Psalm 36

Introduction

“Welcome to Torah Today Ministries, our continuing series, Tehillim Talks, our studies in the Psalms. And in this episode, we’ll be looking into the short psalm, Psalm 36. And this psalm is one that is made up of two parts.

The first part is utterly, totally confusing. And I think David was inspired to make it confusing for a purpose that we’ll look at in a moment. But then, when you start with verse five, you get there, everything just all of a sudden lines up, falls into place, and everything is as it should be.

So let’s look at the psalm and find out what I’m talking about.

The psalm has a fairly unusual opening. It says, ‘To the choir master,’ that’s typical. But then it says, ‘Of David, the servant of Adonai.’

‘Of David, the servant of Adonai.’ Why did David put this here?

I think the reason is this: the psalm is going to begin with a description of the wicked man who serves himself. Everything that motivates the heart of the wicked person is, What do I want? What is right in my own eyes?

And I know I say it many times here at Torah Today Ministries, but I’ll keep saying it until the day I die: Satan is not interested in getting us to do his will. Satan is only interested in getting you to do yours. Because when you do your will, when you do what’s right in your eyes, you’re behaving just like him. He’s a rebel. He does what he wants to do.

But what does the godly person do? He serves Adonai. And I think that’s why David introduces himself here as a servant of Adonai. He doesn’t do what he wants to do. He does what God wants him to do.”

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The Confusing Opening Verses (Psalm 36:1–4)

“Now, just to give you an idea of how confusing this psalm is, I’ve taken the first two verses. I want to present them to you from several different translations and translators. So let’s just dive in and you’ll get an idea of how confusing this can be. Translators pull their hair out over this one.”

New American Standard

“Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart.
There is no fear of God before his eyes,
For it flatters him in his own eyes,
Concerning the discovery of his iniquity and the hatred of it.”
(Psalm 36:1–2)

Complete Jewish Bible

“Crime speaks to the wicked; I perceive this in my heart.
Before his eyes there is no fear of God,
For the way he sees it, crime makes his life easy.
That is, until his wrongs are discovered; then he is hated.”
(Psalm 36:1–2)

King James Version

“The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart,
That there is no fear of God before his eyes.
For he flattereth himself in his own eyes,
Until his iniquity be found to be hateful.”
(Psalm 36:1–2)

Robert Alter

“Crime’s utterance to the wicked within his heart:
‘There is no fear of God before my eyes.’
For it caressed him with its eyes,
To find his sin of hatred.”
(Psalm 36:1–2)

Samson Raphael Hirsch

“It is as a pronouncement of God that transgression speaks
To what is lawless in my heart.
There is no fear, therefore, of God the Judge before his eyes.
For in his eyes he has smoothed the path for him,
So that, in order to attain his sinful goal, he may hate.”
(Psalm 36:1–2)

Concordant Literal Version

“The wicked one has a watchword of transgression within his heart.
There is no awe of Elohim in front of his eyes,
For he apportions too much to himself in his own eyes,
To find out his depravity and to hate it.”
(Psalm 36:1–2)

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“When you look at all these translations, and when you read the Hebrew by itself, you find things about being right in one’s own eyes. You find things about hatred. You find things about wickedness and willful sin and evil. But how these things all work together… it’s just very, very confusing. And that’s just the first two verses.

We have a couple more verses that are almost as confusing.

And why is it so confusing? Proverbs is probably, to me at least, the most difficult of the books of the Bible to translate. Because Solomon compresses everything down into these little parables that are so jam-packed with meaning. And he purposely uses words that can be translated in two or three different ways. So each parable has two or three different facets to it or more.

David, on the other hand, he’s not compressing the Hebrew down into parables, but he is compressing it into poetry. And so that makes Psalms, to me, about the second most difficult book of the Bible to translate.

But in these first four verses—and we just read versions of the first two—it’s very confusing.

And again, why did David write such a confusing psalm? You can tell there are things about rebellion and wickedness and doing what’s right in your own eyes and so on.

But here’s the reason I think he made it so confusing:

The mind of the wicked person is full of confusion. The mind of the wicked person is not orderly. It does not take principles and align them. It does not look for harmony in the various principles that make up a person’s life. Things are disjointed, chaotic, sometimes at odds with each other, as we see here.

I mean, is it the wicked person talking about what’s in his own eyes? Or David saying, ‘My heart speaks to me’? He says, ‘In my heart it says.’ If you want to translate that bit literally.

So what’s going on? Confusion. Let’s just put it that way.

If these verses seem confusing—mission accomplished. Because you’re having a peek into the mind of the wicked man.”

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A Rendering of Verses 1–4 (Psalm 36:1–4)

“So here is how I render the verse, based quite a bit on the English Standard Version, but with some of my own changes made—some of my own tweaks. I put it this way:

‘Transgression proclaims to the wicked, it seems to me,
“There is no fear of God before his eyes.”
For he flatters himself in his own eyes
That his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit.
He has ceased to act wisely and do good.
He plots trouble while on his bed.
He sets himself in a way that is not good.
He does not reject evil.’
(Psalm 36:1–4)”

“You know, if you take these four verses and read each phrase in opposite order—‘He does not reject evil… He sets himself in a way that is not good… He plots trouble while on his bed…’—when you take these phrases backwards to the beginning, you see the path of how a wicked man becomes a wicked man. And it starts with this last phrase: he does not reject evil. And there is a big problem.”

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Ne’um Pesha — “Transgression Proclaims” (Psalm 36:1–4)

“Now, these first two words, ‘transgression proclaims,’ these are very powerful words in the Hebrew. It’s:

ne’um pesha נְאֻם פֶּשַׁע (ne’um pesha)

Now, when you see the word ne’um נְאֻם (ne’um) in Hebrew, it’s almost always—almost always, with very few exceptions—ne’um Adonai נְאֻם יְהוָה (ne’um Adonai).

In other words, there are many places where God ‘speaks,’ there are places where God ‘says,’ but then there are places where God proclaims. It’s like He rises up, speaks with His full authority as God, up here, speaking down to us—ne’um Adonai.

And yet this psalm begins with the words:

ne’um pesha — ‘the proclamation of transgression.’”

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Pesha — Willful Sin (Psalm 36:1–4)

“What is pesha פֶּשַׁע (pesha)? Pesha is willful sin.

Now, the only place we find God mentioned in these first four verses is here in verse one. And it’s the word:

Elohim אֱלֹהִים (Elohim)

Now Elohim is a word that means God, but it also could mean judges, it could mean powers, it could mean authorities, it could mean angels. It basically is a word that means whatever is in authority over me.

And of course, the One who is most of all in authority over everyone and the whole world is Elohim. So it’s applied to God most of the time—but not always.

But that’s the only word for God that’s used here.

It’s almost as if this wicked man is saying, ‘You know, there’s no fear of God. There’s no fear of the judges. There’s no fear of the angels. There’s no fear of any authority over me. There’s no fear of any authority except myself. I am the authority in my own life.’”

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God’s Love and Faithfulness (Psalm 36:5–9)

“But when you get to verse five, what’s the very first word?

Adonai. יְהוָה (Adonai)

And then everything changes:

‘Adonai, Your steadfast love—Your chesed חֶסֶד (chesed)—extends to the heavens;
Your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
Your justice like the great deep.’
(Psalm 36:5–6)”

“So he starts with the heavens… the clouds… the mountains… the great deeps.

In other words:

Adonai—Your chesed, Your faithfulness, Your righteousness, Your justice—just invade everything from the heavens to the very depths. You are everywhere.

Unlike the rasha רָשָׁע (rasha), the wicked man, who sees himself as his own god, who crawls under the sheets at night and plots his wickedness.”

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“We see Adonai—Yud Heh Vav Heh—whose lovingkindness and faithfulness and justice… it just invades the entire universe. It infuses the entire universe with His lovingkindness and His presence.

Now, the rest of these few verses—I put them in green when I teach—because when a person dons a tallit, a prayer shawl, there’s a blessing that he says: ‘Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who sanctifies us by His commandments and commands us to wrap ourselves in the tzitzit or to don a prayer shawl.’

Then after the man puts the prayer shawl on, he goes into this next little prayer, which comes directly from Psalm 36:

‘O God, the children of Adam take refuge in the shadow of Your wings, or corners, or garment.
They feast on the abundance of Your house.
And You give them drink from the river of Your delights.
For with You is the fountain of life;
In Your light do we see light.
Oh, continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You,
And Your righteousness to the upright in heart.’
(Psalm 36:7–9)”

“And when the tallit is put on, the blessing said, you put this on:

ma yikar chasdecha Elohim u’vnei adam b’tzel kenafecha yechaseyun…

It’s this beautiful, beautiful prayer.

And there is language in these lines that reflect the Garden of Eden in a number of ways.

First of all, it doesn’t say the children of ish, of ‘man,’ but the children of Adam.

They take refuge in the shadow of Your garment—Your wings.

Now remember, Adam and Eve were naked. And yet they dwelt under the shadow of God’s lovingkindness. They were clothed in light.

‘They feast on the abundance of Your house… You give them drink from the river of Your delights…’

And that word ‘delights’ is adonekha—‘Your Eden.’ Because the word Eden means delights.”

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Eden for the Righteous, Darkness for the Wicked (Psalm 36:5–9)

“So there are a number of things here.

It’s as if, in contrast to the wicked man who lives inside his own head, inside the darkness of his own soul, plotting and planning his wickedness because it’s all good in his eyes…

The person who trusts in Adonai is living in Eden. He’s living under the shadow of the Almighty.

He sees God’s presence in the heavens, and he sees His presence in the clouds, and in the mountains, and in the depths.

He experiences God’s presence and closeness inside. He experiences God’s closeness and presence everywhere outside of him as well.

What an open, free, enlightened life the righteous man experiences.”

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Kanaf — Corners and Wings (Psalm 36:5–9)

“But why again are these words prayed when putting on the tallit?

Well, this word here that I translated either ‘garment’ or ‘wing’ is the word:

kanaf כָּנָף (kanaf)

And the word kanaf literally means corner, or wing—like the wing of a bird.

And in the Torah, in the Book of Numbers, the Jewish people are commanded to put a tzitzit—a tassel—on the four kanafot, the corners of their garment.

They put these tassels, called a tzitzit. And you can see it has a thread of techelet, the blue. So there are the white threads, but then there’s the blue thread that binds them all together.

And God said, So that when you see it, you’ll remember My commandments, and not stray after your own eyes and your own hearts.

That’s why the tzitzit go on the corner—the kanaf—of the garment.”

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“And the reason men today wear a tallit is so they have a four-corner garment to which they can attach the tzitzit.

Now, why is this important?

Well, we pray these lines when we put the tzitzit on because we’re putting on a garment with four corners. And in Malachi 4:2, it says:

‘But for you who fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in its kanaf…’
(Malachi 4:2)

And our translations say ‘wings.’

What’s the word for wings? Same word—kanaf.

Now sometimes it’s kenafim or kenafot—it can take a masculine or feminine plural ending.

But He rises with healing in His wings—in His corners.

Now, what does that remind you of?

Well, when you go to Luke 8:43, you remember the woman who had the issue of blood for twelve years. And she kind of sneaks up behind Yeshua.

‘And a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years and could not be healed by anyone came up behind Him and touched the fringe—the tassel, the tzitzit—of His cloak. And immediately her hemorrhage stopped.’
(Luke 8:43–44)

Why? Because the Sun of Righteousness has healing in His corners.”

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Prayer Against the Wicked (Psalm 36:10–12)

“Let’s continue on.

‘Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,
Nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
There the evildoers lie fallen;
They are thrust down, unable to rise.’
(Psalm 36:11–12)”

“Again, when you go back and compare those first four verses—the dark, confused soul of the wicked man—with the verses that follow of the righteous man, who, if we take the shadings of meaning, it’s like he’s experiencing Eden here on earth…

And the man who puts the tzitzit on—he wraps himself and puts the prayer shawl over his head and around him… it’s like he’s closing out this world, the Shadowlands, and he’s entering the world of Eden—God’s kingdom ruling in his own heart.

He’s enjoying the delights that God has for him. It’s just an amazing set of lines.

When you compare the first four with the five or six that follow, it’s just incredible, incredible contrast.

But anyway—the righteous man will see the evildoers lie fallen. They’re thrust down. They’re unable to rise.

And that’s the end of the psalm.”

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Reflection and Closing Blessing (Psalm 36:10–12)

“You know, in our last episode, we looked at Psalm 35. And I appreciated the many comments I got on that psalm, because as I shared, I began studying that psalm on the morning that Hamas attacked and so brutally murdered and tortured and did horrible things to the innocent people there in Israel.

And as I’m speaking now, the war continues, and Israel is invading Gaza and rooting out Hamas.

And when we read the opening lines of the psalm, you get a little bit of a glimpse into the dark, twisted, wicked mind of an evil person.

But we’re reminded that they’ll fall. Wickedness always falls under its own weight.

It has no strength. It cannot support itself. It will be thrust down and unable to rise.

We know our God will have the victory. And regardless of how long it takes—or how short it is—it’s in God’s hands.

And all God has called upon us to do is to continue to live a righteous life, to do what is right. Because what is true is still true. And God is still on His throne.

But until God starts to worry—and don’t hold your breath—but until God begins to worry, you and I do not need to worry. We can be anxious for nothing.”

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“I’m going to close with two thoughts. One comes from the Talmud.

Rabbi Yossi HaGalili said:

‘The good inclination rules the righteous.
The evil inclination rules the wicked.
But the average person is ruled by both.’

I found that fascinating. Because I know in my own life, I’m an average person. I want to be a righteous man, but I’m average.

Sometimes the good inclination has the upper hand. Sometimes the evil inclination gets the upper hand. And so they’re both fighting for rulership of my life.

With the wicked person, their evil inclination is always in control.

And for those people who are just so utterly righteous—mature, godly—they’ve lived a long life, and there are a few of them—the good inclination is always in control.

And the second thought comes from a secular source—Fyodor Dostoevsky—who said:

‘If there is no God, then everything is permitted.’

And if you’re wondering why there is so much evil and wickedness in the world—people just for entertainment going out and shooting as many people as they can, or blowing things up, or wreaking havoc and destruction—it’s because they have no God.

And if there is no God, then who’s to say anything is right or wrong? It’s all irrelevant.

If there is no God, then we just evolved out of slime, and our lives have no purpose. So if you get bored with life, why not go out with a bang? Go commit as big a disaster as you can and get your name in the papers?

Because after all, if there is no God, everything’s permitted.

But we know there is a God. And because there’s a God, there’s a Judge. Because there’s a God, we know that He has a standard of righteousness. And He’s beckoning us to come in and have fellowship with Him.

And that is why we want to be good. We want to be righteous. We want to be true. We want to reflect Him.

If your only world is this world—the physical—what an empty, dull, pointless world it is.

But when you realize there is a world beyond this one, then this world suddenly takes on meaning and purpose.

So I hope that all of us will live in the purpose of the world to come. That’s the 99% world.

This down here—this is just the 1% world. But this 1% takes on so much meaning and beauty when we’re aware of the 99% world.

So I hope this psalm is a blessing to you. It’s short, but there’s a lot packed in here. And I hope that now you’ve listened to this teaching, you’ll go back and read it and meditate on it. Let it speak to you as well.

So, until next time, I wish you shalom שָׁלוֹם (shalom), and may God bless.”

Links

Read Psalm 36

Psalm 35 Teaching