| 1. For the conductor, on the gittith, of the sons of Korah, a song. |
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א. |
| 2. How beloved are Your dwelling places, O Lord of Hosts! |
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ב. |
| How beloved are Your dwelling places: How beloved and dear are Your dwelling places! |
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| 3. My soul yearns, yea, it pines for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh pray fervently to the living God. |
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ג. |
| yearns: Heb. נכספה Desires. |
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: |
| pines: Heb. כלתה, desires, as (II Sam. 13:39): “And [the soul of] King David longed (ותכל) to go forth to Absalom.” |
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| for the courts of the Lord: for they have been destroyed, and he says this regarding the exile. |
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| my heart and my flesh pray fervently: They pray for this. |
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| 4. Even a bird found a house and a swallow her nest, where she placed her chicks upon Your altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King and my God. |
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ד. |
| Even a bird found a house: In its ruins, the birds have nested. According to Midrash Aggadah (Mid. Ps. 84:2), it speaks of [the Temple] when it is built, and the bird is the nation of Israel. |
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| 5. Fortunate are those who stay in Your house; they will continually praise You forever. |
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ה. |
| Fortunate: is he who will yet merit to dwell in Your house, and they will yet praise you in its midst. |
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| 6. Fortunate is the man who has strength in You, in whose heart are the highways. |
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ו. |
| who has strength in You: Who has made You the strength of his trust. |
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| in whose heart are the highways: Who thinks in his heart the paving of his ways, to straighten his way. |
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| 7. Transgressors in the valley of weeping make it into a fountain; also with blessings they enwrap [their] Teacher. |
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ז. |
| Transgressors in the valley of weeping: Those who transgress Your law behold, they are in the depth of Gehinnom with weeping and wailing. |
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| make it into a fountain: with the tears of their eyes. |
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| also with blessings they enwrap [their] Teacher: They bless and thank His name and say, “He judged us fairly, and His judgment is true.” (Another explanation: Shem Ephraim) And the one who taught us to follow the good way enwraps us with blessings, but we did not obey him. |
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| 8. They go from host to host; he will appear to God in Zion. |
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ח. |
| They go from host to host: Those mentioned above, who dwell in Your house, in whose heart are the highways. |
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| from host to host: From the study-hall to the synagogue, and their host and army will appear to the Hole One, blessed be He, in Zion. |
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| 9. O Lord, God of Hosts, hearken to my prayer; bend Your ear, O God of Jacob, forever. |
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ט. |
| hearken to my prayer: to build Your house. |
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| 10. See our shield, O God, and look at the face of Your anointed. |
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י. |
| our shield: That is the Temple, which protects us. |
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| look at the face of: David Your anointed, and ponder his acts of kindness and his toil, by which he toiled and wearied himself in its building. |
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| 11. For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand; I chose to sit on the threshold of the house of My God rather than dwell in tents of wickedness. |
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יא. |
| For a day is better: [To live] one [day] in Your courts and die the next [is better than] to live a thousand years someplace else. |
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| I chose to sit on the threshold: Heb. הסתופף, to sit habitually on the threshold and by the doorpost. |
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| rather than dwell in tents of wickedness: rather than dwell tranquilly in the tents of the wicked Esau, to cleave to them. |
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| 12. For a sun and a shield is the Lord God; the Lord will give grace and glory; He will not withhold good from those who go with sincerity. |
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יב. |
| For a sun and a shield: שמש may be interpreted according to its apparent meaning, but Midrash Psalms interprets it as an expression of the points of the wall. |
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| 13. O Lord of Hosts, fortunate is the man who trusts in You. |
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יג. |
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