PSALM CHAPTER 116 - 126

PSALM 116

I love YHWH because He has heard
My voice and supplications’ word.
2 Because He’s lent His ear to me,
I’ll call on Him eternally.
3 The sorrows of death compassed me,
The pains of hell got hold on me,
I found trouble and sorrow be.
4 Then I called on the name of YHWH,
I prayed YHWH save me, my soul too.
5 Gracious is YHWH and righteous too,
Our Ælohim’s merciful, true.
6 YHWH saves the simple: I was brought
Low and He helped me when I sought.
7 Return to your rest, O my soul;
For YHWH’s dealt well with you in bowl.
8 For You’ve delivered me from death,
My eyes from tears, and at a breath
My feet from falling at the toll.

If I love You, Beloved, only because
You’ve heard my praying voice clamour in clause,
I think the basis of my love to be
Deficient in this land’s society.
I raise my service of remembrance here,
Reciting the Bible and Qur’an dear,
And it is good, Belovèd, if You hear,
And it is good, my Love, if You do not.
I raise remembrance in the silent lot,
And look for no reward but what I’ve got.
I beg no heaven of You, no paradise,
Although to escape hell could be quite nice.
What You have given already in the bowl
Of upright and of sinful’s beyond goal.

9 I’ll walk by YHWH in living land.
10 I have believed and therefore planned
My speech: I was in great distress.
11 I said in haste, ”All men are liars.”
12 How shall I repay all the fires
Of YHWH’s benefits I express?
13 I’ll take salvation’s cup in view
And call upon the name of YHWH.
14 I shall pay my vows unto YHWH
Before all His people in view.
15 Precious in the sight of YHWH is
The death of His holy ones’ biz.
16 O YHWH, truly I’m Your servant,
I’m Your slave and son of a wench
In Your employ and on the slant,
But You freed me from slavery’s bench.
17 I’ll offer You the sacrifice
Of gratitude, if it suffice,
And call upon the name of YHWH.
18 I will pay my vows unto YHWH,
Now in presence of all His folk,
19 In the courts of YHWH’s house in stroke,
In Jerusalem’s central view.
Praise YHWH, praise YHWH, praise YHWH, praise YHWH.

It seems the sacrifice of praise is still
Enough to fit salvation and its bill.
The offering of gratitude precedes
The calling on Your name like tumbleweeds.
Wherever the wind drives me on the earth,
Through cities and through deserts in their dearth,
Through forests and through tundras in the scale
Of expanse like eternities prevail,
I offer You no heathen sacrifice,
No human crucifixion, that’s not nice,
But only offerings of thanks on the way
To calling on Your name and without pay.
I’ve done it in Jerusalem, I fear,
I do it in the wilderness I steer.

PSALM 117

1 Praise YHWH, you Gentiles! Laud Him, all
You peoples! 2 For His kindness’ call
In mercy is immense towards us,
And YHWH’s truth, the incredulous,
Endures forever. Praise YHWH, all!

This is the greatest of the Psalms, I swear,
Though only two small verses are found there!
The chosen race was chosen, I’ve no doubt,
That Your words spoken should be written out.
But choosing one race has resulted in
The pinnacle of treachery and sin,
The racist attitude that feeds the way
Of pogrom and of monetary sway.
Beloved, I praise You now, I praise indeed,
Because this Psalm is taught to every seed,
And Gentiles share the call to praise Your name
And come before Your throne and without shame
Enter the truth that shall always endure
Among the chosen races and the pure.

PSALM 118

1 Oh give thanks to YHWH, He is good:
His mercy lasts longer than could.
2 Let Israel now say His mercy
Lasts always to eternity.
3 Let Aaron’s house now say the same:
His mercy’s eternal in fame.
4 Let those who fear YHWH say again,
His mercy’s for ever on men.
5 I called upon YHWH in distress,
YHWH then replied to my address,
Set me on a firm place, no less.
6 YHWH’s on my side, I will not fear,
What harm can man do but appear?
7 YHWH takes my part with those who aid,
I’ll see vengeance on my foes paid.
8 It is better to trust in YHWH
Than put confidence in man’s crew.
9 It is better to trust in YHWH
Than depend on princes in view.

There are three groups of men who serve the Lord
According to this Psalm of David scored.
There’s Israel that’s mentioned first of all,
And House of Aaron, all men on the ball,
And last but not beast is the greater throng
Of Gentiles who fear You and hate the wrong.
Beloved, how sweet to know that all such men
And women are a-judged by You again
As welcome in the kingdom of the just
That shall remain forever above dust.
Beloved, I see the vengeance on my foes
Repaid a thousand times against the rows
Of trouble they cause coming to oppose.
The princes and their servants are all those.

10 All nations compassed me about,
In name of YHWH I set in rout.
11 They gathered around me indeed,
In YHWH’s name I’ll destroy their seed.
12 They circled me around like bees,
Succumbing like fire in thorn trees,
In YHWH’s name I strike down their knees.
13 You attacked me hoping I’d fall,
But YHWH came to my aid and call.
14 YHWH’s my strength and song and begun
To become my great salvation.
15 The voice of joy and salvation
Is in the tents of righteous won,
YHWH’s right hand’s courageous when done.
16 YHWH’s right hand is exalted high,
YHWH’s right hand does valiantly by.
17 I shall not die, but live and praise
The works of YHWH throughout my days.
18 YHWH has plagued me with punishment,
But into death He has not sent.

Those are bold words to speak, and who knows best
If they were not written upon the vest
Of the Psalter to wait the time when came
Wycliffe to pronounce them and without shame.
”I shall not die, but live” it is well said,
But every man at last is put to bed.
I should not be so bold as to be led
To say such things, although it may come true
That You will send Messiah and the great
Guided One to establish a new state
In everlasting where all those who go
In there shall never die, but grow old slow.
Beloved, let that come quickly on the shore
Where I recite the words of life and more.

19 Open me gates of righteousness,
I’ll go through them and so I’ll bless
YHWH and His honoured name confess.
20 This gate of YHWH upright go in
And find themselves there without sin.
21 I will praise You, for You have heard
And become my salvation stirred.
22 The stone the builders had rejected
Becomes the cornerstone confected.
23 This is YHWH’s doing, marvellous
Before the eyes of all of us.
24 This is the day that YHWH has made,
We will rejoice in glad parade.
25 Save now, I pray, O YHWH, O YHWH,
26 Blessed he who comes in name of YHWH,
We’ve blessed you from the house of YHWH.
27 El is YHWH, who has shown us light,
Bind the sacrifice with cords tight,
To the horns of the altar right.
28 You are my El, I will praise You,
My Ælohim, exalted too.
29 Oh give thanks to YHWH, He is good:
His mercy lasts longer than could.

The figure of the stone rejected here
Has become subject of all kinds of gear.
If it is true apostle wrote the book
Where it’s applied to Jesus for a look,
Then that’s one glimpse of trying in the nook.
Every stone that’s rejected in this world
Thinks that this verse of David has been twirled
In prophecy of how his work at last
Will be accepted after sinful blast.
Beloved, my scribblings here, though for Your fame,
Are not set in stone nor in parchment’s game,
But only on the flash of satellite
That catches them a moment before night.
I’m content to be another outcast.

PSALM 119

The only classic text that claims to be
Spoken by You direct and publicly
To show what’s right and wrong to tongue and hands
Is the one writ in Sinai’s ten commands.
The other option’s to do what I think
Is right because I was born on the brink
Of some establishment, or then pretend
I’ve got the right to force my vision’s link
On all the world, because I’m free to spend.
I set aside both neighbour’s view and mine
And find freedom and justice in Your line.
Of course the law of jungle is another
Good way to devour both sister and brother.
Ten fingers and ten toes serve me just fine.

1 ALEPH. Blessed the undefiled in the way,
Who walk in the law of YHWH’s way!
2 Blessed who keep His testimonies,
Who seek Him with the whole heart’s ease.
3 They too do no iniquity,
They walk in His ways faithfully.
4 You have commanded us to keep
Diligently Your precepts deep.
5 Oh, that my ways were directed
To keep Your statutes corrected.
6 Then I would not be ashamed, as
I see what Your commandment has.
7 I will praise You with upright heart,
When I have learned Your righteous part.
8 I will keep Your statutes. Oh, do
Not forsake me in my virtue!

The blessing, Beloved, that You call down on
However many people that are drawn
Out pure and sure to follow in Your way
Until the evil age fails from the sway
Seems lovely to be heard. And yet I feel
How many would turn the ship on its keel.
Among the hearers of Your word I find
Lots of reformers, most of whom are blind
To say Your law’s not here to keep at all.
Help them to fail at last and come to fall.
At Sinai the sounds still reverberate,
Vainly the stout and proud exacerbate
Eleven or twelve good reasons why they can’t
Notice Your law, instead they have to vaunt.

9 BETH. How can a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed to what You say.
10 With my whole heart I have sought You,
Let me not wander from Your cue.
11 Your word have I hidden in heart,
That I might not sin in my part.
12 Blessed YHWH! Teach You me Your statutes.
13 My lip declares without disputes
All of the judgments of Your mouth.
14 I have rejoiced there is no drouth
In the way of Your testimonies,
As in all riches and their phonies.
15 I’ll meditate on Your precepts,
And contemplate Your ways’ adepts.
16 I will delight in Your statutes,
And not forget Your word confutes.

Only by human sacrifice, they bray,
Only by the way of the cross to stay,
There is the hope of cleansing of the way.
How then does David write and come to stray?
Elect are those who take heed what You say.
Right seemly it appears that those who seek
Going by Your law with whole heart and cheek
Outstandingly succeed. Your word’s enough
Doubtless to keep the young man straight and tough.
Some think that sin is human frailty,
Being weak to perform feats in a spree.
Unless You spoke it on Sinai, it’s not
To be called sin at all, but human plot
Making slaves of the poor, priests of the sot.

17 GIMEL. Deal bountifully with Your servant,
I may live and keep Your word’s grant.
18 Open my eyes, that I may see
Wondrous things from Your law freely.
19 I am a stranger in the earth,
Do not hide Your statutes in dearth.
20 My soul breaks with longing for Your
Judgments at all times. 21 Furthermore,
You rebuke the proud and the cursed,
Who stray from Your law for the worst.
22 Remove from me reproach, contempt,
I’ve kept Your law in my attempt.
23 Princes sit and speak against me,
I keep Your statutes before me.
24 Your testimonies also are
My delight and my counsellor.

Eternal truth is that all wondrous things
Turn bright within Your statutes’ commandings.
He errs who proudly disdains me because
Of my adherence to Your divine laws.
Until the eye is opened and the heart
See wonders You perform and from the start,
Help does not rise, and blindness sets the man
Against You and You ten commandments’ plan.
Longing with hunger for Your law it takes
To see the truth, but when one does the stakes
Never reduce, but strangers in the earth,
Outcasts are all who love Your field and berth.
Take princes now to task and priests at fault,
Make Your testimonies every man’s salt.

25 DALETH. My soul clings to the dust, revive
Me by Your word and make alive.
26 I have declared my ways, and You
Answered me, teach Your statutes true.
27 Make me understand the way of
Your precepts, and so shall I love
Your wondrous works and meditate.
28 My soul melts from its heavy state,
Strengthen me by Your word, elate.
29 Remove from me the way of lying,
And grant grace in Your law supplying.
30 I have chosen the way of truth,
Your judgments I have sought since youth.
31 I cling to Your testimonies,
O YHWH, do not shame me for these.
32 I’ll run the course of Your commands,
For in Your grace my heart expands.

After the choice to eat forbidden fruit,
Knowledge of good and evil and of soot,
Emancipated from the good life to
Understand for oneself what’s right to do,
Nothing could give us life again but that
Tree that we left behind where we had sat.
Only I find that You, Beloved, sent down
That tree of life again upon the town,
Hove out reviving waters on the dust,
Each commandment exchanging life for rust.
Every day that I take commandments clear
Against the evil that would be my cheer,
Nearer comes life eternal to my soul,
Your ten commandments my life and my goal.

33 HE. Teach me, O YHWH, the way of Your
Statutes, and I’ll keep it the more
To the end. 34 Give me understanding,
And I’ll keep firm Your law’s demanding,
Observing it with my whole heart.
35 Make me walk in the path apart
Of Your commandments, my delight.
36 Incline my heart to Your witness,
And never to covetousness.
37 Turn away my eyes from looking
At worthless things, revive a thing
In me to travel in Your way.
38 Establish Your word and Your sway
To Your servant, who fears Your day.
39 Turn away my reproach which I
Dread, for Your judgments satisfy.
40 See, I’ve longed for Your laws to bless,
Quicken me in your righteousness.

Give me, Beloved, Your righteousness, not mine.
Revive in me creation’s clandestine
Argument that You have made all men good.
Vain is the argument a serpent could
Extinguish what good You once pronounced fine.
No heart is now incapable on earth,
Inspired by the delight of Your law’s worth.
Mankind and woman too may all rejoice
Along the purified way of Your choice.
Give me then Your grace and I shall not fail,
Expecting to gain victory, prevail.
The one who stumbles finds Your loving hand
Has all forgiveness in divine command,
Observes to blot out errors from Your band.

41 VAU. Let Your mercies come to me too,
YHWH, even Your salvation true,
According to Your word in view.
42 So shall I have an answer set
For him who reproaches me yet,
For I trust in Your word well met.
43 Don’t take the word of truth from me,
I’ve hoped in Your judgements truly.
44 So I shall always keep Your law
For ever and ever in awe.
45 And I will walk at liberty,
For I seek Your precepts truly.
46 I’ll speak of Your testimonies
Also before kings at their knees
I will not be ashamed to see.
47 I’ll delight in Your commandments,
Which I have loved above presents.
48 My hands also I’ll lift to do
Your commandments which I’ve loved too,
I’ll meditate Your statutes true.

Until I found Your law I did not know
Sun of freedom or liberty in glow.
Hung on the things external and the show
And on the plight of flesh, determined go,
Light left me in the chains of hopeless weal
To wander in the actions that I feel.
Now that Your law has come to bring me life
Out of the work and toil and worldly strife,
The path is clear, and freedom meets my hand,
Thought is no longer chained to contraband.
All things become bright with assurance now
Knowledge and grace are planted on my brow.
Each day is blessed with liberty since I
Took Your commandments from the Mount Sinai.

49 ZAIN. Remember the word to Your slave,
Which has raised up in me hope brave.
50 This is the comfort of my pain,
Your word has quickened me again.
51 The proud have held me in disdain,
I’ve not departed from Your law,
But kept Your commandments in awe.
52 I minded Your judgements of old,
YHWH, and took comfort in their mould.
53 Horror had taken hold on me:
They forsake Your law wickedly.
54 Your statutes have been my songs’ page
In the house of my pilgrimage.
55 I’ve remembered Your name, O YHWH,
In the night, I’ve kept Your law true.
56 I had this for myself in view,
Because I kept Your precepts due.

How can a man desire a quickening,
Emancipation gone beyond the wing
Now found in the life quickened by Your word?
All ten of Your commandments I have heard.
Many there be who trust in crosses met
Each day where sacrifices have been set
On animal and on the holy brow
From heavenly places sent to us somehow.
The very thought that human sacrifice
Has given anything that might suffice
Evokes disgust in one who knows the life,
Light and love quickened without toil or strife
Of Your commandments ten. I keep them in
Remembrance in the night against the din.

57 CHETH. You are my portion, YHWH, I’ve said
That I’d keep Your words and be led.
58 I begged Your grace with all my heart,
Be merciful to me on part
Of Your word. 59 I’ve thought on my ways
And turned my feet in Your laws’ praise.
60 I hurried to obey Your laws.
61 I’ve been robbed by the wicked claws,
I’ve not forgotten Your law’s rays.
62 At midnight I’ll get up to thank
You for Your righteous judgements’ rank.
63 I’m friend of all those who fear You,
Of those who keep Your precepts true.
64 YHWH, the earth’s full of Your mercy:
So all Your statutes teach to me.

Delivered from the hook of evil men
That would surround me in attack again,
Help I find in Your word and in Your praise.
You meet me in the coming of the days,
Grant me Your presence in the dread of night.
Our meetings are few at the midnight hour,
Despite the fact You’re always there in power.
I sleep away the night in the perfume
No other breath could sprinkle on my room,
Visible to my nostrils as I take
A path between my slumber and awake.
I find You ever ready where I spend
Night watch along the curtains and the bend
Round frosty branches I forget to light.

65 TETH. You have dealt well with Your slave, YHWH,
According to Your word that’s true.
66 Teach me judgement and knowledge fine,
I’ve believed Your commandments’ vine.
67 Before I was afflicted I
Went astray, but now I rely
On Your word. 68 You’re good and do good,
Teach me Your statutes as I should.
69 The proud have told lies about me,
I keep Your precepts faithfully.
70 Their heart is slow to run as grease,
I delight in Your law’s release.
71 It’s good I’m in humble estate
In order to learn Your laws’ rate.
72 The law You speak’s better to me
Than gold and silver thousands’ fee.

Establish in my heart and life and act
More strongly, my Beloved, the sacred pact.
Each day make my apportionment and faith
More evident than pagan range and wraith.
Be quick to set Your law before my eye,
Extinguish the desire to strain and vie,
Remember that my will is Yours alone
To follow Your instructions to the bone.
However many days my life may take,
Equal them with Your grace to rouse and wake
Secure in Your commandments and Your will.
Around me there are many who fulfil
Bright plans of heathen vintage for the mill.
Bring me another way and for Your sake.

73 JOD. Your hands have made and fashioned me,
Give me understanding to be
Learning Your commandments truly.
74 Those who fear You will be glad when
They see me, since I’ve hoped again
In Your word. 75 YHWH, I know that Your
Judgements are right, and on that score
You’re faithful in that You’ve set me
In humble state for all to see.
76 I pray Your merciful kindness
Be for my comfort and to bless
According to Your promised word
That Your own servant’s often heard.
77 Let come on me tender mercy,
For Your law’s my delight’s degree.
78 Let the proud be ashamed, for they
Were deceitful with me the way
They acted without reason’s sway;
I meditate Your precepts’ ray.
79 Let those who fear You turn to me,
Those knowing Your testimony.
80 Let my heart be firm in Your laws,
Without my shame for any cause.

The humble estate that You give to me,
Beloved, is the excuse the proud can see
To take advantage of my innocence
And slander me and destroy all my tents.
So give me joy in the simplicity
That Your law demands of both the gentry
And the poor on the way. Tender mercy
Be my comfort instead of all the wrong
That is the joy of the proud and their song.
Beloved, to be Your servant is a joy,
The tasks You give are scarcely to employ:
Only remembering once a week Your name
And honour to my parents for the same.
All else is simply to avoid the blame.

81 CAPH. My soul faints for Your salvation;
I hope in Your word as I run.
82 My eyes fail for Your word and say
”When will You comfort me and stay?”
83 I’m like a bottle in the smoke,
But don’t forget Your statutes’ stroke.
84 How many days shall Your slave live?
When will You sentence them and give
Judgement on persecuting men,
And turn back to justice again?
85 The proud have dug snares for my soul,
They do not have Your law as goal.
86 All Your commandments faithful be:
They persecute me wrongfully;
Come to my rescue and help me.
87 They’d almost consumed me on earth,
I did not give up Your law’s worth.
88 Revive me in lovingkindness;
Your testimony I’ll confess.

Execute judgement on my soul and I
May resurrect in new life coming by.
Execute judgement on my enemy,
My joy shall be complete after the spree.
Blessed be Your holy law that brings about
Early and late the grace of justice’ shout.
Remember me, Beloved, as You relate
The word of comfort in prophecy’s state,
How Your law will come to rejuvenate
Everyone who whole-heartedly takes it.
Should I fall in the hands of humankind,
A horrid fate, keep me from mercy blind,
But save me by Your ten commandments’ law
Before I succumb to civilized claw.

89 LAMED. YHWH, Your word’s set fast in the skies.
90 Your faithfulness for generations
Is firm, You have established nations
On earth, and it shall stay in guise.
91 They’re kept to this day by command,
For all things are Your servant band.
92 Unless Your law’d been my delights,
I should have perished in my plights.
93 I’ll never forget Your precepts,
As their reviving life expects.
94 I am Yours, save me, for I’ve sought
Your precepts, all the things You’ve taught.
95 The wicked have waited for me
To destory me, but I will see
Saving in Your testimony.
96 I’ve seen an end of all perfection,
Your commandment’s beyond reflection.

All things may be known by their fruits they say.
The fruit of crucifixion on the way
Has been the conquest of Mexico and
Dachau and Auschwitz, Buchenwald at hand.
A better fruit is that Your law produces:
Your mercy’s grace obedience reduces
To man’s delights, whole-heartedly when he
Outwits temptation working righteously.
Knowing the delight of Your law I find
Enough of pleasure in the good and kind
Each day that I need not go out to kill,
Pack others’ perks in pocket for a thrill,
Invite the neighbour’s wife to party pet,
To witness falsely of the other’s set.

97 MEM. Oh how I love Your law! I say
It’s my meditation all day.
98 By Your commandments You have made
Me wiser that my foes’ parade,
For all around me they have stayed.
99 I have more understanding than
All my teachers, because Your plan
Is my contemplation to scan.
110 I grasp more than the men of old,
Because I keep Your precepts bold.
101 I have refrained my feet from all
Bad to keep Your commandments tall.
102 I’ve not departed from what’s just
In Your sight, You’ve taught me to trust.
103 How sweet are Your words to my taste,
Than honey to my mouth in waste.
104 By Your precepts I gain the goal
Of knowledge, and hate the false role.

How sweet to the tongue is the cantillation
Of Your commandments, Beloved, in elation!
Lovely indeed, and yet the word is set.
You provide in them everything that’s met,
How all the problems humans make themselves
On earth could be erased as fast as elves.
Nothing is clearer than the strategy
Of keeping ordered, great society
Under the rule of Your commandments free.
Reward of Sabbath will avoid excess,
The labour ill, environmental mess.
How simple is solution to the ills
You have provided from the ancient hills.
Fan out the chaff that lies and steals and kills.

105 NUN. Your word’s a lamp lighting my way,
My feet follow a path towards day.

There is a way most bright and glorious,
Beloved, a way that’s broad and populous
And filled with blinding light. The light that blinds
Is like as dark to lead astray both minds
And feet. There is a light that’s sure to guide
Aright, though every other cult beside
Cast only phosphorescent glow on bone
Sunk into hell, on crumbling gods of stone.
That light’s a lamp, a guiding star, a great
And shining revelation. Light and sound,
Or rather light in truth is sound. The gate
To Paradise, the flaming swords around,
Is lighted by the sound of recitation
Of all the divine books of revelation.

106 I’ve sworn, and I will do the act,
I’ll keep Your righteous judgements’ pact.
107 I am afflicted very much:
Quicken me, YHWH, by Your word’s touch.
108 Accept, I pray, the sacrifice
My lips freely bring, and suffice
O YHWH to teach me Your judgements.
109 My soul stays always in my tents,
I don’t forget Your law’s presence.
110 The wicked laid a snare for me;
I did not stray from Your law’s tree.
11 Your testimonies I have taken
As my inheritance unshaken
For ever, they rejoice my heart.
112 I turn my heart to do my part
According to Your statutes’ art
Until the end when I awaken.

As many times as David says Your law
Takes charge to quicken, liven, and withdraw
Husks of the evil in the hand and claw,
Everyone does not see the glory’s awe.
Right now problems could be better solved if
All simply swore to keep Your statutes stiff.
Nothing is too hard in the ten to do.
Doing is all that’s needed. To tie shoe
Takes more skill. Every child at home and school
Has to be sworn to keep commandments’ rule.
Young and old soon would learn to live and let
Mother and child enjoy sweet peace and get
Out of the pain of city and the band
Touched by the evil thought and evil hand.

113 SAMECH. I hate vain thoughts. Your law I love.
114 You are my hiding place above,
And my shield. I hope in Your word.
115 Leave me, doers of wickedness:
I’ll keep Ælohim’s laws’ address.
116 Uphold me according to Your
Word so that I might live in score,
And not ashamed of my hope’s store.
117 Hold me up and I shall be safe,
And I shall respect, though a waif,
Your statutes long as I’m on shore.
118 You’ve trodden down all those who err
From Your law, falsehood is their share.
119 You put away all wicked men
Like dross upon the earth in den,
That’s why I love Your law again.
120 My flesh trembles for fear of You,
I’m afraid of Your judgements true.

Have You indeed trodden down those who stray
Each day from Your law in the light of day?
Right. But I think I see a few whose bumps
Trodden down in the muck, and whose bruised lumps
Have still dressed up in plush and hold the sway
Over the church and synagogue and pay
Up to the mosque to preach aloud and pray.
Some such, despite the stains of Your footprints
Have sat in parliament, stood up to rinse
A good name in the ministry, or yet
Lock, stock and sterile dress their boardrooms met
To take a profit from the hungry set
Nowhere but in the service of the great,
Outcasts, but not trodden by Your rebate.

121 AIN. I have done judgement and justice:
Leave me not to oppressors’ kiss.
122 Represent Your servant for good;
Don’t let the proud oppress my hood.
123 My eyes fail for Your salvation,
For Your righteous word to be done.
124 Deal with Your slave by Your mercy,
And teach me Your statutes for free.
125 I am Your servant, make me know
What Your testimonies would show.
126 It’s time for YHWH to rise and work;
They’ve made void Your law as they shirk.
127 That’s why I love Your commandments
More than gold, more than pounds and pence.
128 So I consider all precepts
All right, and hate all false concepts.

They have indeed made void Your law when they
Know Trinity instead of Your own sway.
Indeed, they make void Your law when they will
Laugh at the Gentile and to fill the bill
Let him work while their donkey’s resting still.
They have indeed made void Your law to take
Home memories of electric chair for stake
Or raise an army for the crucifixion
Under the Tigris for a false conviction.
So they make void Your law insisting that
His or her parents must earn it out flat,
A seed of honour. So let all such men
Lie down upon their own rebellion’s den
To reap the punishment of death’s doom then.

129 PE. Your testimonies are a wonder,
So I will keep them and not blunder.
130 Your words open and they give light,
Understanding to simple wight.
131 I opened my mouth and I panted,
I longed for Your commands and ranted.
132 Regard and have mercy on me,
As to those who love Your name’s fee.
133 Make my steps stay within Your word,
No wickedness within me stirred.
134 Deliver me from man’s oppression,
So I will keep Your law’s confession.
135 Make Your face shine upon Your slave,
Teach me the statutes that You gave.
136 Rivers of tears run down my eyes,
When I fail from Your law in guise.

No one is like to keep Your law’s perfection,
Only intend in matter of selection.
The strange thing is that it’s so easy to
Contain with little striving in the pew.
One may fail in the duty of Your law,
Making mistakes and failing to keep awe.
My eyes see here that such offence need not
Imply destruction of the righteous plot.
The time calls for repentance and with tears
Along the way, You save men from their fears.
Demanding sacrifice does nothing for
Us waiting sinful at the open door.
Love of Your law brings tears repenting soon
To give back life and hope beneath the moon.

137 TZADDI. Righteous are You, YHWH and upright
Are Your judgements in human sight.
138 Your testimonies You’ve commanded
Are righteous and faithful as handed.
139 My zeal consumes me, because my
Enemies forgot Your words’ tie.
140 Your word is very pure, that’s why
Your servant loves it. 141 I am small
And despised, yet I do recall
Your precepts. 142 And Your righteousness
Is everlasting righteousness,
And Your law is the truth’s address.
143 Trouble and anguish grasp me fast,
Your laws are my delights at last.
144 The righteousness of Your statutes
Is everlasting; give my roots
Understanding: I live in boots.

Except I had the wit to know the pure,
Rightly evaluating what is sure,
Your law would remain opaque to my view.
That must mean that You’ve given me a clue
How to know what is pure and what is not.
Only so many humans I have taught
Understand not the slightest what You say,
Sustaining doubts about the narrow way.
How narrow is it? In fact all is fair
Around the whole sea of the human share,
Left only a few places in the ice
To beware of, just ten of those suffice.
Now I turn back to Your law’s purity,
Overwhelmed with Your commandments’ beauty.

145 KOPH. I cried with my whole heart, hear me,
YHWH, I’ll keep Your statutes truly.
146 I cried to You; save me, and I
Shall keep Your testimonies’ tie.
147 I got up before morning light,
And cried, I hoped in Your word’s sight.
148 Before the watches of the night
My eyes search Your word for the right.
149 Hear my voice by Your lovingkindness:
YHWH, raise Your judgement without blindness.
150 The mischief-makers have come near,
They are far from Your law to hear.
151 Nearby are You, YHWH and the whole
Of Your commandments are truth’s goal.
152 Concerning Your testimonies,
I’ve known a long time that You please
To set them for ever with ease.

Two errors rage, the first is that a man
Saves himself by doing the things he can
To keep Your law, the other error finds
Enough among those of the other kinds
Allowing that those who are saved need not
Love Your law and do everything You’ve taught.
Truth here is in the prayer that You might save,
Henceforward I’ll keep Your law like a slave.
Outside the pale are others where they stand,
Unless You save, no one obeys in band,
So save all humankind, Beloved, and see
How many then obey in truth to be
A child and servant of the sovereign God,
Left cantillating Your law on the sod.

153 RESH. Consider my affliction and
Deliver me on every hand,
I don’t forget Your law to stand.
154 Plead my case and deliver me,
By Your word come and quicken me.
155 Salvation’s far from wicked ones,
They don’t seek out Your statutes’ tons.
156 Great are Your tender mercies, YHWH,
Quicken me by Your judgements’ view.
157 Many are my persecutors,
And my foes in and out of doors,
Yet I don’t swerve from Your law’s scores.
158 I watched transgressors and was grieved,
They didn’t keep Your word received.
159 Consider I love Your precepts,
Quicken me, YHWH, by the concepts
Of Your lovingkindness in stores.
160 Your word is true and from the starts;
Each of Your righteous judgements’ darts
Eternally fulfils its parts.

The way to be saved is presented here,
No frills or statements made that are unclear.
Only You can save humankind to be
The bulwark of the bold as well as free.
But You save them by Your loving mercy
Expressed in Your commandments on the mount.
Along the way some people would recount
Renouncement and the sacrifice of blood
Finds the atonement for mankind in flood.
A simpler way and much more rational
Lies in the words of this Psalm for my sal.
Salvation’s only in the hand divine
Empowered by mercy that You align
With ten commandments still ripe on the tine.

161 SCHIN. Princes have persecuted me
Without cause, but my heart stands free
In awe of Your word. 162 I rejoice
At Your word, as one that finds choice
Treasure. 163 Lying I truly hate,
I love Your law without rebate.
164 Seven times a day I praise You,
For the righteous judgments You do.

I take the two night prayers in firm prostration
To make the sum of seven in oblation.
May praise be Yours, Beloved, both night and day,
Both in the secret chamber and the way,
Along the margin of the new washed road
Where rain is glistening on its quartzite load
And on the coltsfoot blooming, not in leaf.
Praise be to You who are leader in chief
Of robin choirs heard from three-day-old bud
That sanctifies with gold the shining mud.
Praise be to You in nights wrought out in stars,
And in the overcast skies dark with bars,
Along the margin of the shadowy wood,
Praise be to You in everything that’s good.

165 Great peace have those who love Your law,
And nothing shall come clip their claw.
166 YHWH, I have hoped for Your salvation,
And done Your commandments in ration.
167 My soul has kept Your testimonies,
And I love them more than the phonies.
168 I’ve kept Your precepts and Your laws,
For all my ways before You pause.

In the exhilaration of despair,
The peace that comes from Your law being there,
No man neglects Your hope, but finds a share.
Each time I feel the shredding of the claw
Stinging the back and grasping at the paw,
Such doubt fills my soul for the single awe.
Any man can attain the bright and catch,
Go to the market and unlock the latch,
Any man can reveal the power’s ode when
In exultation he rules all the glen.
Nothing shall keep my soul from that fair word
Shown in the thunder and on Sinai stirred
To brighten every darkened pathway from
The fleshpots of old Egypt on the tum.

169 TAU. Let my cry come near before You,
Give me the understanding true,
According to Your word, O YHWH.
170 Let come before You my prayer stirred,
Save me according to Your word.
171 My lips shall surely utter praise,
When You’ve taught me Your statutes’ ways.
172 So my tongue shall speak of Your word,
All Your commandments are averred.
173 Let Your hand help me, for I’ve chosen
Your precepts above cold and frozen.
174 I’ve longed for Your salvation, YHWH,
And Your law is my delight, too.
175 Let my soul live and it shall praise
You while Your judgements help my ways.
176 I’ve gone astray like a lost sheep,
Seek Your servant, I do not sleep
Forgetful of Your law to keep.

Hear me, O Lord, as I finish the prayer
You set on heart of David in the air
Neatly hummed so the bird and beast would share
Each syllable as sweet as they could care.
I speak the words of David once again,
Glad of the clear Gospel, salvation’s den
Heard singly and by hand in this fair place,
Beside the tinkling mercies of Your grace.
On me be the great joke the universe
Uncovers when the pagan chapter’s curse
Rises and flees away, till nothing’s worse,
The soundness of Your simple way to save
Has made me son and lover, bond and slave
On the untrammelled pathway of the brave.

Until I heard the sacred sounds in peal
Sent out from Sinai for the woe and weal,
Help would not have come on my lowered head
Around the chains determination fed.
Long on the earth the human round must go
To strive and sacrifice and make a show.
Nothing of such inventions glints a glow:
Only the divine act can set man free
To know the joys of divine liberty.
Commandments are the portals of the act
Of freedom, all else is illusion’s pact.
Vaunting amid the chains the soul is shed.
Escaped from human action, I am led
To praise You now and ever in its stead.

PSALM 120

A song for pilgrimage.
1 In my distress I cry to YHWH,
And He hears me and keeps in view.
2 Save my soul, YHWH, from lying lips
And from a deceitful tongue’s sips.
3 What shall be given you, what done
To you, false tongue, for what you’ve spun?
4 Sharp arrows of the mighty men
With coals from the broom tree again.
5 Woe’s me that I lived in Meschech,
I dwelt in Kedar’s tents a speck.
6 My soul had long stayed with the one
Who hated peace, Islam when done.
7 I support peace, Islam by name,
But they are all for war and shame.

The conflict of this world is wrought upon
Division between those who rise at dawn
To pray to You and those who would wage war.
Deceit and violence come from that store.
The house of peace faces the house of harb,
Now as in days of David’s pilgrim garb,
And in the days he fled from Israel’s woe
And sought a refuge in Kedar’s clear glow.
The lines of truth united then again
Once more since Abraham and Moses’ lamb.
What son did David leave in Kedar when
He paced back to the kingship of that city
Who sought him best, but never showed him pity?
Ahmed’s son of David and Abraham.

It is a paradox indeed the place
Of Kedar calls an imprecation’s trace,
And the faith that’s called peace is brought to do
Such violence before the worldly crew.
It is a paradox indeed Islam,
That ought to be taken for healing balm,
Is cried aloft for terror’s place with calm
And sanguine hearts in every bugger’s view.
Beloved, though Islam fails to meet the test
Of keeping peace, the blame is not to wrest
From every other that totes gun and claw
In opposition to Your divine law.
Thou shalt not kill is made in every town
To sway before the interests of the crown.

PSALM 121

1 A Song of Pilgrimage.
I’ll lift up my eyes to the hills,
From where my help comes and distils,
2 My help from YHWH, Creator of
The earth beneath and heaven above.

From my hotel roof in the Meccan town
I look toward the mountains bare and brown
And hear again the words great grandma spoke
Read from this Psalm, her favourite to invoke,
And understand with insight keener than
Before I knew the depth of this word’s span.
My pilgrimage begins as I lift high
My eyes to these hills that join with the sky
As witness to the centuries below
Of right and wrong that run and seem to flow
Around the Kaaba. They must stand and see
All things and yet cannot close eye nor flee.
They cannot shed a tear to see the blood,
Nor smile to find Your mercy like a flood.

3 He will not let your foot be moved,
Who keeps you will not sleep reproved.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel
Slumbered not nor into sleep fell.

Indeed, Beloved, I think You kept my feet
Straight in the circle that they wind complete
About the Kaaba on the smooth refrain
Of marble touched with every human stain.
The murmur of the supplications sound
About me as I travel round and round,
No other sound is there, no other touch
Beside the press of crowd and sometimes such
As softly fall from some other bare foot.
Beloved, I follow in the way You put
Before my eyes, nor do I ever sleep,
But that I dream I still that vigil keep
That slowly circles beneath sun and bird
The house that is Your own and of Your word.

5 YHWH is your keeper, YHWH is your
Shade at your right hand, what is more,
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor moon by night. 7 YHWH keeps your way
Preserving you from evil’s sway,
He shall preserve your soul and stay.
8 YHWH shall preserve your going out
Your coming in from this time out,
And even to eternal day.

I come bare-headed to Your famous house,
Beloved, and leave behind the wood and mouse,
The shy creatures of field, the spotted grouse,
And walk beneath the sun with foot and head
Uncovered to the place where You have led.
In truth, I came in winter so the sun
Would not beat on my oldish pate when done,
And found above the Meccan street the shine
Of moon both by daylight and by the vine
Of night-time where the darkened hills in turn
Uncover breasts that in the daylight burn.
The moon shall not strike me, though I may sleep
Uncovered on the rooftop where stars peep.
Both sun and moon follow You as they learn.

PSALM 122

A Song of Pilgrimage, of David.
1 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let’s go into the house of YHWH.”
2 Our feet shall stand inside your free
Gates, O Jerusalem, the true.
3 Jerusalem is built to be
A town of perfect unity.
4 There the tribes go, the tribes of YHWH,
To Israel’s testimony, to
Give thanks unto the name of YHWH.
5 For there are set thrones of judgement,
Thrones of the house of David meant.
6 Pray for Jerusalem’s Islam,
Those who love you shall live in calm.
7 Peace and Islam be in Your walls,
Prosperity in palace stalls.
8 For my brother companions’ sakes
I’ll say now “Shalom in your wakes.”
9 For the house of YHWH Ælohim
Of ours I’ll seek your good to seem.

If Islam truly reigned within the town
Of old Jerusalem without a frown,
There would be no partition and no wall
Dividing Jew and Gentile in the stall.
Instead all nations would bow at the throne
Where David once sat ruler of his own,
And all would praise Your name and all would keep
Your Torah statutes, and no one would weep.
If Islam, that is, peace, truly found room
In old Jerusalem and without doom,
The guarded gates would fall open to prayer
Instead of strife upon the gilded air.
If Islam of Allah met Israel’s God,
You would be one of all upon the sod.

PSALM 123

1 A song of pilgrimage.
To You I lift up my eyes, O
You who live in the heavens’ glow.
2 See, as the eyes of servants watch
The hand of their masters to botch,
As maid looks to her mistress’ hand,
So our eyes upon YHWH to stand,
Our Ælohim, until He grant
Mercy on us in grace to plant.
3 Have mercy on us, YHWH, mercy
On us, for we’re exceedingly
Filled with contempt by all the spree.
4 Our soul indeed is filled with scorn
Of those who were for leisure born,
With the contempt of the proud worn.

I was a man of little honour where
The sweet Christians come fawn upon the fair.
I was a man without glory in share,
I was a mere servant of You and bare.
I was a mere slave till the day that I
Joined with the throng in pilgrimage on sly.
And when I came into the house of God
Beneath the dear hills above Mecca’s sod,
I found I was no longer humble slave
But guest of the great King, Allah the brave.
Look not on me in such contempt, you proud
And craven slanderers beneath the crowd
Of lying witnesses of fear for hope.
I’m pilgrim guest of Allah, above pope.

PSALM 124

1 A song of pilgrimage of David.
Unless YHWH had be on our side,
Now might Israel say to abide;
2 If YHWH had not been for a shield,
When men rose up against us heeled:
3 They would have swallowed us up quick,
When their wrath was kindled and slick.
4 The waters would have covered us,
The stream drowned our souls in the fuss.
5 The proud waters would have flowed over
Our soul and we would have gone rover.
6 Blessed be YHWH who has not cast us
Into their teeth as a prey thus.
7 Our soul escaped just like a bird
Out of the snare of fowlers stirred,
The snare’s broken, and we escape.
8 Our help is in YHWH’s name to drape
The curtain of sky and earth erred.

The hand that saved Israel from Pharaoh’s flood
And laid the Jordan out in sand and mud
For feet to pass in safety from the strand
Of Ammon and Edom to Promised Land,
Can still protect the traveller as he goes
In pilgrimage along the narrow rows.
The hand divine that shadows from the wrath
Of Amorite beneath the mountain path,
That strengthened arm of Moses with his rod,
Still bears the power and mercy of our God.
Beloved, I walk the desert sand and see
The spires of holy cities on the lee,
And hear the call to worship on still air,
A spattering of rain, and then the prayer.

PSALM 125

1 A song of pilgrimage.
Those who trust YHWH, they are just like
A mountain fortress with a spike,
A fortress that is never shaken,
But stays for ever never taken.
2 As the mountains are round about
Jerusalem, so YHWH’s about
His people now and ever more.
3 The wicked one’s rod shall not score
The righteous, lest the righteous lay
Their hand on wickedness to sway.
4 Do good, YHWH, to the good and right
In their hearts daytime and at night.
5 But as for those who turn away
To walk upon a crooked way,
YHWH shall lead them out as they stray
With workers of iniquity,
But upon Israel shall peace be.

With the same joy that travellers felt of old
On seeing towers of Jerusalem bold,
I meet the sights of Mecca and the towers
That gather round the Kaaba in the hours
The feet of millions come to pay their due
Of worship, love, respect, honour to You.
The fortress stands against a curtained sky
To see the lines of pilgrims passing by.
Beloved, I come to Your house as Your guest.
Do not count me among those who divest
Themselves of the right way and turn aside
To idols, crosses, and in false paths ride.
Upon Your people You lay out Your peace,
The faith of Islam in its power’s increase.

1 A song of pilgrimage.
When YHWH reversed captivity
Of Zion, we were in a dream’s spree.
2 Our mouth was filled with laughter then,
Our tongue with singing in the glen:
They said among the heathen clans,
”YHWH has done great things for their plans.”
3 YHWH’s done great things to us for joy.
4 Reverse, YHWH, our prison’s employ
As the streams in the south in scans.
5 Those who sow in tears reap in joy.
6 The one who goes out weeping as
He bears the treasured seeds he has
Will surely come again with song,
Bringing his sheaves with him along.

Beloved, I rarely weep as I go out
To plant my garden at foot of redoubt.
My wife may weep, but that’s because her hip
Is so sore she can hardly run and skip.
But then I rarely plant a thing but flowers,
The foxglove and the poppy in my bowers.
By the same token it is rare I sing
With joy when autumn comes to end the thing.
Beloved, despite the levelling of my ways
And stabilized emotions with rare craze,
I recognize that You do great things in
The silence of the garden’s growth and bin.
I recognize the treasure of the seed
As miracle beyond my own crass need.

PSALM 126

1 A song of pilgrimage.
When YHWH reversed captivity
Of Zion, we were in a dream’s spree.
2 Our mouth was filled with laughter then,
Our tongue with singing in the glen:
They said among the heathen clans,
”YHWH has done great things for their plans.”
3 YHWH’s done great things to us for joy.
4 Reverse, YHWH, our prison’s employ
As the streams in the south in scans.
5 Those who sow in tears reap in joy.
6 The one who goes out weeping as
He bears the treasured seeds he has
Will surely come again with song,
Bringing his sheaves with him along.

Beloved, I rarely weep as I go out
To plant my garden at foot of redoubt.
My wife may weep, but that’s because her hip
Is so sore she can hardly run and skip.
But then I rarely plant a thing but flowers,
The foxglove and the poppy in my bowers.
By the same token it is rare I sing
With joy when autumn comes to end the thing.
Beloved, despite the levelling of my ways
And stabilized emotions with rare craze,
I recognize that You do great things in
The silence of the garden’s growth and bin.
I recognize the treasure of the seed
As miracle beyond my own crass need.



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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