To the choirmaster: according to Shoshanim. A Testimony. Of Asaph, a Psalm.
1-3 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock. You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth. 2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up Your might and come to rescue us! 3 Cause us to return, O God. Let Your face shine, that we may be saved!
השיבנו (ha’shi’veinu)
4-7 Adonai God of hosts, how long will You be angry with Your people’s prayers? 5 You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure. 6 You make us an object of strife for our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves. 7 Cause us to return, O God of hosts. Let Your face shine, that we may be saved!
8-13 You brought a vine out of Egypt; You drove out the nations and planted it. 9 You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land. 10 Its shadow covered the mountains, and its branches became mighty cedars. 11 It sent out its branches to the sea and its shoots to the River. 12 Why then have You broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? 13 The forest swine ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it.
14-19 Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see. Have regard for this vine, 15 the stock that Your right hand planted, and for the son whom You made strong for Yourself. 16 They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of Your face! 17 But let Your hand be on the man of Your right hand, the Son of Man whom You have made strong for Yourself! 18Then we shall not turn back from You. Give us life, and we will call upon Your name! 19 Cause us to return, Adonai God of hosts! Let Your face shine, that we may be saved!
v.3 “God” (אלהים)
v.7 “God of Hosts” (אלהים צבאות)
v.19 “Adonai God of Hosts” (יי אלהים צבאות)
REFERENCES:
Verse 1
Deuteronomy 33:2 He said, “Adonai came from Sinai and dawned from Seir upon us. He shone forth from Mount Paran. He came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand.”
Verse 8
The vine’s fruit is the most crushed and abused of all. But this very crushing improves it to the point that the one who has crushed it is ultimately overpowered by its strength.” (R’ S. R. Hirsch)
Verse 12
Isaiah 5:5 “So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground.”
Verse 15
Genesis 49:22 “Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring. Its branches run over a wall.”
Verse 17
Genesis 35:18 It came about [Rachel’s] soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Ben-oni. But his father [Jacob] called him Benjamin
