Tehillim Songs of the Heart: A Contemporary Translation with Meaningful Insights

By Shlomo Dov Lederstein

Sefer Tehillim, the Book of Psalms, has as much profound meaning today as when King David composed it almost three thousand years ago. In any situation, whether joyful or precarious, we can open our Tehillim and express our faith and trust in God, as the psalmist says: "Hope to God, be strong and take heart, and hope to God" (<

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shlomo Dov Lederstein
• Release date: May 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781088052990

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PSALM 1

King David opens Sefer Tehillim by telling us that in order to serve God properly, man must first safeguard himself from the harmful influences of the world. Only then will he be able to do good: to occupy his thoughts with Torah and with the performance of mitzvos.*

(1) Praiseworthy is the man** who in his life choice has not followed the advice of the wicked*** and as a result has not lingered on the path of sinners or sat in the company of those who scorn what is sacred and spiritually meaningful. (2) Instead, his yearning is for God’s Torah, which is an antidote to the evil that surrounds us, and he toils in his**** Torah day and night.* (3) By his involvement in Torah, he will be like a tree planted alongside streams of water that bring forth its fruit in its proper time, and whose leaves, which guard the fruit, will not wither;** and he will succeed in everything he does. (4) Not so are the wicked, who are like the chaff separated from the grain during threshing, which the wind drives away.*** (5) Therefore, neither the wicked nor the sinners, who cannot control their desires, will stand exonerated at the time of judgment with the righteous. (6) For God knows and loves how the righteous struggle to overcome their evil inclination, but He will abandon those who go in the ways of the wicked, and they will perish.

Praiseworthy is the man

Who from the path of the wicked stays clear.

He does not linger in the company of sinners;

In the company of scoffers he will not appear.

He yearns to climb spiritually;

Torah is his profession.

It is part of his everyday life,

An antidote to the evil inclination.

He will be like a tree firmly rooted

In its proper time, bringing forth its fruit.

He will be able to grow spiritually

And he will be successful in all of his pursuits.

The wicked will not be exonerated,

The Day of Judgment will arrive.

God will reward the righteous,

But the wicked and the sinners will not survive.

Praiseworthy is the man who…has not followed the advice of the wicked…has not lingered on the path of sinners or sat in the company of those who scorn what is sacred… (v. 1)

The Gemara (Avodah Zarah 18b) discusses this verse. What is the need for mentioning that this person has not followed the advice of the wicked…has not lingered on the path of sinners or sat in the company of those who scorn? Once he has not walked with the wicked, on what sinful path could he have stood? And if he has not even stood on the path of the wicked, in which company of scoffers could he have sat, that is, participated? Since he never joined the company of the wicked, there’s no way he could have been involved with them at all! Rather, the verse is telling us that one sin leads to another. Simply walking on the wrong path will cause the person traversing it to stand and linger there for a moment, which will in turn make him sit there, among the company of those who scorn the Torah.

According to the Toldos Yaakov Yosef, the verse mentions three pitfalls that will cause a person to decline spiritually. Conversely, overcoming each of these three will help a person grow spiritually:

• Not following the advice of the wicked will help a person go in the ways of the righteous, progressing to higher spiritual levels.

• Not standing (lingering) on the path of sinners. Zechariah ( Zechariah 3:7) refers to angels as those who stand, for they are confined to standing on one level of spirituality. In contrast, a person is able to constantly raise his spiritual level. We must never stand still.

• Sitting in the company of those who scorn means just sitting passively. Instead, we should be engaged in studying Torah and fulfilling God’s commandments. He who does this will merit the next spiritual level.

If he does this, then

He will succeed in everything he does" (v. 3).

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* David makes this point later on in Tehillim as well (34:15): Turn from evil and do good." The Gemara (Avodah Zarah 19b) explains that the good, discussed in this verse refers to the Torah, as it is written Mishlei (4:2),

For I have given you a good portion; do not abandon my Torah."

** Ish refers to the average person who faces daily battles between good and evil (Radak).

*** Those who advise people to follow their desires and only think about enjoyment in This World (Radak).

**** The Gemara (Avodah Zarah 19a) says: "At first, Torah is called by the Name of God but once a person begins to study and toil in it, it becomes his Torah

* He should treat the study of Torah as the most important part of his day. Even when he is not learning, he should occupy his thoughts with Torah and the performance of mitzvos rather than the empty pursuits of This World (Radak).

** Similarly, the tzaddik will be able to learn Torah and keep the mitzvos because God will grant him health and material possessions; he will be successful in all he does. Anything that is taken from the tree and planted will be like the tree itself. Similarly, a tzaddik will be able to have proper offspring (Radak, Metzudos).

*** The wicked may appear to have a good life. However, in the end they will be like the chaff that is easily blown away, and they will not stand in judgment (Me’am Lo’ez).

PSALM 2

King David recited this psalm at the beginning of his reign, when the nations gathered to do battle against him.* The nations of the world are told to accept the God-given destiny of the Jewish people. They have plans, but King David says: God Who sits in Heaven laughs at them (v. 4). The psalm ends with the words, Praiseworthy are those who take refuge in Him (v. 12). We must all take refuge in God and do His will. We must realize that all of our success comes from Him alone.

(1) Why do nations gather together in an uproar; why do people speak empty words? (2) Why do kings of the land and their rulers consult and conspire together to do battle against God and against His anointed, David? (3) They say, "Let us tear their bands and cast off their thick ropes*— the bonds of unity within the Jewish nation, who agreed to accept David as their king. (4) He Who sits in Heaven laughs and mocks them. (5) Then, when He hears their haughty words, He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them with His wrath. (6) God says, How can they think of uprooting the kingdom of David? I Myself have anointed David as king on Zion, the mountain of My Sanctuary. (7) King David says, I am obligated to proclaim and make known that God has said to me, ‘You are as precious to Me as a son. Today, the day on which I appointed you as king, you are as beloved to Me as a son on the day of his birth.’** (8) God says to David, Pray to Me every time you go to war, and I will hand you the enemy nations as an inheritance, and your possessions will extend until the ends of the earth; you will capture even the faraway nations. (9) You will crush them with an iron rod; you will shatter them to pieces like an earthenware vessel. (10) David says to those who want to do battle with him, So now, kings, be wise and know that you cannot set aside the plan of God, Who commanded that I be king; be admonished, judges of the earth, and stop being arrogant. (11) Serve God with fear and rejoice with trembling. (12) Desire the one who is pure of heart, the man chosen by God, lest He become angry if you don’t repent from your evil ways, and you perish on the way, for His anger can be kindled in an instant. Praiseworthy are those who take refuge in Him and believe that God’s will cannot be opposed."

Why do the nations assemble to do battle?

They seek to cast off God’s domain.

Don’t they know I am God’s anointed?

Their kings and rulers conspire in vain.

They will not accept me as king.

Their reins they wish to cut,

But God enthroned in Heaven laughs

For His plans they cannot disrupt.

God says: "You are beloved by Me as a son;

Ask of Me and you will succeed.

To you I will hand over the enemy nations;

You will defeat them, as I decreed."

So now, kings, be wise and repent,

Serve God with fear, don’t incur His wrath,

For God’s will cannot be opposed.

Praiseworthy are those who follow His path.

Serve God with fear and rejoice with trembling. (v. 11)

How is it possible for someone to rejoice and tremble at the same time? The Mishnah (Berachos 30b) states, A person should only pray when he has an attitude of reverence. The Gemara comes to this conclusion based on the above verse: Serve God with fear and rejoice with trembling. The word serve," refers to prayer. Prayer is referred to as avodah shebalev, service of the heart. When a person stands before God in prayer, he should stand in awe and reverence. The Gemara then asks: What does rejoice with trembling’ mean? It answers: When rejoicing, there should also be trembling.

Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, zt"l, in Ein Ayah (vol. 1, p. 128), explains: The verse is telling us that our overriding emotion should be one of joy. True spiritual growth is achieved through happiness and an expansive frame of mind. However, we must be careful that this joy does not lead to levity and frivolity. Therefore, King David advised that we should rejoice with trembling. We should temper our joy with reverence as we reflect on who we are and before Whom we are standing in prayer.

Rabbeinu Yonah says that even when rejoicing is appropriate (for example, when doing a mitzvah), it should be tempered with awe so it will not carry over to the pursuit of worldly pleasures. Generally, when a person is afraid, he is in a state of fear and worry, and he cannot feel joy at the same time. When a person contemplates the greatness of God, however, he will also feel joy in the satisfaction of fulfilling His mitzvos.*

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* When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, the Philistines marched up in search of David; but David heard of it, and he went down to the fortress (Shmuel II 5:17).

* The Midrash says that the bands and ropes refer to the mitzvos of tefillin and tzitzis.

** On the day of David’s anointment, a Divine spirit was born within him, as it says, And Shmuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And a spirit of God passed over David from that day forth (Shmuel I 16:13).

* At the end of Shemoneh Esrei we state, "May it be Your will…that the Holy Temple be rebuilt…and there we will serve You in fear as in days of old and years past." The Maharsha explains why this is said at the end of our tefillah: In our times, when we don’t have the Temple, prayer is the only occasion on which we are able to serve God in fear. We thus state to God that "When Your Divine Presence returns to the Temple, we will serve You there in fear on a regular basis, as in days of old."

PSALM