Psalms · Psalm 75

"al tashcheth" — [lit. do not destroy] Israel.

'For the leader, Al-tashcheth' — concerning the melody of a hymn whose opening is 'Al-tashcheth' ('Do not destroy').

"For the Leader" — this psalm was spoken concerning the ingathering of the exiles.

"Al-tashheth" [Destroy not] — that is to say, in this psalm he pleads with Hashem not to destroy Israel while they are in exile.

"For the Leader; Al-tashheth" — Asaph composed this song in the name of Uprightness and Equity. In it the poetic figure bares its holy arm and speaks lofty things; in it Uprightness, Levelness, and Equity stand established as a living abstract being, and it sings a lofty song to recount the power of Equity — to the point that Equity itself is the author and speaker of this song; it made it and established it, to declare in it the greatness of the power of Equity, its might, and its strength. And it appears that he composed this song in the days of Jehoshaphat, when they were in distress from the enemies who came against them, and through the merit of the justice and equity that Jehoshaphat established by appointing judges in every single city, they were delivered — and this is alluded to in the word "Al-tashheth" ("do not destroy"): then they saw how great is the power of Equity and Uprightness, and it speaks its words in a song of wisdom, good sense, and knowledge.

"We have thanked You, O God" — for the good; we have thanked also for the evil. "and...is near" — Your name is always near in our mouth. "they have told" — Our generations [have] constantly [told] Your wonders.

'We give thanks to You' — with an attached lamed, and it is also correct without it, like the word for 'song': 'I will sing to You' (azamrekha) and '[let them] sing to You' (yezamru lekha). And the sense of saying it twice is to indicate that we give thanks to You time after time, or at every occasion. 'And Your name is near' — to affirm that this is what our fathers told us; but He did not specify the tellers, as in 'who bore her.' And the correct view is that these tellers are the prophets who told us about Your name.

"We give thanks to You" — Israel will say, at the ingathering of the exiles, "we give thanks to You"; and the doubling [of the word] is to strengthen the thanksgiving. "And Your name is near" — and they will say that Your name is near to those who call upon You. "Men tell of Your wondrous works" — and then all who witness the redemption will tell — they will tell of the wonders that God did for Israel, and they will tell what You already said through Your prophet: "for I will take the appointed time."

"We give thanks to You" — at every time we give thanks to Hashem. "And Your name is near" — and likewise at every time Your name is near to us, to rescue and to save. "Men tell" — that is to say, as our fathers told of Your wondrous works.

"We give thanks" — The first verse is like a preamble; it says, "We give thanks to You, God," for the salvation You performed for us, "and Your name is near — men tell of Your wondrous works." That is to say: although if we look at the governance [of the world] by way of nature, it seems to us that Your name is distant from this world, for it appears that the world merely follows its own custom — yet if we see Your wondrous works, at a time when You perform wonders and depart from the course of nature, then we see that Your name is near and watches over this lowly world. And the construction of the verse is: "Your wondrous works — they tell that Your name is near" — Your wonders themselves tell and make known to us that Your name is near to Your creatures, and that You are near to all who call upon You.

"When I take a festive day" — When we have a festival, we do not engage in obscenity and levity, as [do] all the nations. "I shall judge with fairness" — We take it to our heart to praise You and laud You according to the incident of that day.

'When' — in the manner of, 'When I bring the appointed time, I will judge with equity.'

"For" — this is the word of God, blessed be He. He says: "For I will take, at My will, an appointed time for Israel to go out of exile. I Myself will judge with equity" — meaning, I will judge my enemies with equity.

"When I take the appointed time" — that is to say, I will not judge with equity only occasionally, but I will set a fixed time for the matter.

'The appointed time' — a set time.

(3-4) "When I take the appointed time" — He depicts, in poetic figure, that Equity and Uprightness are the foundation upon which the world stands, portraying the earth as if it stands upon pillars, and the pillars of the earth are set upon a single base, which is Equity and Uprightness — just as our sages, of blessed memory, said in a figure of speech that the world stands upon a single pillar, and "Righteous One" is its name. Accordingly, if we imagine that the foundation and base upon which the earth is established were to totter and slip from its place — that is, if Equity and Uprightness were to slip and totter from its place — then the earth would inevitably dissolve from its place and all its inhabitants would perish. Accordingly, the poet places [these words] in the mouth of Equity, saying: "I am Equity; when I take the appointed time" — Equity says: if I, Equity and Uprightness, were to accept slipping and toppling — if I, Equity, were to slip from my place — then "I would judge" and resolve in My mind that "the earth and all its inhabitants would dissolve," that surely the earth and its inhabitants would dissolve and totter, for "I" (Equity) "have set firm its pillars" — since I am Equity, I am the foundation and base upon which the pillars of the earth are established; therefore, if I, Equity, were to slip from My place, the earth, which is established and depends upon Me, would necessarily fall and dissolve. "Selah" — the first discourse, that of Equity, is concluded.

"When the earth and all its inhabitants were melting away, etc." — On the day of the giving of the Torah, when the earth and all its inhabitants were melting away because of the condition You made with the Creation: that if Israel did not accept the Torah, you would return it [the earth] to void and chaos. "I" — Your people, Israel. "established its pillars" — when I said, “We will do and we will hear.”

'Are dissolved' — then the earth and all its inhabitants will melt away. And the sense of 'I Myself have established' — then they will know that it is I who truly established its pillars beforehand. 'Its pillars' — these are its mountains, which shall not be moved; and now, when it totters, they will know that the earth is Mine, and I will do My will.

"The earth and all its inhabitants are dissolved" — then the earth and all its inhabitants will be dissolved; they will quake and tremble, for they will see the vengeance for Israel that He wrought upon its enemies. "I Myself establish its pillars. Selah" — then they will recognize that I Myself established its pillars, for by My will it stands, and by My will it dissolves. "Its pillars" — these are the mountains.

"Are dissolved" — when the nations did not wish to accept the Torah, the foundations of the earth and all its inhabitants were dissolved, for they were close to reverting to chaos and void. "I Myself" — behold, I have set firm the pillars of the earth to remain in their place forever, because I accepted the Torah.

'Are dissolved' — from the language of melting and dissolving. 'I Myself establish' — from the language of a base and foundation.

"to the perverse" — To the wicked, who confuse Israel.

'I say' — the words of the psalmist.

"I say" — these are the words of the psalmist. "To the arrogant" — these are those who indulge in the good things of this world. "Do not deal arrogantly" — do not engage in words of arrogance. "And to the wicked" — likewise He says, "Do not lift up the horn"; do not raise your head on high, as you do, thinking that it is this that benefits you, and not thinking as a wise person would.

"I say" — for this reason I said to the wicked among the nations: do not condemn Israel so as to turn them away from Hashem and from His Torah, lest the world revert to chaos. "Do not lift up the horn" — over Israel, to cause them to sin.

'To the arrogant, do not deal arrogantly' — an expression of folly and wickedness, as in 'I was envious of the arrogant' (above, Psalms 73). 'The horn' — an expression of dominion and strength, for the horn gives strength to those creatures that possess horns.

(5-6) "I say" — this too is the words of Uprightness and Equity. Behold, uprightness is implanted in the nature of every person and in his soul, for the soul of every person is created in such a way that love of uprightness and justice is implanted in its heart; and wickedness, which turns aside from equity, is something contrary to the nature of his soul, and his soul chastises him and compels him, by the power of the uprightness implanted within it, to bring him back to the good — and therefore the wicked are full of remorse. Accordingly, Equity says in its poetic figure: "I am Equity; I say to the arrogant, do not act arrogantly" — I, Equity, chastise the arrogant, rebuking them lest they act arrogantly; and I am the one who says "to the wicked, do not lift up the horn, and do not lift your horn on high, and do not speak with an insolent neck." If you see that the wicked take it to heart and regret their deeds, and their soul chastises them lest they act arrogantly and lest they lift their horn against the heights and lest they rebel against Hashem — who is it that chastises them and says this to them? I am Equity — I, I am the one who says this to the wicked. That is to say, the nature of uprightness implanted in their soul is what tells them and chastises them not to act arrogantly and not to lift up their horn, for the uprightness within human nature chastises a person and puts it into his heart to return to uprightness and goodness, and not to lift up a horn against Hashem.

'Do not lift up your horn' — because he is of your own generation, and they are human beings like you. 'Do not' — the sense is: it is not enough for you to raise your horn over your fellows, until your heart's pride leads you to raise it even over those exalted above you; and now you speak insolence with a haughty neck, like 'he runs at Him with a stiff neck' (Job 15:26). 'Insolence' [atek] — an adjective, as in 'let not arrogance come out of your mouth' (I Samuel 2:3); or it may be an adjective describing 'the neck.'

"Do not" — the matter is repeated for emphasis. "Speak insolence with a haughty neck" — you speak insolence and strong words against God. "With a neck" — that is, you speak with your mouth together with your neck, which is thick and fat. And the sense of "insolence" (עתק) pertains to speech; and likewise, "he runs at Him with a stiff neck, with the thick bosses of his shields," for out of an abundance of good they deny God.

"Do not lift up" — do not become haughty with self-exaltation, and do not speak against Heaven on high with a stiff neck, that is to say, with great pride.

"Insolence" — an expression of strength, as in "they speak insolence" (below, Psalm 94).

"For it is not from the east" — of the sun or from its setting, and not from the deserts where you embark on a journey by caravan to increase [your] property; there is no power in any of these to raise [your] horn.

'For' — do not think that when Hashem sits to judge, there is, in the east or the west or in the wilderness of mountains — which faces the Land of Israel — someone who will save you. Rabbi Moshe said that everything in the east or in the west is entirely within the authority of Hashem. Some say that this alludes to the wisdom of the constellations [astrology], whose adherents think that the good and the evil, and the honor and the disgrace that come upon a person, are all determined by the arrangement of the stars — and that the first cardinal point is the eastern one, and also the western, and also the southern, which faces the wilderness of mountains — these are the ones that rule over every person; and he did not mention the fourth cardinal point [north], because it has no power, since it is beneath the earth.

"Lifting up" (הרים) — this is an expression of raising and elevating. He says that greatness, elevation, and lifting up do not come to a person from the rising of the sun, nor from its setting, nor from the wilderness — that is, not through great effort in one direction or another does greatness come to him, but only through God, blessed be He, as it is said, "For God is judge; He puts down one, and lifts up another." And what supports this interpretation is that "הרים" is an expression of lifting up, because "ממדבר" has a kamatz and is not in the construct form.

"For neither... lifting up" — that is to say, the lifting up does not come to you from the direction of the sunrise, nor from the west, nor from the wilderness, for it does not come of itself.

"Lifting up" — from the language of "raising."

(7-8) "For not" — this too is the words of Uprightness and Equity: I said to the wicked that they should not lift up the horn, for elevation and exaltation are not in the hand of man, but rather from Hashem, who lowers and raises whomever He wishes, and man cannot raise his own horn by his own power, for whoever raises himself, the Holy One, blessed be He, lowers him. So does Equity speak to the heart of the wicked person — that is, the uprightness implanted in his heart chastises him thus, and puts it into his heart that he should not lift up a horn against Hashem. And it says, "for not from the east and from the west" (mountains, understood elliptically) "and not from the wilderness, mountains" — meaning: as for the reason why there are found on the globe of the earth places full of high, towering, lofty mountains, and places full of valleys and ravines, the natural philosophers disagreed. The ancients used to say that most mountains are near the poles — near the northern and southern pole, where it is wilderness and has no habitation on account of the cold, and there most of the mountains extend — to the point that they said, "from the wilderness come mountains," meaning that the wilderness and the lack of habitation there is the cause of the mountains. And the moderns (whose view is that the earth revolves every day from west to east around its axis, according to the view of Copernicus) say that most mountains are found at the rising and the setting, meaning at the equator, where the sun rises and sets — for they hold that if a sphere revolves around its axis, all its parts tend to be flung toward its middle, since the speed of rotation is greater at the middle of the sphere than at its two poles, and therefore they say that through the rotation of the earth, the mass of the dust of the earth was set in motion toward the middle, around the equator — for it is known that the earth bulges outward around the equator by several parasangs; and according to their view they would say that "from the rising and the setting come mountains." However, the truth, when we look at a map of the earth, is that we see there is no basis for determining any single cause for this, for the mountains extend without order, and are not confined either to the region of the equator alone, or to the region of the poles alone, so that we have no reason why in this place there is a mountain and in that place there is a valley and a lowland — except that so Hashem decreed. And so it says that the truth is that it is not from the rising and the setting that the mountains derive, as the moderns hold, nor from the wilderness that the mountains derive, as the ancients held; rather, "God is the judge," and He decreed concerning each and every place and said: "this place shall be lowered," and "this place shall be raised." And from this we learn a moral lesson, that lowering and raising are not something dependent on nature, but rather on the decree of Hashem — He raises and He lowers whomever He wishes.

"But God judges" — [you] for all the evil that you have done. "He humbles this one and elevated that one" — The elevated one He lowers, and the lowly He elevates.

'For God is judge' — behold, Hashem is the judge; therefore it is not fitting for you to raise your horn through your wisdom, or your might, or your wealth.

"Judge" — everything comes in judgment; according to the law He humbles this one and raises that one.

"For a cup" — of weakness is in His hand. "and strong wine" — Heb. חמר, strong. Vinos, or vinose, in Old French. "a full mixture" — The cup is full of a mixture, to mix and give all the nations to drink. "and He pours out of this" — Out of this cup, He will pour and cause to gush forth their drinks, an expression of (Micah 1:4): “as water poured (מגרים) down a steep place.”

'For... foaming' — a verb in the past tense from the root meaning 'the roaring of many waters,' like 'turbid.' 'And He pours from this' — and from this we see how full the cup is; and it says of the cup that it is full, including its dregs, in the manner of 'a great and strong wind' (I Kings 19:11). And behold, the wicked who are not fully wicked shall drink the upper, finer wine, while the dregs are drunk according to each one's rank.

"For in the hand of Hashem there is a cup" — to give the nations to drink at the ingathering of the exiles; then He will bring down His enemies and lift up Israel, for everything is in His hand. Israel has already drunk this cup during the exile, and at the ingathering of the three exiles the wicked among the nations will drink it. And it calls the wine of this cup "chamar" (חמר), which means "red," for the excellence of wine is its redness. "Chamar" — is in the form of a past-tense verb; and "red" is "achmar" in Arabic. And it says the cup is "full of mixture" (מלא מסך), which means "mixed." "And He pours out of the same" — for the cup will be so full that the wine within it will pour out from this side and that. And it refers to the cup in the masculine, saying "full" and "he pours," although it (כוס) is usually feminine.

"For a cup" — Do not think that you will be exalted forever; that is not so, for there is prepared in the hand of Hashem a cup with fine wine, filled with a mixture appropriate to it. (He likens the punishment to the drinking of wine, which confuses a person's mind.) "And He pours out of the same" — from this cup He will pour out and spill for the wicked. "Surely its dregs" — this is a transposed verse (its words are to be read out of order), meaning: surely all the wicked of the earth shall drain and drink the whole cup with the dregs, but not the righteous.

"Foaming" — of praiseworthy flavor, as in "you shall drink foaming wine" (Deuteronomy 32). "Mixture" — an expression of blending, as in "she has mixed her wine" (Proverbs 9). "And He pours out" — an expression of flowing and pouring, as in "poured down the slope" (Micah 1). "Its dregs" — this is what settles at the bottom of the cup that holds the drink. "Shall drain" — from the language of "sucking, draining."

"For there is a cup" — this too is words of uprightness and rectitude. It depicts that Hashem continually bestows only good, blessing, and kindness without a moment's pause, and that when a person sometimes receives evil, this does not go forth from Hashem — rather, it is only because he did not wish to receive the good bounty flowing down from Hashem, and so instead he receives the dregs and the evil. Accordingly, it is pictured metaphorically that Hashem holds in His hand the cup of bounty, in which is found "foaming wine" — the choicest wine — and this cup is "full of mixture, and He pours out of it": even though Hashem continually pours and spills and gives drink from the cup, and continually bestows without pause, nevertheless the mixture of the cup remains full and the blend never diminishes, and the source is full of good and blessing. And the fact that you see people receiving dregs and refuse rather than choice wine — that is, that they receive evils — is because "surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth drain and drink," because the wicked do not wish to drink the good wine, only the dregs — meaning, they do not prepare their deeds to receive the good blessing of Hashem and the preserved, good wine, and instead they drink harmful things, like dregs.

"And I shall recite forever" — From then on, [I will recite] His vengeance and His might.

'But as for me' — the words of the psalmist. 'For ever' — all my days I will declare this prophecy to mankind, so that perhaps they will be reproved; and this is the glorious attribute of Hashem.

"But as for me" — Israel says: "And I will declare forever the vengeance upon my enemies that I will see, and I will sing praises for this to the God of Jacob, who did not leave them in exile."

"But as for me" — but I will declare forever His righteousness which He performs with us.

"But as for me" (that is, uprightness) "— I will declare forever": the metaphor consistently conveys that songs and psalms are said over a cup, as it is written, "I will lift up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of Hashem" (Psalms 116:13), and as our Sages said, song is said only over wine. Accordingly, it is depicted that Hashem holds a cup of blessing in His hand, and who is it that sings and blesses Hashem over the cup? Uprightness and rectitude say: "For there is a cup in the hand of Hashem, and as for me — uprightness — I will declare forever," and I am the one who sings over this cup, and declares to the world the mighty deeds of Hashem — "and I will sing praises to the God of Jacob." And the metaphor is that uprightness and rectitude make known to mankind His mighty deeds and the glory and majesty of His kingship.

"And all the horns of the wicked" — of Esau. "I shall cut off" — As the matter that is stated (Ezek. 29: 14): “And I shall lay My vengeance against Edom by the hand of My people, Israel.” They will cut off the horn of Esau (the enemy), and then the horns of the Righteous One of the world—Israel, who are the praise of the Holy One, blessed be Hewill be upraised.

'And all... I will cut off' — through speech, as in 'and he fought against Israel,' concerning Balak (Joshua 24:9); also 'ascribe strength to God' (Psalm 68:35). 'The horns of the righteous shall be lifted up' — the opposite of 'I will cut off.'

"And all" — when the horns of the righteous are lifted up, I will cut off all the horns of the wicked, so that no kingdom will remain except Hashem's. And it says "I will cut off," for Israel will cut them off in the wars of Gog and Magog.

"All the horns" — then He will give the power into my hand, and I will cut off all the dominions of the wicked, and it shall no longer be exalted, for from now on the horns of the righteous and his dominion will be exalted.

"I will cut off" — an expression of severing and cutting, as in "sycamores are cut down" (Isaiah 9).

"And all the horns" — this too is among the words of uprightness and rectitude: "And I — uprightness — will cut off the horns of the wicked, and through me the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up" — for through the uprightness planted in the nature of men, they will recognize the glory of Hashem and His greatness, and will learn to do justice and rectitude, and they will cut off the horn of the wicked who lift a horn against uprightness and justice in order to scatter them, and it will subdue the wicked and raise up the righteous. All this is attributed to the rectitude implanted in the nature of souls; by this power of justice the inhabitants of the world learned to keep injustice far away and to do justice and uprightness, and to increase the honor of the righteous and their standing.