Commentary for Psalms 5:16

on nehiloth Menachem interpreted all of them: nehiloth, alamoth, gittith, jeduthun, that they are all names of musical instruments, and the melody of the psalm was according to the melody fit for that instrument. However, [in the] Midrash Aggadah (Mid. Ps. 5:1,2,4) some explain “nehiloth” as an expression of heritage, but that is not the meaning of the word; moreover, the contents of the psalm do not deal with heritage. It is, however, possible to interpret נחלות as troops, like “a swarm (נחיל) of bees,” (Bava Kamma 114a, 81b), and like (II Sam. 22:5), “Bands (נחלי) of scoundrels would affright me,” which Jonathan renders: Bands (סיען) of sinners. [This is] a prayer concerning the bands of the enemies that come upon Israel, and the Psalmist recited this psalm on behalf of all Israel.

For the Chief Musician: To the Nehiloth. A Psalm of David. – I have already explained the meaning of the Nehiloth and other kinds of music in the previous Psalm. Our teacher Hai, of blessed memory, explained the word (nehiloth) from the expression nehil (נהיל), (meaning) "a swarm" of bees, in the words of our sages of blessed memory (Mishnah, Baba Kamma 10:2). He means that its music was like the buzzing of bees. This Psalm is also likewise directed against David's enemies, those in Israel who were ill-disposed to him. Our rabbis of blessed memory have said (Midrash, Shoher Tob, ad loc.) that he uttered it against his adversaries Doeg and Ahithophel.

Give ear to my words, O Lord when I have strength to ask before You and, when I have no strength to pray before You and the worry is confined to my heart...consider my meditation Heb. בינה. Consider the meditation of my heart. So it is explained in Midrash [Psalms 5:6]: In every [instance of] בינה in Scripture, the accent is under the “nun,” except this one and its fellow (in Job 34: 16): “And if you wish, understand (בִּנָה), hearken to this,” which is not a noun but an expression of “understand,” like (Prov. 23:1): “you should understand well (בין תבין) who is in front of you.” Therefore, the accent is under the “beth.”

Give ear to my words, O Lord, Consider my meditation: – Give ear to what I utter with my mouth and consider what I meditate in my heart. Therefore he uses the word consider with meditation, and give ear to with my words. He uses (the term) הגיגי ("my meditation"), which is derived from הגה by doubling the second radical, just as (in the verse) "for the lightning (חזיז) of the thunder" (Job 38:25), (where חזיז is derived) from חזה.

Hearken unto the voice of my cry: – Make thine ear attentive, for the verb (הקשׁיבה) is transitive. And so it is written (Prov. 2:2): " to incline (להקשׁיב) thine ear unto wisdom"; "Thou wilt make attentive thine ear" (Ps. 10:17). The word is connected with (the prepositions) ל, אל, and ב; and sometimes it is (used) without any connecting letter (at all), as ואשׁמע הקשבתי , "I hearkened and heard" (Jer. 8:6);מי הקשׁיב דברו, "Who hath hearkened to his word? " (ibid, 23:17).

my King: – for Thou art a king over me, and I cry unto Thee as men cry unto the king.

and my God (Judge) – art Thou, for Thou art my Judge and shalt save me from those who do me evil.

For unto Thee do I pray: – and not to another, a deliverer, for there is none beside Thee.

in the morning You shall hearken to my voice In the morning, I call out to You about them, because it is a time of judgment for the wicked, as it is stated (below 101:8): “Morning by morning will I destroy all the wicked of the land”; (Isa: 33:2), “Be their arm every morning”; (ibid. 28:19), “for every morning it shall pass.”

O Lord, in the morning shalt Thou hear my voice: – for in the morning is the time for prayer, before a man engages himself in the business of the world.

in the morning I shall arrange to You my prayer concerning this. [The word]: אערך is an expression of arrangement (מערכה). Menachem (p. 138) classifies it in this manner.

In the morning will I order unto Thee – my prayer

and I shall look forward that You execute justice upon them.

and will keep watch: – and I will wait for Thee to grant me my request and petition.

For You are not a God Who desires wickedness Therefore, I arrange my prayer to You in the morning (appears only in certain editions) and it befits You to destroy wickedness from the world.

For Thou art not a God that hast pleasure in wickedness: – Why should I watch for Thee? Because I know that Thou wilt have no pleasure in the wicked; if so, Thou wilt have no pleasure in my enemies, for they are evil men, and I am watching for Thee to save me from them; for Thou wilt have pleasure in me and not in them.

evil does not abide with You Heb. יגרך, it will not abide beside You.

There shall not sojourn (with) Thee: – where לא יגרך is equivalent to עמך יגור לא; and so (in the verse) כאב גדלגי (" He grew up with me as a father"), where גדלני is equivalent to גדל עמי; and (there are) many such cases.

Evil: – i.e. an evil man. Or evil may (here) be a substantive equivalent to "wickedness," which he has just mentioned.

Confused people who make themselves man, and in the language of the Mishnah, מערבבין, confused.

(Mad) fools (הוללים) shall not stand before Thine eyes: – The significance of הוללים is sometimes that of folly, as (in the passages) "And he played the fool in their hands" (1 Sam. 21:14); "I said it is foolish" (Eccles. 2:2); and sometimes it is used with the significance of wickedness, as (in the passage) "mischievous madness" (הוללות) (ibid. 10:13), and similar instances. And in this sense (is the clause to be taken here)-(Mad) fools shall not stand before Thine eyes, as he proceeds to say

Thou hatest all workers of iniquity: – nevertheless a single class contains them all, for wickedness is not of the way of knowledge and wisdom. And the interpretation of before Thine eyes (is): like a man who hates another and is unwilling to look him in the face.

a man of blood and deceit This [refers to] Esau and his descendants.

Thou shalt destroy them that speak lies: – Thou shalt destroy them from before Thee, and so

The bloodthirsty and deceitful man doth the Lord abhor: – for they are abhorred and despised in His eyes. And such is the idiom of the language, to speak at one time directly and at another indirectly.

I...shall enter Your House to thank You for Your great loving-kindness that You have wondrously bestowed upon us, to grant us revenge upon them.

But as for me, in the multitude of Thy loving - kindness – they are despised in Thine eyes, but as for me, I will take my stand in Thy sight and before Thee.

I will come into Thine House: – in the multitude of Thy loving-kindness which I hope for from Thee.

In Thy fear will I worship toward Thy holy Temple – which is before me. And the interpretation of toward (Thy) temple (is): because the worshipper of God makes the Temple and the Holy Place (the object) of his longing desire, and worships God as though before it. And the interpretation of Thine House and Thy holy Temple (is): the House which contained the Ark.

those who lie in wait for me Heb. שוררי, those who look after me, who look forward to my betraying You, so that You should forsake me. [The word] שוררי is like (Num. 24:17): “I behold it (אשורינו), but it is not near.”

Lead me, O Lord, in Thy righteousness: – This is my prayer unto Thee, that Thou shouldest lead me in Thy righteousness, meaning that Thou shouldest help me to go in the way of righteousness and justice, and lead me in it so that I may not stumble.

Because of my watchful foes: – That they may not be able to rejoice over me through my stumbling, make straight Thy way before my face. And my watchful foes (שׁררי) – is the equivalent of "my enemies," and is derived from (the verb) " I spy him (אשׁורנו), but not nigh" (Num. 24:17), because he is looking for evil, as (in the verse) "Saul eyed David" (1 Sam. 18:9). And this prayer is that He (God) should deliver him from faults and from deliberate sins, as he says (in the verses Ps. 19:13, 14): "Clear me from hidden (faults); moreover, from deliberate sins restrain Thy servant."

Make Thy way plain before my face: – הישׁר ("make plain") has the yodh of the first radical pronounced, unlike verbs in which the first radical is quiescent; and a similar case to it is אתך היצא ("Bring forth with thee," Gen. 8:17). And Kethib has waw on the analogy of verbs with the first radical quiescent; and so with the pathah of the second radical (הושר הישַׁר), as also (in the verse): "Cause Thy mighty ones to come down (המחת), O Lord" (Joel 4:11).

For there is no sincerity in his mouth They appear as friends but they are enemies.

For there is nothing straightforward in his mouth: – That is the reason why he says because of my watchful foes, for they are men of such a kind that there is no straightforwardness in the mouth (even) of one of them, but they make themselves appear to be friends.

there is malice in their heart Their thoughts are deceitful.

Their inward part is very wickedness: – meaning they are devising evil in their heart.

their throat is an open grave to swallow others’ toil, like a grave that swallows up the body.

An open sepulchre is their throat; – They make smooth their tongue: – for he who is not on his guard against them and listens to them when they make smooth their tongue and flatter and appear as friends will fall into their pit (sepulchre); and this is the intention of their heart, which is for evil. And he attributes (the uttering of) words to the throat, as (in the passage): "Let the high praises of God be in their throat" (Ps. 149:6), for some letters are pronounced in the throat. Further, all speech has its beginning from the throat, for the voice proceeds from the throat and makes speech possible to the mouth. Moreover, because the throat is open to the inside, which he compares to a sepulchre, he says their throat. And the word נכונה (straightforwardness) is a feminine adjective, but the substantive is wanting, and we must supply (in thought) אמרה ("utterance") or דברה ("word"); and so "his meat (m.) is fat" [בראה fem., i.e. "a fat thing," Hab. 1:16]: "like a flock (of ewes) that are shorn " [lit. "of the shorn ones," הקצובות, Cant. 4:2]; "he answereth roughly" [lit. "rough things," עזות; Prov. 18:23]; and similar passages.

they make their tongue smooth with words of flattery.

by their own counsels which they formulate against Israel. Then all who take shelter in You shall rejoice.

Make them miss the mark (האשימם), O God: – There are some who interpret this from the meaning of שממה ("desolation"), and (make) אשׁם and שמם of one meaning. But it is admissible to explain it in the (primary) sense of אשׁם; and its interpretation (will then be): Make them miss the mark in their counsel, meaning, Let not what they purposed to do against me be possible or happen. And it occurs (here) in the sense of אשם taken as equivalent to הטא, as in יחטא ולא ("And would not miss the mark," Judges 20:16). And this is what (he means when) he says:

Let them fall from their counsels: In the multitude of their transgressions thrust them out, for they have rebelled against Thee – - in that they hate me, and Thou hast commissioned me to be king, and they have rebelled against Thy words. (The word) מרו (they have rebelled) is here used in the same sense as in " Ye have rebelled (מריתם) against My word" (Num. 27:14).

and You shall shelter them You shall shield and shelter them.

So shall all those that put their trust in Thee rejoice; They shall ever ring out their joy – just the opposite of the enemies, who do not trust in Thee; and when Thou shalt thrust them out those who trust in Thee shall rejoice. And the sense of

exult in You when they see that You bless the righteous man, Jacob, and his seed.

and Thou shalt defend them (is): – that Thou wilt be over them as a tent, so that the enemy shall not harm them.

Yea, let those that love Thy name he joyful in Thee: – The 'ayin (of וְיַעְלְצוּ) and the lamed are pointed with sheva.

like a shield which encompasses a man from three sides.

For Thou shalt bless the righteous, O Lord: – Then shall they rejoice in Thee when Thou dost bless the righteous and thrust out the wicked.

will satisfaction, apayement in Old French; appeasement, kindness, peace of heart.

Thou shalt compass him with favour as with a shield: – As with a shield which compasses a man round about, so wilt Thou compass the righteous with Thy favour. The word תעטרנו ("Thou shalt compass him") is the Kal conjugation (as עוֹטְרִים in the passage "compassing David and his men" 1 Sam. 23:26).

You shall encompass him תעטרנו, You shall encompass him (in Sam. 23:26): “but Saul and his men were encircling (עוטרים) David and his men.”