To the choirmaster: according to Yedutun. A Psalm of Asaph.
1-3 I cry aloud to Elohim, aloud to Elohim, and He will hear me. 2 In the day of my distress I seek my Master [אדון, Adon]. In the night my hand melted away without ceasing. My soul refuses to be comforted. 3 When I remember Elohim, I moan. When I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah
4-9 You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak. 5 I consider the days of old, the years long ago. 6 I said, “Let me remember my song [נגינה, naginah] in the night. Let me meditate in my heart.” Then my spirit made a diligent search: 7 (a) “Will the Master spurn forever, and never again be pleased? 8 (b) Has His lovingkindness forever ceased? Are His promises at an end for all generations? 9 (c) Has El forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His mercy?” Selah
10-15 Then I said, “I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High [עליון, Elyon].” 11 I will remember the deeds of Adonai [יה, Yah] when I will remember Your wonders of old. 12 I will ponder all Your work, and meditate on Your mighty deeds. 13 Your way, Elohim, is holy. What god/power [אל, el ] is great as Elohim? 14 You are the El who works wonders. You have made known Your might among the peoples. 15 You with Your arm redeemed Your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
16-20 When the waters saw You, O Elohim, when the waters saw You, they were afraid. Indeed, the deep trembled. 17 The clouds poured out water. The skies gave forth thunder. Your arrows flashed on every side. 18 The crash of Your thunder was in the whirlwind. Your lightnings lighted up the world. The earth trembled and shook. 19 Your way was through the sea, Your path through the great waters, yet Your footprints were unseen. 20 You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
REFERENCES:
Verse 2
Genesis 35:3 “Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”
Verse 15
b.Sanhedrin 19b – Now did Joseph father the twelve sons from whom the people of Israel are descended? Why, Jacob fathered them! Rather, the verse means that although Jacob bore them, Joseph sustained them in Egypt during the famine. Therefore, they are identified as hisi [Joseph’s] children.
“Just as a person who raises an orphaned child as his own is adjudged to be that child’s parent, so did Joseph merit having all of his brothers reckoned as his children.” (Koren Tehillim, p.385)
