Psalms · Psalm 66

'For the leader, shout to God' — he did not mention the name of the author; and since it is in the plural, and this is not found so in most of the psalms that are of David, it is therefore possible that this psalm too belongs to one of the [other] singers.

"For the leader" — this psalm was said concerning the ingathering of the exiles of Israel, that [Israel] shall say, "Shout to God, all the earth," for they [the nations] shall see the wonders that He did with Israel.

"Shout" — when the Messiah king comes, all the nations will sound a royal shout, to accept Hashem as God.

"For the Leader, a song, a psalm" — the name of its author is not mentioned. In my opinion, its author is Manasseh son of Hezekiah, who is mentioned [as follows] (II Chronicles 33:11): that Hashem brought against him the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, and they captured him with hooks, bound him with fetters of bronze, and brought him to Babylon; and when he was in distress, he entreated Hashem his God and humbled himself greatly, etc., and he prayed to Him, and He was entreated by him and heard his supplication, and returned him to Jerusalem to his kingdom; and Manasseh knew that Hashem is God, and he built the altar of Hashem and sacrificed on it peace offerings and thanksgiving offerings, and he told Judah to serve Hashem, the God of Israel. And there it is made clear that his prayer and [Hashem's] being entreated by him are written among the words of the seers — and that is the song found here. It is divided into four parts: (1) it mentions Hashem's general governance according to nature (until the word Selah in verse 5); (2) it mentions the miraculous governance (until the word Selah in verse 7); (3) it speaks to the nations and recounts what happened to him — the imprisonment and the deliverance (until the word Selah in verse 15); (4) it speaks to Israel (until the end of the psalm). "Shout to God" — accept His kingship, for the shout [of acclaim] indicates the acceptance of a king, for He is king of all the earth.

"Sing the glory of His name" — Sing in honor of His name. Or: Recite the glory of His name with music and song.

'Sing praises' — the meaning of 'make' ['make His praise glorious'] is that His praise is an honor to you. And the sense is: through praising Him, you are honored.

"Sing praises" — in your praise, say that His name is honored through your redemption; for during the exile His name was scorned and disgraced, [with the nations] saying, "Where are your gods? Let them arise and help you." "Say to God, how awesome are Your deeds" — that You brought forth a weak nation from among many mighty and powerful nations, and You are mightier than they, so that through the greatness of Your strength, Your enemies shall cower before You in denial, and say, "We did no evil against You."

"The glory of His name" — according to the glory befitting His name. "Make [His praise glorious]" — praise Him with the glory befitting Him; and the matter is repeated in different words.

"Sing praises" — now, the recognition of Hashem comes about in two ways: (1) Through creation in general, [in] that the created being testifies that it has a Creator; and this can also be known through rational inquiry, that there is a cause of causes and a source of sources for all existing things. However, from [rational] inquiry alone, one cannot establish that He directs the world by will. For the sages of Greece philosophized that the world came to be from Him by necessity, like a shadow from the sun, and they deduced this from the very greatness of the First Cause, for this necessitates, in their view, that will, or love and hatred, or intention, cannot be attributed to Him, and that He knows nothing of this lowly world. Therefore they say that exaltation and honor are due to Him insofar as He is the First Cause, but not fear, since He does not oversee or direct [the world]. Regarding this he first says, "Sing of the glory of His name, make His praise glorious," meaning that His praise will be the honor due to Him insofar as He is the cause of all things; but he then goes on to say, "Say to God, how awesome are Your deeds," meaning that it is also necessary that they fear Your deeds, for You are also the one who directs and oversees and rules and acts as He wills — even though "through the greatness of Your strength Your enemies shall be found false to You," for Your enemies, the heretics, will deny You and say that the world is eternal, that everything is determined by necessity, and that You know nothing of the governance of the world; and they say this precisely because of the greatness of Your strength, for on this basis they conclude, in their reasoning, that in accordance with Your strength and greatness, You are exalted above all will and intention, and they attribute the governance [of the world] to the celestial order. Manasseh, too, held this error, for which reason he worshipped the host of heaven, since he thought that they governed the world, and he denied Hashem's governance and providence. But from now on, "all the earth shall bow down to You and shall sing praises to You," for they will recognize that You direct all things as You will, and they will not sing praises to other gods, but only "shall sing praises to Your name, Selah" — the conclusion of this section. (Part 2) "Come" — he says that even though from natural governance the nations will not recognize Hashem's providence and His awesomeness, "come and see the works of God toward the children of men; He is awesome in His doing," for through the deeds He performed on behalf of mankind, through them you will see that He is awesome in His doing — that not only is honor due to Him, but fear is also due to Him, for it is in His power to change nature and to conduct a miraculous governance through His providence over mankind, and to perform awesome deeds. And this is [seen in] that "He turned the sea into dry land" for the sake of Israel, and likewise, "they passed through the river on foot," that people crossed the Jordan on foot; "there we rejoiced in Him," for we recognized that He watches over individual human beings and changes nature for their sake; there we recognized that He "rules the world by His might," that He rules over the world and nature is subdued beneath Him, and that He has the power to subdue the laws of nature; and just as He performed miracles for Israel, so too "His eyes watch the nations," to repay them according to their evil; and therefore, from now on, "let not the rebellious exalt themselves" — let them not disregard Hashem's eyes by saying that His eyes do not watch over this lowly world because Hashem is high above all nations, for in truth His eyes look down low to see also everything done on earth. "Selah" — the conclusion of this section. (Part 3) "Bless" — you, "O peoples, bless our God," who watches over us with individual providence (not only over the nations in general, but also over particular individuals), "and make the sound of His praise heard" — he depicts the praise as an abstract entity giving forth a sound in praise of Hashem; you make its sound heard and proclaim it to the many.

"How awesome" — is each one of Your deeds! "Through the greatness of Your might" — When You show the world Your mightthrough pestilence, sword, famine, or lightning "Your enemies" — , the wicked, confess their lies and sins because of their great fear.

'Say... how awesome' — [referring to] each one of Your deeds, like 'banot tsa'adah alei shur' [its branches run over the wall] (Genesis 49:22). And the meaning of 'yikhachashu' ['shall dwindle away'] — that they will testify that falsehood and deceit are in their own hands.

"Say to God" — say concerning God. "How tremendous" — how exceedingly tremendous and wondrous are Your works, in abundance. Because of the greatness of Your strength, Your enemies will feign submission to You, claiming that they are Your friends.

'All' — he mentioned 'Your enemies' who are near, then said 'all the earth'; and there is no difference between '[they] shall sing praises to You' or '[and] they shall sing praises to You' — the meaning is doubled [for emphasis].

"All [the earth]" — as it is written, "For then I will turn to the peoples a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of Hashem."

"They shall sing praises to Your name, Selah" — forever they will sing praises to Your name, and not return to their wayward ways.

"awesome in His deeds" — Feared by mankind, lest He find a transgression in them, for all their deeds are revealed to You.

'Come' — one says to another: 'Come, come along,' like 'lechu na ve-nivakhah' [come now, let us reason together] (Isaiah 1:18). And the sense is: 'come to us.' 'Terrible' [nora] — is connected with 'alilah' [doing], [meaning] 'the deed is awesome.' And whoever says that the heh [in 'alilah'] is superfluous, and that it is like [the form] 'elyon' [most high], is in error, for the heh is the sign of the feminine gender; for an added heh is not found in nouns unless the word is mil'el [stressed on the penultimate syllable], in the shuruk and shurkah pattern, like 'tzedek' and 'tzedakah.'

"Come, and see" — this is what one shall say to another. "Terrible in deed" — terrible in action. "Toward the children of man" — to do with them according to His will, until they see Him.

"Come" — then Israel will say to one another, "Come and see," etc. "Tremendous in doing" — His deeds are tremendous toward the children of men.

"The works" [עלילה] — an expression of deeds and actions (מעללים ופעולות).

"He turned the sea into dry land" — The Sea of Reeds. "there it rejoiced with it" — I found: There was a thing with which the sea rejoiced, i.e., that the sea saw the Holy One, blessed be He.

'He turned' — he recounts the ancient deeds of Hashem. And the meaning of 'through the river' — it is the Jordan, which Israel crossed in joy while the Ark stood still.

"He turned" — this is among His awesome deeds: that He turned the sea into dry land when He brought His people out of the exile of Egypt. "They passed through the river on foot" — through the Jordan. "There" — there too we shall rejoice in Him, when He brings us out of exile.

"He turned the sea [into dry land]" — when they went out of Egypt. "They crossed the river on foot" — in the days of Joshua they crossed the Jordan on foot. "In Him" — in the salvation that comes from Him.

"will not exalt themselves" — Their hand will not be high.

'Who rules' — the word 'olam' [forever] does not occur anywhere in all of Scripture with that meaning of unbroken time, only 'zeman' [a period] and 'netzach' [perpetuity] do. And the meaning is that Hashem rules forever, like 'an eternal ruler' [moshel netzach], through the greatness of His might; and His dominion is over the nations, whom He observes. For it would not be correct for there to be a bet in 'bi-gvurato' ['by His might'] as in 'mashal banu' ['he ruled over us'], for that would make no sense. Behold, he mentioned that His dominion is over sea and land; therefore let not the rebellious who rebel against Him exalt themselves.

"He rules by His might forever" — that it shall be seen, when He brings out Israel, that He shall rule forever over all the nations; that is, all shall recognize His dominion and His kingship, as it is written, "And Hashem shall be King over all the earth," etc. "His eyes keep watch" — then His eyes shall watch over the nations, to see their deeds and repay them according to their deeds; for until that time He is slow to anger, but those who were rebellious He shall bring low, and they shall not be exalted.

"Who rules" — now, behold, He rules with His might over the whole world, and His eyes watch over men to repay them their due. "The rebellious" — those who turn away from the good path will no longer have any exaltation, forever.

"Keep watch" [תצפינה] — an expression of watching and observing (צפיה והבטה).

"O peoples, bless our God" — for His wonders, that He kept our soul alive in exile, and you cannot annihilate us.

'Bless' — 'ha'am' [the people, singular form] means the peoples, like the Jebusites who were under the hand of Israel; or he says to everyone that we are all obligated to bless Hashem. And some say that the meaning of 'peoples' [amim] is Israel, like 'achareicha Binyamin ba-amamekha' [after you, Benjamin, among your peoples] (Judges 5:14), and this is correct.

"Bless, O peoples" — then Israel shall say to the nations, "Bless our God," for you see the wonders that He did with us, that we were not destroyed despite the length of the exile.

"Who has set our soul in life" — that He kept us alive in the exile. "And has not allowed our feet to slip" — this is what the remnant of Israel shall say after the refining crucible, as it is said, "And I will bring the third part through the fire, and I will refine them as silver is refined."

"Who has set [our soul in life], etc." — and they were not able to destroy us. "[Suffered not] our foot to be moved" — to be falling with no rising up.

"To be moved" [למוט] — from the language of swaying and the slipping of the foot (נטיה ומעידת הרגל).

"Who has set our soul in life" — even though we were in great danger from the enemy; and also "and has not suffered our foot to be moved" — for through the sufferings he returned in repentance and did not stray again from the way of Hashem.

"You tested us" — with distress in the exile. "You refined us" — to remove the dross from us when we repent before You, as they refine silver to remove its dross.

'For' — by way of metaphor, on account of the distress that came upon them; and '[Hashem] tried [us] to know what was in their heart' — this too is by way of metaphor, for everything is revealed before Him even before He created the heart that thinks.

"For You have tried us" — the troubles that came upon us were meant to test us, whether we would stand firm in faith in Hashem. "You have refined us" — just as the refiner removes the dross of silver through the refining process, so our sins were purged through the troubles.

"For You, O God, have tried us" — he depicts the refining [process] by which He refined him through the sufferings, comparable to the refining of silver in fire to remove the dross from it, so that it comes out for a smith to fashion into a vessel (especially according to the tradition of our Sages that the king of Babylon cast Manasseh into a bronze cauldron and kindled fire beneath it).

"You brought us into a trap" — A narrow place, like in a prison. "a chain" — Heb. מועקה, an expression of locking up, and every [expression of] מֵעִיק and מֵצִיק is like it.

'You did bring us' — like 'bi-metzudah ra'ah' [into an evil net] (Ecclesiastes 9:12). 'Constraint' [mu'akah] — like 'akat rasha tzarah' [the oppression of a wicked person's distress]; and so the Targum renders 'u-mu'akah' as a noun; or it is a passive participle with the descriptive noun omitted. And the sense is that it is something that presses upon their loins.

"You brought us" — like one caught in a snare, who has no way to escape. "Constraint" — an evil that was [like] a snare upon our loins, such that we had no strength to withstand it. And "me'ukah" (constraint) is an adjective from a hollow root [whose middle letter is a quiescent letter]; and likewise, in this pattern, without the feminine heh ending, are [the words] "mu'af" and "mutzak."

"You did bring us into the hold" — even though we sat in confinement, You further added, placing upon our loins something that oppresses and constrains.

"Into the hold" [במצודה] — meaning, imprisonment within a strong fortress, as in "they brought him into strongholds" (Ezekiel 19). "Constraint" [מועקה] — distress and pressure (צרה וצוקה), as in "I will press you down in your place" (Amos 2). "Our loins" [במתנינו] — this is the place where a belt is girded.

"You did bring us into the hold" — this is the prison. "You did lay constraint upon our loins" — He surrounded his loins with iron all around, so that he could not move from his place.

"You caused man to ride at our head" — The kings of all the heathen nations.

'You made [us] ride' — the sense is that He rides upon their high places, as though [we] had come through fire or through water, like 'one who strikes his father and his mother' (Exodus 21:15). And the meaning of 'to abundance' relates to air, for by fire one becomes parched and by water one is swept away.

"You have caused men to ride" — before the exile, their [other nations'] dominion was not over us, but Yours alone; [now] You have caused [other nations] to ride and have given the nations of the world dominion over our heads. And "caused to ride" is by way of metaphor. "We went through fire and water" — trouble is likened to fire and water, for fire burns and consumes, while water sweeps away; and we came into them during our exile — [yet] we were not consumed. "But You did bring us out to abundance" — You brought us out from them to a well-watered land, in which we were saturated and richly fed; and the lamed of "la-revayah" is vocalized with a kamatz, indicating the definite article. And it is the Land of Israel, which is a land of blessing and a well-watered land.

"You did bring us out" — but nevertheless, in the end, You brought us out to abundance, and we were not destroyed.

"To abundance" [לרויה] — to satiation (לשביעה).

"You have caused men to ride over our heads" — this is the warden of the prison, who sat upon his head and afflicted him with sufferings. "We went through fire and through water" — for they kindled a fire beneath him, and afterward cast him into the water to afflict him (and also because he used the metaphor of the refining of silver, as is written in verse 10, and the way of it is that after they take it out of the fire, they put it into water to strengthen it). "But You did bring us out to abundance" — that he went out from there and was restored to his kingdom.

"I shall come to Your house" — when You build the Temple, we shall pay our vows that we vowed in exile.

'I will come' — the words of the poet; or he speaks in the language of one appointed over the war.

"I will come" — he speaks in the singular, on behalf of the people of the exile in general; he says that they shall then say [they will] come into the Temple with burnt-offerings, fulfilling the vows that they vowed during the exile, when God, may He be exalted, brings them out of the distress of the exile.

"I will come" — and therefore I will come to Your house with burnt-offerings, etc.

(Verses 13-15) "I will come into Your house with burnt-offerings" — for from now on he offered burnt-offerings on the altar of Hashem, as above. "I will perform to You my vows which my lips uttered" — for then I spoke, saying, and I vowed, for "burnt-offerings of fatlings I will offer up to You." (Section 4) "Come, hear, all you who fear God, and I will declare what He has done for my soul" — now he will relate to Israel how Hashem received him in repentance, and how Hashem's providence became known to him, as it is written, "and he said to Judah, to serve Hashem, the God of Israel."

'Which... have uttered' — it is the vow, like 've-anokhi patsiti pi' [and I have opened my mouth] (Judges 11:35).

"Which" — at the time when the enemy oppresses them, they vow, [saying]: "If God, may He be exalted, brings us out of the distress of the exile..."

"Which [my lips] uttered, etc." — to vow to Hashem.

"Have uttered" [פצו] — have opened (פתחו).

"fat" — Heb. מיחים, fat, an expression of מוֹחַ, marrow.

'Burnt-offerings of fatlings' [olot mechim] — on the pattern of 'metim' [dead ones], with the noun omitted; and so it means burnt-offerings of fat lambs, possessors of marrow. 'Rams' — they are the large ones. 'And Selah' — [meaning] 'in truth.'

"Fatlings" — from "marrow," meaning sheep that have marrow and fat. "The smoke of rams" — the smoke of the burning fat of rams. "I will offer" — like [the phrase] "and he hurried to prepare it."

"The sweet smoke of rams" — the burning of the sacrificial portions of rams. "Selah" — forever, without cessation, for the last Temple will never again be destroyed.

"Fatlings" [מחים] — fat ones, full of marrow (שמנים ובעלי מוח).

"all you who fear God" — They are the proselytes who became converted.

'Come' — [connects to] 'what God has done for my soul.'

"Come" — each one shall say to his fellow, "You who fear God, come, listen." "Come" is an expression of urging; he says: "All who fear God, listen, and I will recount what He has done for my soul."

"Come, hearken" — David said: let your heart not despair of believing, for hear, etc., what He did for my soul, and from this you will believe that He will do the same for you as well.

"My mouth called out to Him" — When we were in exile, we called out to Him, and we recited His exaltation with our tongue. "and He was exalted" — Heb. ורומם, like ונתרומם, and He was exalted. I found: With my mouth, I called out to Him. ורומם is a noun. His exaltation is ready under my tongue to be let out of my mouth, as (Job 20:12): “though he hide it under his tongue.”

'Elav pi' [to Him with my mouth] — the bet is missing, [understood] like 'be-fi'; as in 'ki sheshet yamim be-fi karati' [for six days I cried with my mouth]. 'And He was extolled' — and 'more exalted' was under my tongue, a hint toward the heart. And some say that the meaning is doubled, and 've-romam' is like 'u-morak ve-shutaf' [scoured and rinsed] (Leviticus 6:21).

"To Him" — with my mouth I called to Him, and He was exalted (romam) beneath my tongue, meaning that I extolled Him with my tongue. "Romam" — is a verb from a hollow root [whose middle letter is a quiescent letter]. "Under my tongue" — [meaning] the same as "with my tongue"; and since the tongue is aided in its speech from above it and from below it — for the letters gimel, yod, kaf, and kuf are pronounced with the palate — therefore, speech is referred to by the term "tongue," since thought is hidden, while what is revealed [comes] through the tongue. "Romam" — would then be from the geminate verbs [doubled-letter roots], of a pattern resembling the quadriliteral form. He says: with his mouth he called to Him, and his heart, too, extolled Him.

"I cried to Him with my mouth" — when I was in distress. "And extolled" — the exaltation of Hashem was under my tongue; that is to say, I recounted the exaltation of God.

"I cried to Him with my mouth" — this is as our Sages, of blessed memory, said: that at first he cried out to every idol in the world, and when he saw that he was not answered, he cried out to Hashem. And then, at the time "that I cried to Him with my mouth" — and even more so, at the time "that extolling was under my tongue" — meaning I had not yet brought the words out of my mouth, but the speech was under the tongue, which is inside the mouth, and the tongue began to be extolled through the speech.

"If I saw iniquity, etc." — He did not deal with us according to our sins, but He made Himself as though He neither saw nor heard the iniquity that was in our hearts.

"Iniquity" — [meaning:] when I was crying out with my mouth, had there been iniquity in my heart, Hashem would not have heard what I was crying out; and the speaker is saying that there was no iniquity in his heart.

"Iniquity" — meaning, even if I had seen [harbored] iniquity in my heart, intending to do it — even though the thought itself is also against God, as if I had expressed it with my lips — He would not have heeded it; meaning, it would not have been counted to me as sin, for the Holy One, blessed be He, does not combine an evil thought with the [actual] deed — [this is a matter of] faith regarding God.

"Iniquity, etc." — even when I saw iniquity in my heart — that is to say, even if I had thought to commit some iniquity — nevertheless Hashem would not hear it against me; meaning, He made Himself as if He did not hear and did not know my thought, for He does not join an evil thought to an actual deed, and He did not reject my prayer because of that thought.

"Iniquity" — our Sages, of blessed memory, explained that he said in his prayer: that if Hashem did not help him, he would know that He is like the gods of the nations, who do not hear prayer; and so he was still in doubt in his heart whether Hashem hears prayer. And this is what he means: even though "I had seen" — still — "iniquity in my heart," in that I doubted "whether Hashem would not hear" — for I had not yet believed with certainty that Hashem hears prayer.

"But" — indeed you should know.

"Indeed" (akhen) — like [the word "akhen" in] "Indeed, the matter is known."

"But verily" — but in truth, God heard and attended to the sound of my prayer.

"Verily" [אכן] — truly (באמת).

"But verily" (I have seen) that "Hashem has heard," and knew my situation, and also "He has attended to the voice of my prayer" — immediately when I began to pray, He received me in repentance and restored me to my kingdom.

"Who did not remove my prayer" — from before Him, and He did not remove His kindness from me.

"Blessed" — [Blessed is God] in that He helped me to pray, and did not turn away; and His kindness was that I should pray to Him.

"Blessed" — [He] did not turn away my prayer: He did not reject it, but accepted it willingly, and did not remove His kindness from me.

"He has not turned away my prayer" — He did not reject my prayer from before Him on account of that evil thought. "nor His mercy" — This refers back to "He has not turned away," [meaning] He has not turned away His mercy from me; and it returns to what was said above, to say: from this you shall know that just as He heard me, so will He hear you, and you will go out from the exile.

"Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer" — even though by strict law He should not have accepted my prayer, He did not turn it away from before Him; for He did not turn away "His mercy from me" — meaning, He did not deal with me according to strict law and judgment, but only out of His great mercy, even though I was not worthy of it.