PSALM CHAPTER 87 - 102

PSALM 87

1 A Psalm or song for Korah’s sons (11).
His foundation is set in tons
Of mountains of his holiness.
2 YHWH loves the gates of His fortress
More than tents of Jacob’s address.
3 Glorious things are spoken of you,
O city of Ælohim true.
4 I’ll make mention of Rahab and
Babylon to them that know me,
See Philistia, and Tyre’s land,
With Ethiopia’s fair strand;
This man was born there to be free.
5 And of the fortress be it said,
This and that man was born and bred
In her: and the highest himself
Shall set her upon safety’s shelf.
6 YHWH shall count when He writes the folk
That this man was bore there for stroke.
7 Both singers and players on strings
Are there in you and all my springs.

Beloved, is it true that the birth that rises
In fair Jerusalem receives Your prizes?
If so, then Askeri, eleventh Imam
Is sad to have been born under the palm
In loved Medina, bright Medina’s calm.
And yet I look on tower and fortress that
The conquerors have set upon the mat
Of holiness and wonder if the sky
Does not send benedictions on the sly.
Beloved, it is a place to be once born,
As well as sacred place above all scorn,
Whether of Bethlehem, Quds, Makkah sworn,
Or fair Medina, as well as to die.
Let me come into any such and lie.

PSALM 88

A Song or Psalm for Korah’s sons (12),
To chief of musicians in runs
Of Mahalath Leanoth, and
Heman’s Maschil, of Ezra’s band.
YHWH Ælohim of my salvation,
I cry day and night for Your ration.
2 Let my prayer come before You nigh,
Incline Your ear unto my cry;
3 For my soul is full of distress,
My life draws near the grave’s address.
4 I’m counted with them that go down
Into the pit: I’m weak to frown.
5 Free among the dead, like the slain
That lie in the grave, and whose gain
You keep in mind no more, and they
Are cut off from Your hand and way.
6 You’ve laid me in the lowest pit,
In darkness, in the deeps to sit.
7 Your wrath lies hard upon me, and
You strike me with Your waves on sand.
8 You’ve put away my friends from me,
You’ve made me before them to be
Abomination, I’m enclosed
And cannot come out unopposed.
9 My eye mourns because of my pain,
YHWH, daily I call on Your main,
Stretched out hands in entreaty’s rain.
10 Will You show wonders to the dead?
Shall the dead rise to praise instead?
11 Shall lovingkindness be declared
By You to the grave? Or Your shared
Faithfulness in destruction fared?
12 Shall Your feats be known in the dark?
And Your righteousness in the park
Of oblivion for a lark?
13 But unto You I’ve cried, O YHWH,
And in the morning shall the view
Of my prayer come up before You.
14 YHWH, why do You cast off my soul
And hide Your face from me in toll?
15 I am afflicted, set to die
From my youth up, and so do I
Suffer Your terrors while I lie.
16 Your fierce anger goes over me,
Your terrors cut me off from tree.
17 Surrounding me each day to see
Like floods together crushingly.
18 Lover and friend You’ve put away
From me afar, and in night’s way.

How many think on earth today that it
Might not be a comfort in which to sit
That the divine guide hidden now avails
Without an address and without ship sails?
Though death and the grave may be far from him,
He’s still shut in the dark at night and dim
Without friends and without a brother near
To share his loaf and chatter without fear.
Beloved, I do not envy the long years
Of life without rest, laughter, yet with tears
That scatter in the way that he must go
To do his duty in the worldly show.
Beloved, I do not envy the long life
The Master of the Age must see for strife.

PSALM 89

1 Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
I’ll sing of the mercies of YHWH
For ever: with my mouth I do
Make known Your faithfulness to all
Generations upon the ball.
2 For I have said “Mercy shall be
Built up for ever: faithfully
You’ll set it up unto the skies.
3 I’ve made pact with My chosen wise,
I’ve sworn to David My servant,
4 ‘I shall set up your descendant
For ever, and build up your throne
To all generations as shown.’”

My grandmother read at the midnight hour
Each night David’s Psalms in glory and power,
A humble dweller in David’s vast house
Abandoned by all but the nibbling mouse.
Shunted aside by every church and priest,
Unknown by rabbi and mullah, she ceased
Not to recite the honeyed words till sleep
Taught her no more to joy, no more to weep.
While I acknowledge Adam, Noah, and
Moses, Jesus, Muhammad on the sand,
I still come to the throne for ever set
And feed on David’s speech until I get
The blessings written on tablets on high,
And see the golden crease upon the sky.

5 The skies shall praise Your wonders, YHWH,
Your faithfulness also in crew
Of holy ones bowing to You.
6 For who in heaven can be compared
To YHWH, and who among the bared
Sons of the might then can be shown
Like YHWH sitting upon His throne?
7 El’s enormously to be feared
In the assembly of saints steered,
And to be had in reverence
Of all those around him in tents.
8 O YHWH Ælohim of armies,
Who’s a strong YHWH like Your degrees,
Or in faithfulness of decrees?
9 You rule the raging of the sea,
When the waves rise in panoply,
You still them as far as can see.
10 You have broken Rahab in pieces,
As one that’s slaughters and increases,
You’ve scattered all Your enemies
With Your strong arm and in Your ease.
11 The heavens are Yours, the earth also,
As is the world and all its show,
You’ve founded them and set in row.
12 The north and the south You have made,
Tabor and Hermon Your name stayed.
13 You have a mighty arm, strong hand,
With raised right hand You come to stand.
14 Justice and judgement are the place
Of Your throne’s house and carapace,
Mercy and truth before Your face.

A God of justice You’re declared to be
By the wisest of kings, a prophet free,
And so justice is Your foundation stone,
An attribute inseparable, alone
Your own, You only are impartial here,
You have no parts or pieces in Your gear.
Beloved, I know that You are One above,
And as One have no parts, and so Your glove
Of justice is inseparable from You,
And in Your justice You deign to give clue
Of Your will for humankind in the way
That You reveal to prophets on a day.
As humankind must have a demonstration,
You also send divine guides in their ration.

15 Blessed is the folk who know the sound
Of joy and walk, YHWH, where is found
The light of Your face on the ground.
16 In Your name they’ll rejoice all day,
In Your righteousness rise away.
17 For You’re the glory of their strength,
In Your favour our horn at length
Shall be exalted in a day.
18 For YHWH is our defence, our king
The Holy One of Israel’s wing.
19 You spoke in vision to Your saint,
And said “I’ve raised one without plaint
Out of the people and their spring.
20 “I have found David my servant,
With oil of My holiness plant
Him My appointed one extant.
21 “With him My hand shall be upheld,
My arm shall strengthen him as spelled.
22 “The enemy shall not exact
His toll on him, nor son of pact
In wickedness afflict his tract.
23 “I’ll crush his foes before his face,
And plague them all that hate his trace.
24 “My faithfulness and My mercy
Shall be with him, and in decree
Of My name shall his horn rise free.
25 “I’ll set his hand too in the sea,
And his right hand where rivers flee.
26 “He’ll cry to me, ‘You are my Dad,
My El, and my salvation’s pad.’
27 “Also I’ll make him my firstborn,
Higher than the earthly kings forsworn.
28 “My mercy will I keep for him
For evermore, also My trim
Pact shall stand firmly and with him.
29 “His descendants also I’ll make
Endure for ever for the sake
Of his throne as the days of heaven.
30 “If his children forsake my law,
And not walk in my judgments’ leaven,
31 “If they break my statutes with claw,
And not keep My commandments’ awe,
32 “Then I’ll render their sin with rod,
Their wickedness with stripes on sod.
33 “And yet My lovingkindness I
Will not wholly take from their sigh,
Nor let My faithfulness slide by.
34 “My covenant I will not break,
Nor change the thing My lips instate,
35 “Once have I sworn by holiness
I’ll not lie to David’s address.
36 “His descendants shall always be,
And his throne as the sun by Me.
37 “It shall be set up like the moon
Forever as a faithful boon
To witness to the heaven soon.”

Beloved, You set up David as Your own
And gave him power and right and righteous throne,
Delighted to hear his Psalms to intone
Upon the fields where sheep and bear alone
Could hear the silver notes. And all stayed awed.
The birds themselves were silent, with a nod
The lion brought its cubs to hear the tune,
And trees and grass danced in the light of noon.
Beloved, You set up David as a king
Forever to proclaim Your law on wing
Of Psalm in song and prayer and for all time.
That’s why I come to sing to You in rhyme.
The witness of Your own is etched on high
In moon and sun and stars that fill the sky.

38 But You have cast off and abhorred,
You’re angry with anointed lord.
39 You’ve made void Your slave’s covenant,
Profaned his crown on the ground rent.
40 You’ve broken down all his Ghadir,
Brought his strongholds to ruin’s fear.
41 All who pass by the way spoil him,
He’s mocked by all his neighbours grim.
42 You’ve set up his foes’ right hand’s choice,
Made all his enemies rejoice.
43 You’ve also turned edge of his sword,
And left in battle to be gored.
44 You’ve made his glory cease, and cast
His throne down to the ground and passed.
45 You’ve shortened the days of his youth
And covered him with shame in truth.
46 How long, YHWH? Will You always hide?
Will burning wrath always abide?
47 Remember how short is my time,
Why have You made all men mere rhyme?
48 What man lives and shall not see death
To save himself from the grave’s breath?
49 Where are Your lovingkindnesses
You swore to David in truth’s fizz?
50 Remember, Lord, Your servants’ fray,
What heavy heart I bear in sway
Of all the mighty folk today,
51 By which Your enemies have mocked,
YHWH, footsteps Your anointed walked.
52 Blessed be YHWH now and evermore,
Amen, amen, from shore to shore.

The third book of the Psalms prepares to light
The first of the month by the moon at night
With songs of the appointment of Your own
Divine guides sitting round King David’s throne.
The Ghadir of appointment makes the round,
The twelve Imams are mentioned on the ground,
And they remain in David’s wake to be
Along with the Messiah of the free
To rule David’s kingdom eternally.
Beloved, I seek the blessing of the word
That called David from field of beast and bird
To rule with rod of iron and Your law’s truth.
I sought the blessing when I was a youth
And seek it now and always faithfully.

PSALMS BOOK FOUR PSALM 90

1 A prayer of Moses man of Ælohim.
Lord, You have been our refuge of esteem
From generation to generation.
2 Before mountains ever came to be done
Or ever You had formed the earth and world,
From all eternity and it unfurled,
You are El. 3 You return man back to dust,
And say “Come back, you sons of Adam must!”
4 For one thousand years in Your sight are just
Like yesterday when it is past and gone,
And as a night watch coming on the dawn.
5 You carry them away as with a flood;
They are a sleep, at the dawn on the mud
Like grass that grows up and blooms from the bud.
6 In the forenoon it flourishes and grows,
At eve cut down and withering in rows.

Beloved, You give life to the human show
And take it back to Yourself suddenly.
And when the breath is gone and the body
Lies there inert, You come and in one go
Give life again, the man awakes and so
Rises to praise You with his breath and see
The wonders of Your universe on spree,
And then again return to the grave low.
Beloved, that sleep I find each time I take
A breath, and then in You again awake
To wonder and to joy: And so I learn
Through life to take my place in the clay urn
From which cocoon at last I shall arise
To find only Your face instead of skies.

7 For we’re drowned in your anger and
By Your wrath troubled in the land.
8 You’ve set our failings before You,
Our secrets in light of Your view.
9 For all our days have passed away
In Your wrath, we spend years to stay
As a mere legend in our sway.
10 Our years are seventy and yet
If by strength eighty years are met,
They’re filled with work and sorrow too,
And soon cut off we fly from view.
11 Who knows the power of Your wrath?
As is Your fear, so is Your wrath.
12 So teach us to count off our days,
Applying hearts in wisdom’s ways.

Beloved, not every man knows how to count
So many days You give us in amount.
Some languages have numbers that do not
Go more than three or four, although the lot
Of all men is that they should count the days
To seven to be able in their praise
To find the rhythm of creation’s plot
And all the blessèd Sabbaths that we’ve got.
Beloved, I do not know Your wrath at all,
Backed as I am against the human wall
Of vain oppressions and vain pride on call.
But without numbers more than fingers spent,
Or sliding sticks between them for a vent,
I seek the wisdom, my Beloved, You’ve sent.

13 Return, O YHWH, how long until
You change Your mind about the bill
Of Your servants on plain and hill?
14 Feed us at morn with Your mercy
So we’ll rejoice and we shall be
Glad all the days that we shall see.
15 Make us glad for as many days
As You’ve afflicted us in maze,
As many years as we have seen
The evil come upon the scene.
16 Let Your slave see Your action show,
Your glory on their children glow.
17 And let the beauty of YHWH our
Ælohim be on us in power
And set the work of our hands fit,
Our hands’ work then establish it.

I feed upon Your mercy even now,
Beloved, so many centuries of row
Beyond the days of David, yes, I feed
Upon the mercy that You gave in seed
In the sweet Psalms he sang when You decreed.
And yet I do not forget in the bloom
The Psalms of Moses man above Your doom,
And stand rejoicing now before the noon
To have from morning’s hour the blessèd boon.
Beloved, I feed upon Your mercy when
I wake from troubled slumber among men
And when I walk the market ways and see
The busy lives progressing around me,
I feed upon Your mercy even then.

PSALM 91

1 The one who sits in secret place
Of Elyon, in the shadow’s trace
Of Shaddai rests through the night’s race.
2 I’ll say of YHWH, “He’s my refuge
And my fortress, Ælohim huge,
I find safety before His face.”
3 He’ll set you free from fowler’s snare,
From plague’s ravages everywhere.
4 He’ll wrap you in His feathers’ band,
Under His wings in trust you’ll stand,
His truth your shield and armour grand.
5 You’ll not be afraid of the flight
Of terror coming in the night,
Nor of the bullet in the day.
6 You’ll not fear the plague in the way
Of darkness, nor destruction come
Wasting at high noon all in sum.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
Ten thousand at your right hand ride,
It shall not come near where you hide.
8 Only with your eyes you will see
Punishment on the wicked spree.

Beloved, how many men in foxholes here
On earth repeat this Psalm to calm their fear!
And as they say the words of faith and hope,
They come at last to the end of their rope.
The spirit crashes under weight and drain
Of pressure from the power of sleepless pain,
The nerve is blasted beyond all recall
Of courage and of skill against the wall.
Beloved, how many men with this on tongue
Have met destroying bullet or the rung
Of missile that exploded and then stung
The life and lust out of the loin and breast.
How many men sing this, then go to rest.
I turn away my eyes against the pall.

9 Since you have made YHWH my refuge,
Elyon, your hiding from deluge,
10 No evil thing shall come on you,
No plague come anywhere in view.
11 For He shall give His angels charge
Of you to guard your ways at large.
12 They shall bear you up in their hands,
So no stone hurts your foot on sands.
13 You’ll tread down lion and the snake,
The young lion and dragon’s stake
You’ll trample under your feet’s wake.
14 ”Because he’s set his love on Me,
That’s why I’ll save him from the spree;
I’ll raise him up upon a peek
Because My name he knew to seek.
15 ”He’ll call on Me, and I’ll reply,
I’ll be with him where troubles lie,
I’ll save him and I’ll glorify.
16 ”With his long life I’ll satisfy,
And show him My salvation high.”

So many now believe in angels met,
And every other dame that speaks is set
To tell me that the glittering ones yet
Guide life and love between the hedge and bet.
I know some who’ve heard angels speak a while,
Some in the night and some in daylight’s toil,
But I have never heard their words aloud
In English spoken like all of the crowd.
I’ve only heard their twittering beneath
The leafy vine as well as blossomed wreath.
But I can stop to understand the song,
Decipher every word that comes along,
And see my feet go straight along the path,
Despite the quartzite mountain and its wrath.

PSALM 92

1 A Psalm or song for Sabbath day.
Good to give thanks to YHWH and pray
Praises to Your name, O Elyon!
2 To publish Your mercy as shown
In the dawn, and Your faithfulness
In every evening’s light’s address.
3 On an instrument of ten strings,
Upon a psaltery as sings,
And harp as its melody flings.
4 For You, YHWH, have made me rejoice
Through Your works, I’ll triumph in choice
Works of Your hands where they have flown.
5 O YHWH, how great are Your works grown,
And Your thoughts deep beyond my voice.
6 A brutish man can never know,
Nor does a fool regard the show.
7 When the wicked spring as the grass,
When evil doers rise and pass,
They shall be destroyed in their crass.

The blessèd Sabbath day comes week by week
And gives rest and strength to both strong and weak.
The praising of Your Name, Beloved, is where
Health rises and blessings fall on the air.
An instrument of ten strings is the way
To sing Your sema’ on the Sabbath day.
And yet the foolish man, the multitude,
Forget Your name, Your day, Your faith imbued
With love and power and wisdom in address,
With care and help and song and righteousness.
Beloved, I triumph in the gathering
That comes each Sabbath day and just to sing
Your Torah and Your Psalms that will destroy
All evil from the earth and bring us joy.

8 But You, YHWH, are most high for good.
9 For see, Your enemies as could,
O YHWH, see Your foes fall in wood,
Scattered the wicked as they should.
10 But my horn shall You raise like one
Of the unicorn, when I’ve done
I’ll be anointed with fresh oil.
11 My eye shall see fruit of my toil
Upon my enemies in spoil,
My ears shall hear the frightful sound
Of my foes fallen on the ground,
That once rose against me around.
12 The righteous shall bloom like the palm,
Grow like cedar in Lebanon.
13 Those planted in the house of YHWH
Shall flourish in Ælohim’s view.
14 They’ll bring forth fruit in their old age,
And shall be fat and strong for wage,
15 To show YHWH in His uprightness,
He is my rock, refuge address,
In Him there’s no unrighteousness.

The horn of power I let go its own way,
And so do not compete with evil’s sway,
But let You only take Your time to make
All wickedness fall from earth for Your sake.
I plant my feet in stillness and I grow
My pointed, harsh leaves of the palm in show
Against the many firs and birches here
That claim the land and hope for help and gear.
My stem and blossoms shine with holy oil
That You pour out on Sabbath after toil,
And so I flourish in the hidden court
Of Your grand temple under sky and fort.
Beloved, I love the rest of Sabbath day,
The coming back to You after the fray.

PSALM 93

1 YHWH reigns and clothed in majesty,
YHWH clothed with strength formidably,
Also the world is set so it
Cannot be moved from footer fit.
2 Your throne’s established anciently,
From everlasting You are He.
3 The floods have lifted up, O YHWH,
The floods lift up their voices true,
The floods raise their waves into view.
4 Than noise of many waters high,
Than mighty waves of the sea nigh
Mightier on high does YHWH fly.
5 Your testimonies, they are pure,
Holiness becomes Your house sure,
O YHWH for ever to endure.

The concept that Your being is as sure
As earth itself must be here to endure
Is really quite parochial, I’m sure.
No doubt the Psalmist meant another thing:
That You from all eternity are king
No matter what the earth may be or sing.
The sea is great from where I take a look,
But in Your house it’s just a little nook.
Beloved, the mind of man cannot contain
The boundaries of Your almighty reign,
But holy and apart are You from all
That You create in expanse and in ball,
While I join Moses, David and the stall
Of singers to remember You for gain.

PSALM 94

1 El of vengeances, You are YHWH
El of vengeances, come in view!
2 Rise, judge of the earth and give share
To the proudful their due in ware.
3 How long shall the wicked ones, YHWH,
How long shall wicked ones raise hue?
4 Shall they bring great things into view,
With wicked boast of their own crew?
5 Your people, YHWH, they break in pieces,
As Your lot’s affliction increases.
6 They kill the widow and the guest,
Murder the fatherless and best.
7 And they say ”YHWH shall not regard,
Nor Jacob’s Ælohim take hard.”

Some take vengeance into their hand a rate
A double portion on enemy’s pate.
Some take vengeance into the land of law,
And being wealthy, make the law their claw.
Some sweetly pretend vengeance has no taste
For them because they’re slender in the waist
And wonderful above both spoon and plate.
Beloved, I leave the vengeance all to You,
Knowing that You’re impartial as You do,
And mighty above all things in the air,
And You will surely fail not in the share
That everyone is due. If I’ve been late
To fall beneath oppressions’ hand and state,
Then You know better than I what to pare.

8 Understand, brutish of the folk,
And fools, when will your wisdom stoke?
9 The One that set the ear in place,
Shall He not hear the ball and mace?
10 The one who punishes the wrong
Of pagans, shall He not be strong
To show chastisement, He the One
Who teaches man knowledge when done?
11 YHWH knows the thoughts of man are vain.
12 Blessed is the man whom You restrain,
YHWH, and teach him Your law’s refrain.
13 Then You might give him rest from pain
Until the pit’s prepared to take
The wicked in store and in stake.
14 For YHWH will not cast off His folk,
He’ll not forsake His lot in yoke.
15 For unto righteousness shall sit
The judgement, and so after it
Shall follow innocent hearts fit.

I’m waiting for the day the pit appears
For all those who regard it without fears,
And wrestle not with grief but bide the tears
Of poor and oppressed once caught in the weirs.
I’m waiting for the day and trusting that
You will not boil me living in that fat
Prepared for every willing and fat cat
That stands to make a buck, though he’s a rat.
Beloved, I trust that You will send me out
To miss the pit the wicked are about
And give me one chance at the golden street
Where You provide the living and the treat.
Let me be of the righteous at Your feet,
And lend my voice to those who sing and shout.

16 Who’ll rise up for me against wrong,
To stand against the sinners’ song?
17 Unless YHWH had become my aid,
My soul had in the silence stayed.
18 When I said “I’m about to fall,”
Your mercy, YHWH, held me in stall.
19 When my thoughts crush me with their weight,
Your comforts delight my soul late.
20 Shall judgement seat of wickedness
Have fellowship with Your address,
One that makes mischief as by law?
21 They gather themselves with sharp claw
Against the righteous soul and lay
Death sentence innocent to pay.
22 But YHWH is for me a defence,
My Ælohim a rock from whence
I find my refuge and my fence.
23 He’ll bring their own sins down on them,
And cut them from wickedness’ hem,
YHWH our Ælohim will cut them.

My chances of salvation are still fair
Because I see that You’ve preserved me where
My penitence may still come to repair.
Bring on each man the sin that he does not
Repent of in the compromising lot
And turn back to what You’ve revealed and taught.
Bring on me only grace, as I turn round
To repent of my sins upon the ground
Where turning to the Psalms is a sweet sound.
Beloved, I do not judge You that You judge
The wicked to the pit and do not fudge,
But praise You that You give me now a chance
To join the heavenly harpers and the dance
Of faith and obedience You enhance.

PSALM 95

1 Oh come, now let us sing to YHWH!
And let us shout joyfully to
The Rock of our salvation due.
2 Let us come before His presence
With thanksgiving, let us with sense
Shout joyfully to Him with Psalms.
3 For a great El God is YHWH and
A great king of all who command.
4 In His hand are the depths of earth,
His also is hills’ strength in girth.
5 To Him’s the sea that He has made,
His hands formed the dry land displayed.
6 Come let us worship in prostration,
Kneeling to YHWH of our creation.
7 For He’s our Ælohim, and we
The people of His pasture free,
The sheep beneath His hand and power.
If you hear His voice at this hour,
8 Do not make your heart hard as in
Meriba, on the day of sin
In the desert. 9 Your ancestors
Tried me and tempted Me in scores
And saw My works. 10 Forty years long
I sorrowed for this people’s wrong,
And said “It’s a folk that do err
In their heart, as it does occur
They have not known My works and ways,
11 To whom in anger I swore best
They should not enter in My rest.”

Who despised Canaan’s land were left
To walk the desert land bereft.
Who failed to keep the Sabbath day,
But went to gather manna’s ray,
Were given putrid worms to eat,
Fit symbol of the feast they treat
Themselves to before idol’s sway.
Who despised later pleasant land
Of Ahmed because they’d not stand
Another book and vision grand,
Enter no rest, but must repeat
The desert wandering with bare feet.
Beloved, I kiss both Palestine,
Makkah, Medina, Sabbath’s wine.

PSALM 96

1 Sing to YHWH a new song, and sing
To YHWH, the earth and everything.
2 Sing to YHWH and so bless His name,
Each day His salvation proclaim.
3 Declare the nations His glory,
To all peoples His mystery.
4 For great is YHWH, and to be praised
Greatly, feared above all gods razed.
5 For all the nations’ gods are vain,
But YHWH made the sky and its rain.
6 Honour and majesty with Him,
Strength and beauty His temple’s rim.
7 Give to YHWH, families of folk,
Give YHWH glory and strength in stroke.
8 Give YHWH glory as due His name,
Bring offering, come to His courts’ fame.
9 Bow down to YHWH in holiness’
Beauty, fear Him, all earth’s address.
10 Say among the heathen, YHWH reigns:
The world too be set tight in reins,
He shall judge people righteously.
11 Let heaven rejoice, let earth be glad,
Let the sea roar and all it had.
12 Let the field be joyful, and all
That is in it, and then shall all
The trees of the wood joy to call.
13 Before YHWH, for He comes to judge
The earth, the world without a smudge,
The people with His truth in stall.

Beloved, I joy to see and hear the truth,
That You are God among the heathen youth
And elders, men and women, and forsooth
The children too. You see I am no shoe
Of Abraham’s seed nor the child of true
Jacob, so I rejoice I have You too.
Beloved, the field is joyful, so what sense
Is there in leaving out the folk of rents
When You make up Your own of those whose lot
Is heritage of Jacob in his plot?
The sea too and all things that live in it
Are here proclaimed both pure, righteous and fit
To be Your own. Beloved, You rule the tide,
And so I come to You, in You I hide.

PSALM 97

1 YHWH reigns, so let the earth rejoice,
Let isles in multitude raise voice.
2 Clouds and darkness are around Him:
Righteousness and judgement undim
Are footing of the throne of Him.
3 A fire goes out before Him, and
It burns His foes on every hand.
4 His lightnings enlighten the earth,
The world saw and trembled in berth.
5 The hills melt like wax before YHWH,
Before the whole world’s Lord as due.
6 The sky declares His righteousness,
His Sadiq, and all people bless
His glory they come to confess.
7 Shame on all those who bow down to
Graven images, and boast too
Of idols: bow to Him alone
All you exalted ones intone.
8 The fortress heard, and they were glad,
The daughters of Judah then had
Great joy because of Your judgements,
O YHWH, when come into Your tents.
9 For You’re high, YHWH, over the earth,
Exalted above all of worth.
10 You who love YHWH, hate evil then,
He saves souls of His holy men,
He saves them from the wicked den.
11 Light is well seeded for Sadiq,
Gladness set in upright heart thick.
12 Rejoice in YHWH, Sadiq, and give
Thanks in the dhikr of His sieve.

The twelve verses of David’s Psalm give hint
That the Holy Imams have entered print,
And this one starts with the sixth in the row
To magnify Al-Sadiq in the show.
Light and joy come from keeping of the law
That Sadiq carefully wrote out in awe,
Identifying every case that glows
From Decalogue and Torah and that knows
To shine in every prophet’s pages where
The help and hope of humankind is there.
Beloved, I praise You for the ones You sent,
I praise You for the great salvation lent,
I see the hills melt down before the sight
Of Your throne planted on earth day and night.

PSALM 98

A Psalm.
1 Oh sing to YHWH a brand new song,
For He’s done marvels all along.
His right hand and His holy arm
Have overcome now every harm.
2 YHWH’s made His salvation appear,
His righteousness He has shown clear
In sight of all the heathen near.
3 He’s remembered His mercy and
His truth toward Israel in band,
The farthest reaches of the earth
Have seen the salvation in worth
Of our Ælohim at His hand.
4 So make a joyful sound to YHWH,
All the earth, sing a loud song too,
Rejoicing and praising His due.
5 Sing to YHWH with the harp and palm,
With harp and the sound of a Psalm.
6 With trumpets and sound of cornet
Make a joyful sound to YHWH met
As King of earth and all in view.
7 Let the sea roar and all in it,
The world and those that in it sit.
8 Let the floods clap their hands, the hills
Be joyful together in rills.
9 Before the face of YHWH, He comes
To judge the earth and all its sums,
With Sadiq He shall judge the earth,
The people with judgement of worth.

The rule of Al-Sadiq is that in force
When You shall come to judge the earth in course
Of time, and bring all men before Your face.
I live from breath to breath in that fair grace,
From week to week in hearing of the trace
Of Your law in the lilting Hebrew words
That make up the teaching of wonder birds.
Beloved, as Sabbath comes again, I see
The harp appear against the sky to be
The harbinger of a new song to me.
Though Your songs are from ancient days, I find
Them always fresh to heart, spirit and mind,
The gauge of wonder and the joyful sound
Of Your justice and faith upon the ground.

PSALM 99

1 YHWH reigns, let the folk trembling quake,
He sits in the cherubim’s wake,
Let the earth be moved round and shake.
2 YHWH is great in the fortress, He
Is high above all people wee.
3 Let them praise Your great, awful name,
For it is holy in its fame.
4 The king’s strength is that his delight
Is in judgement, and You do right,
You apply judgement’s righteousness
In Jacob and in his address.
5 Lift high YHWH our Ælohim, high,
And prostrate at His footstool nigh,
For He is holy to confess.
6 Moses and Aaron of His priests,
And Samuel of those who in feasts
Call on His name, they called on YHWH,
And He answered them what was true.
7 He spoke to them in pillared cloud,
They kept His testimonies’ crowd,
Ordinances He gave aloud.
8 You answered them, YHWH Ælohim,
You were an El forgiving dream,
Though You took vengeance on their scheme.
9 Exalt YHWH our Ælohim, and
Prostrate at His holy hill’s sand,
For YHWH our Ælohim is grand.

On Sabbath day I take the words sent down
To Moses in the desert dry and brown,
And see them nourish my heart and bring out
The leaf and bud and flower after the sprout.
On Sabbath day in my remembrance due
I take the words of Torah and the true,
Reciting them in Hebrew and the while
In rhymes and rhythms set down for a smile.
Like Samuel in the days of old I sound
Your name, Beloved, and as I turn around
I hear Your footsteps falling on the ground,
I see Your coming in the morning light,
In footfalls of the deer, and in the sight
Of violets in fall surprising night.

PSALM 100

1 A Psalm of praise.
Make a joyful sound unto YHWH,
All you lands and all in your pew.
2 Serve YHWH with gladness, come before
His face with singing from the score.
3 Know that YHWH, He is Ælohim,
He has made us, it would not seem
That we have made ourselves in dream,
We are His people and the sheep
Of His pasture and in His keep.
4 Come in His gates with gratitude,
Into His courts with praise renewed,
Be thankful to Him, bless His name.
5 For YHWH is good, His mercy’s fame
Is everlastingly the same,
His truth to generations’ aim.

All lands are here to serve You, Ælohim,
And so it comes out in the final scheme
That Israel alone is not Your own
To owe obedience before Your throne.
Israel may be Your favourite in store,
But that does not release those at the door
From obligation to serve You in all
The lands around the world where they’re in stall.
Beloved, all have the right and gift to sing
The Hebrew Psalms in praises, to You bring
The offering of voice and harp and sound
Of thanks to You who made sky, sea and ground.
You do not change, and You have always been
The One to say for all men what is sin.

PSALM 101

1 A Psalm of David.
I’ll sing of mercy and judgement,
To You, O YHWH, songs I present.
2 I’ll act wisely in perfect way.
When will You come to me in sway?
I shall walk in my house to be
With a perfect heart where You see.
3 I’ll set no wicked thing before
My eyes, I hate the work in store
Of those who turn aside from lore
Of Your law, I let all such be.
4 Let wicked heart depart from me,
I will not know wicked one’s spree.
5 The one who brings a secret word
Of slander about neighbour stirred,
I will cut off, and those that show
A proud look and proud heart to go
I will not tolerate in show.
6 My eyes shall look toward the just
In the land, they may sit in trust
With me, and he that acts aright,
He shall serve with me in Your sight.
7 The one who does deceitfully
Shall not sit in my house with me,
The one that tells lies shall not stay
In my sight in the place I pray.
8 Early shall I destroy all those
Who work their wickedness in rows
Upon the ground, so I’ll cut off
All wicked doers, those who scoff,
From the town of YHWH to oppose.

Sometimes the look that seems to be so proud
Is one mistaken for feelings allowed.
The face is mirror of the soul indeed,
But reading faces is by higher creed
A task most difficult to face or do.
The proud look is not evidence, but clue,
And clue that has but little weight to bear
On showing who is sinful for their share.
Beloved, let the proud look be so or not,
I flee from lookers-on in evil plot,
And from the failures of a day untaught.
Lay low deceit, Beloved, in me and mine
And in the waltzers and bibbers of wine,
And I shall praise Your keeping things in line.

PSALM 102

1 A prayer of the afflicted, when
He is overwhelmed among men,
And pours out his complaint before
YHWH to keep things up in the score.
Hear my prayer, YHWH, and let my cry
Come up before You as I try.
2 Don’t hide Your face from me the day
I am caught up in trouble’s sway;
Incline Your ear to me as soon
As I call and give me a boon.
3 For my days are consumed like smoke,
And my bones burnt in a hearth’s stroke.
4 My heart is struck and withers bare
Like grass, so I forget my share
Of bread to eat and fall in care.
5 I groan aloud until my bones
Stick to my skin as without loans.
6 I’m like a desert pelican,
An owl in the wilderness span.
7 I watch like a sparrow alone
On the house top unseen, unknown.

The Psalm that is a prayer of one caught in
Affliction is a surprise in the bin.
I’d think the Psalms, if not plucked at the harp
Of David, who was king, would be the sharp
Note of some other on elitist tree.
One would not expect Psalms of poverty
And of affliction in the standard fare,
The State cult and the book of common prayer.
And yet it is a thing that meets the eye:
A proof if ever that You in the sky
Inspired the compositions, did not let
The fears of human powers come to get
The blame and share of everything that’s set
In Scripture. So I stop and am aware.

8 My enemies reproach all day,
They rage against me, sworn for pay.
9 For I’ve eaten ashes like bread,
And mixed my drink with tears outspread.
10 For Your raging and for Your wrath,
For You’ve lifted me from the path
And thrown me out upon my head.
11 My days are like shadows to pass,
And I am withered like the grass.
12 But You, YHWH, shall always endure,
As Your remembrance ever sure.
13 You rise and have mercy upon
The fortress, in her favour drawn
As set time and sure as the dawn.
14 Your servants take joy in her stones,
And favour the dust of her loans.

The dhikr, service of remembrance of
Your names of grace and mercy and of love,
Continues through the ages always met
From generations of the elite set
As well as generations of the poor,
Illiterate and those without a show.
When Sangmeister ate ashes with his bread,
Beisel was patronizing of his head.
When Jesus Christ into the hall was led,
Caiaphas was conscious of his state
As ruler and official at the gate.
Beloved, unnoticed by the angel throng,
I crash the gates of heaven with my song,
And stand alone with or without the wrong.

15 The heathen shall fear name of YHWH,
All earthly kings His glory due.
16 When YHWH shall build up the fortress,
He’ll appear in His glory’s dress.
17 He’ll listen to the poor man’s prayer,
And He will not despise them there.
18 This is written for generations
To come, and the folk in their stations
Created shall praise YHWH for rations.
19 He’s looked down from His temple height,
From heaven did YHWH take earth in sight,
20 To hear the prisoner’s complaint,
To free those under death’s constraint;
21 To publish YHWH’s name in Zion,
Show His praise in Jerusalem,
22 When the people are gathered there,
And the kingdoms to serve YHWH’s share.

My only claim to fame in mountain track
Is that I fear Your name behind Your back.
The promise is a sure one and is true
The heathen shall come fear the name of YHWH.
There’s not a sign that any in my line
Stood in the court of David to drink wine,
Not even a Uriah or the lot
Of Edomite in my ancestral plot.
Beloved, the praise I bring to You is wrought
On heathen tongue and in a hapla sought
On distant shores from Sinai and the taught.
And yet I find my tongue avails as well
To sing the Psalms in speech of Israel
And quench my thirst at evening sound of bell.

23 He weakened my strength in the way,
He entered to abridge my day.
24 I said ”My El, take not away
Myself in middle of my life:
Your years endure and without strife
Throughout all generations rife.
25 “From ancient times You set the ground
Of the earth, and the sky is found
To be the work of Your hands round.
26 “They perish, but You shall endure,
Indeed they take a worn allure,
And as a cloak, You’ll change them and
They shall be turned over in hand.
27 “But You’re the same and all Your years
Shall have no ending in arrears.
28 “Your servants’ children shall keep on,
Their descendants set like the dawn.”

Beloved, how many You have taken out
At thirty-five and in life living stout,
The middle of three-score and ten devout!
So have You done and so shall You still do
Despite the prayer of David as Your cue.
It is too late, Beloved, to cut me off
Before the line of slumber and the scoff,
Because a dozen years alone divide
My breath from three-score and ten at the side.
But whether or not I reach to that state
Of age and wait the coming of my fate,
Or if the world comes to an end belate,
I raise the prayer of David and recite
The words that pray against my human plight.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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