Special Custom for the Month of Elul and High Holidays
The Baal Shem Tov instituted a custom of reciting three additional chapters of Psalms each day, from the 1st of Elul until Yom Kippur (on Yom Kippur the remaining 36 chapters are recited, thereby completing the entire book of Psalms).
See below for today's additional chapters.
Chapter 88
The psalmist weeps and laments bitterly over the maladies and suffering Israel endures in exile, which he describes in detail.
1A song, a psalm by the sons of Korach, for the Conductor, upon the machalat le'anot; a maskil for Heiman the Ezrachite.
2O Lord, God of my deliverance, by day I cried out [to You], by night I [offer my prayer] before You.
3Let my prayer come before You; turn Your ear to my supplication.
4For my soul is sated with affliction, and my life has reached the grave.
5I was reckoned with those who go down to the pit, I was like a man without strength.
6[I am regarded] among the dead who are free, like corpses lying in the grave, of whom You are not yet mindful, who are yet cut off by Your hand.
7You have put me into the lowest pit, into the darkest places, into the depths.
8Your wrath has weighed heavily upon me, and all the waves [of Your fury] have constantly afflicted me.
9You have estranged my friends from me, You have made me abhorrent to them; I am imprisoned and unable to leave.
10My eye is afflicted because of distress; I call to You, O Lord, every day; I have stretched out my hands [in prayer] to You.
11Do You perform wonders for the deceased? Do the dead stand to offer You praise? Selah.
12Is Your kindness recounted in the grave, Your faithfulness in the place of perdition?
13Are Your wondrous deeds known in the darkness [of the grave], or Your righteousness in the land of oblivion?
14But, I, to You, O Lord, I cry; each morning my prayer comes before You.
15Why, O Lord, do You forsake my soul? Why do You conceal Your countenance from Me?
16From my youth I have been afflicted and approaching death, yet I have borne the fear of You which is firmly established within me.
17Your furies have passed over me; Your terrors have cut me down.
18They have engulfed me like water all day long, they all together surrounded me.
19You have estranged from me beloved and friend; I have been rejected by my intimates.
Chapter 89
This psalm speaks of the kingship of the House of David, the psalmist lamenting its fall from power for many years, and God's abandonment and spurning of us.
1A maskil by Eitan the Ezrachite.
2I will sing of the Lord's kindness forever; to all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.
3For I have said, "The world is built with kindness; there in the heavens You establish Your faithfulness.”
4I have made a covenant with My chosen one; I have sworn to David, My servant:
5"I will establish Your descendants forever; I will build your throne for all generations," Selah.
6Then the heavens will extol Your wonders, O Lord; Your faithfulness, too, in the congregation of the holy ones.
7Indeed, who in heaven can be compared to the Lord, who among the supernal beings can be likened to the Lord!
8The Almighty is revered in the great assembly of the holy ones, awe-inspiring to all who surround Him.
9O Lord, God of Hosts, who is mighty like You, O God! Your faithfulness surrounds You.
10You rule the vastness of the sea; when its waves surge, You still them.
11You crushed Rahav (Egypt) like a corpse; with Your powerful arm You scattered Your enemies.
12Yours are the heavens, the earth is also Yours; the world and all therein-You established them.
13The north and the south-You created them; Tabor and Hermon sing of [the greatness] of Your Name.
14Yours is the arm which has the might; strengthen Your hand, raise high Your right hand.
15Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; kindness and truth go before Your countenance.
16Fortunate is the people who know the sound of the shofar; Lord, they walk in the light of Your countenance.
17They rejoice in Your Name all day, and they are exalted through Your righteousness.
18Indeed, You are the splendor of their might, and in Your goodwill our glory is exalted.
19For our protectors turn to the Lord, and our king to the Holy One of Israel.
20Then You spoke in a vision to Your pious ones and said: "I have granted aid to [David] the mighty one; I have exalted the one chosen from among the people.
21I have found David, My servant; I have anointed him with My holy oil.
22It is he whom My hand shall be prepared [to assist]; My arm, too, shall strengthen him.
23The enemy shall not prevail over him, nor shall the iniquitous person afflict him.
24And I will crush his adversaries before him, and will strike down those who hate him.
25Indeed, My faithfulness and My kindness shall be with him, and through My Name his glory shall be exalted.
26I will set his hand upon the sea, his right hand upon the rivers.
27He will call out to Me, 'You are my Father, my God, the strength of my deliverance.’
28I will also make him [My] firstborn, supreme over the kings of the earth.
29I will maintain My kindness for him forever; My covenant shall remain true to him.
30And I will bestow [kingship] upon his seed forever, and his throne will endure as long as the heavens last.
31If his children forsake My Torah and do not walk in My ordinances;
32if they profane My statutes and do not observe My commandments,
33then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their misdeeds with plagues.
34Yet I shall not take away My kindness from him, nor betray My faithfulness.
35I will not abrogate My covenant, nor change that which has issued from My lips.
36One thing I have sworn by My holiness-I will not cause disappointment to David.
37His seed will endure forever and his throne will be [resplendent] as the sun before Me.
38Like the moon, it shall be established forever; [the moon] is a faithful witness in the sky for all time.”
39Yet You have forsaken and abhorred; You became enraged at Your anointed.
40You annulled the covenant with Your servant; You have profaned his crown [by casting it] to the ground.
41You shattered all his fences; You turned all his strongholds into ruin.
42All wayfarers despoiled him; he has become a disgrace to his neighbors.
43You have uplifted the right hand of his adversaries; You have made all his enemies rejoice.
44You also turned back the blade of his sword, and did not sustain him in battle.
45You put an end to his splendor, and toppled his throne to the ground.
46You have cut short the days of his youth; You have enclothed him with long-lasting shame.
47How long, O Lord, will You conceal Yourself-forever? [How long] will Your fury blaze like fire?
48O remember how short is my life span! Why have You created all children of man for naught?
49What man can live and not see death, can save his soul forever from the grave?
50Where are Your former deeds of kindness, my Lord, which You swore to David in Your faithfulness?
51Remember, my Lord, the disgrace of Your servants, that I bear in my bosom from all the many nations;
52that Your enemies have disgraced, O Lord, that they have disgraced the footsteps of Your anointed.
53Blessed is the Lord forever, Amen and Amen.
Additional Three Chapters
The Baal Shem Tov instituted a custom of reciting three additional chapters of Psalms each day, from the 1st of Elul until Yom Kippur (on Yom Kippur the remaining 36 chapters are recited, thereby completing the entire book of Psalms).
Today's Chapters are 52, 53, and 54.
Chapter 52
David laments his suffering at the hands of Doeg, and speaks of Doeg's boasts about the evil he committed. David asks, "What does he think? Does he consider the doing of evil a mark of strength?" David also curses Doeg and those like him.
1For the Conductor, a maskil by David,
2when Doeg the Edomite came and informed Saul, saying to him, "David has come to the house of Achimelech.”
3Why do you boast with evil, O mighty one? God's kindness is all day long.
4Your tongue devises treachery; like a sharpened razor it works deceit.
5You love evil more than good, falsehood more than speaking righteousness, Selah.
6You love all devouring words, a deceitful tongue.
7God will likewise shatter you forever; He will excise and pluck you from the tent, and uproot you from the land of the living forever.
8The righteous will see it and be awed, and they will laugh at him:
9"Here is the man who did not make God his stronghold, but trusted in his great wealth, and drew strength from his treachery.”
10But I am like a fresh olive tree in the house of God; I trust in God's kindness forever and ever.
11I will thank You forever for what You have done; I will hope in Your Name, for You are good to Your pious ones.
Chapter 53
This psalm speaks of when Titus pierced the curtain of the Holy of Holies with his sword, and thought he had killed "himself" (a euphemism for God).
1For the Conductor, on the machalat, a mas-kil by David.
2The fool says in his heart, "There is no God!" They have acted corruptly and committed abominable deeds; not one does good.
3God looked down from heaven upon mankind, to see if there was any man of intelligence who searches for God.
4But they all regressed together; they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.
5Indeed, the evildoers who devour My people as they devour bread, who do not call upon God, will come to realize.
6There they will be seized with fright, a fright such as never was; for God scatters the bones of those encamped against you. You shamed them, for God rejected them.
7O that out of Zion would come Israel's deliverance! When God returns the captivity of His people, Jacob will exult, Israel will rejoice.
Chapter 54
A prayer to God asking that in His might He save all who hope for His kindness. Read, and you will discover an awe-inspiring and wondrous prayer that should be said by all in the appropriate time.
1For the Conductor, with instrumental music, a maskil by David,
2when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, "Behold, David is hiding among us!”
3O God, deliver me by Your Name, and vindicate me by Your might.
4God, hear my prayer, listen to the words of my mouth.
5For strangers have risen against me, and ruthless men have sought my soul; they are not mindful of God, Selah.
6Behold, God is my helper; my Lord is with those who support my soul.
7He will repay the evil of my watchful enemies; destroy them by Your truth.
8With a free-will offering I will sacrifice to You; I will offer thanks to Your Name, O Lord, for it is good.
9For He has saved me from every trouble, and my eye has seen [the downfall of] my enemy.
Tehillim Ohel Yoseph Yitzchok,
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