The word 'yeida' [He knows] is from the heavy conjugation [binyan ha-kaved, i.e., Hifil], like 'yeitiv' [He does good], with the dalet opened [vocalized with a patach] on account of the guttural letter that follows. 'From afar' — from a distant place, like the height of the heavens above the earth. And the word 'yeida' [He knows] — He will teach him knowledge in order to chastise him, as in: 'and taught with them the men of Succoth' (Judges 8:16).

'For though Hashem is high, yet He regards the lowly' — Then everyone will acknowledge that Hashem is high, yet regards the lowly and takes note of those below — not as they used to say, 'Thick clouds are a hiding-place for Him, so that He does not see, and He walks in the circuit of heaven' (Job 22:14). For when they saw that He had taken note of my affliction and my lowliness, they acknowledged that He regards the lowly, even though He is high. 'And the haughty He knows from afar' — [The verb 'He knows'] is from the hif'il (causative) form, weighed like [i.e., conjugated on the pattern of] 'nor does good to the widow' (Job 24:21) — the meaning is: He is high, and from a distance — that is, from the heavens, which are far from the earth — from there He makes His ways known to mankind, so that they know that He has seen them.

"For Hashem is high" — Even though He is very high, nevertheless He sees the lowly and watches over him, to raise him up. "And though lofty" — Even though His dwelling is in the heights of heaven, nevertheless from afar He chastises sinners.

"He knows" — [meaning] He disciplines/chastises, as in "and he disciplined the men of Succoth with them" (Judges 8:16).

"For Hashem is high, yet He regards the lowly" — this is due to the abundance of His glory and greatness. "But the haughty" — (only) "He knows from afar" — the opposite of the way of flesh and blood: for a man standing in a high place, the high is closer to him than the low; but with Hashem, the low is closer to Him than the high, to the point that the high is distant from Him and the low is close to Him.

'Though' — behold, I know that You are exalted and that You see the lowly one; therefore I know that if I walk in the midst of trouble, I know that You will keep me alive. And how will You keep me alive? By stretching forth Your outstretched hand and saving me. 'Against the wrath of my enemies' — Rabbi Moshe said: [it means] 'despite my enemies.' But in my opinion it is to be understood literally: 'against the wrath [af] of my enemies,' meaning in order to anger them, and the sense is 'against their will.'

'If I walk' — David said: when I was walking 'in the midst of trouble' — when I was close to death, that is what is meant by 'in the midst of trouble' — when I was in the depths of trouble, You 'quickened me in spite of the wrath of my enemies' — in spite of their anger and their fury, that is, against their will, not for their own good. 'You stretch forth Your hand' — in the midst of the trouble; 'and it saves me' — [that is,] Your right hand.

"You quicken me" — That is to say, You revive me from the trouble. "Against the wrath of my enemies" — Because their anger and fury burned within them to swallow me up, therefore You will send upon them the blow of Your hand, and save me with Your right hand.

"Though I walk" — and Your providence over me is so present and so near, that at the time "I walk in the midst of trouble, You quicken me," and "You stretch forth Your" left "hand against the wrath" and anger of "my enemies, and Your right hand saves me" — in such a way that it performs judgment and mercy as one.

"May the Lord agree with me" — May He agree with my requests. "the works of Your hands" — The Temple, about which is stated (Exod. 15:16): “Your hands established.”

'Hashem will complete' — my desire on my behalf, or He will complete my deeds; and behold, it is elliptical, like 'let my right hand forget [its cunning]'; and behold, Your mercy endures forever, and I am the work of Your hands — if so, do not forsake me. The word 'tiraf' [forsake] is from the heavy conjugation [binyan ha-kaved, i.e., Hifil], corresponding to 'the work of Your hands.'

'Hashem will accomplish that which concerns me' — Just as He began to deal well with me, so will He complete His kindness toward me. 'Hashem' — this is in the sense of a calling-out [an invocation]: Hashem, may Your kindness be with me forever, for I recognize Your goodness, and [recognize] that I am the work of Your hands, for You made me, and You raised me, and You made me king. 'Forsake not' Your kindness toward me.

"Will accomplish on my behalf" — Just as He began to show His mercy, so He will accomplish it on my behalf — that is to say, He will complete His mercy toward me forever. "The work of Your hands" — Am I not the work of Your hands, for You made me king? Therefore do not withdraw Your hand from me, but hold fast to me.

"Will accomplish" — from the language of completion and fulfillment. "That which concerns me" — [meaning] "alai" (concerning/on behalf of me). "Forsake" — from the language of slackening/weakness.

"Hashem" — meaning, for three reasons I trust in His salvation: 1) that He will complete what He began, to save, for He is not a man that He should relent, and this is on account of His honor, lest there be a desecration of the Name; 2) on account of loving-kindness, for "Your mercy endures forever," since loving-kindness does not depend on the deeds of the recipients; 3) on account of the fact that He will "not forsake the work of Your hands," just as a father does not forsake his son — and this is close to the attribute of truth, for once He has created a thing, the truthfulness of His promise obligates Him not to refrain from helping it. And this is as it is said: "Give glory for Your name's sake, for the sake of Your loving-kindness, for the sake of Your truth."