Commentary for Psalms 119:177

Not only have they committed no injustice They are praiseworthy if all this is in them.

they walked in His ways Although they committed no injustice, their reward is incomplete unless they walked in His ways. And so he says (above 43:15): “Shun evil and do good.” Even though you shun evil, everything is not complete unless you do good. Midrash Aggadah.

My prayers are that my ways should be established Heb. אחלי. The “aleph” is a radical that is sometimes dropped, like the “aleph” in (Job 13:17): “and my speech (ואחותי) in your ears,” and the “aleph” of (II Kings 4:2): “a jug (אסוך) of oil.” My prayers These prayers of mine are that my ways should be established Likewise (II Kings 5:3): “The supplications (אחלי) for my master should be that he go before the prophet who is in Samaria, etc.” The supplications of those who pray should be that he go before the prophet who is in Samaria, and it is an expression of wishes, souhait in French, as a person says, “If only I were a prophet and a sage.”

In my heart I hid I did not allow myself to forget it.

I shall occupy myself Heb. אשתעשע, I shall engage, like (Isa. 17:7): “man shall turn to his Maker”; (Exod. 5:9) “and let them not engage (ישעו) in useless things.”

Bestow kindness upon Your servant A thing with which I shall be able to live, through the bestowal of your kindness.

hidden things from Your Torah Hidden things in it, which are not explained therein.

(from Your Torah) Wonders from the explanations of your Torah which are not explained therein.

I am a stranger in the land for a short time.

do not hide Your commandments from me The hidden ones, so that I should be able to fulfill them, for if not now, when?

is crushed Heb. גרסה. My soul breaks because of longing, as (Lev. 2:14): “crushed kernels (גרשׂ) of the fresh ears.” Menachem (p. 183), however, associated “from longing” (לתאבה) with (Amos 6:8) “I destroy (מתאב) the pride of Jacob,” and both are an expression of breaking.

Remove from me Heb. גל, an expression of rolling, like (Gen. 29:10): “and he rolled (ויגל) the stone.”

talked about me Although the kings of the heathens scorn me because I engage in the Torah.

revive me according to Your word Just as You promised me good, through Nathan the prophet.

I told of my ways to You, [of] my needs and my sin, and You answered me.

My soul drips Heb. דלפה, drips; i.e., it is becoming less and less.

Your judgments I have set I applied myself to your judgments and I clung to your testimony, to choose the way of faith. Therefore, I ask, “Remove from me the way of falsehood.”

and I shall keep it at every step Heb. עקב. I shall keep it in all its paths and the steps of its paths, an expression of “heels” (עקבים), traces in French, footsteps.

Fulfill for Your servant Your word that You promised me.

that is for Your fear That I and my children shall fear Your name, for on that condition You promised me (I Kings 2:4): “if your children take heed in their way, etc.”

Remove my disgrace Forgive me for that sin [with Bath-sheba], and my enemies will no longer be able to disgrace me with it.

for Your judgments are good and I already accept upon myself “to repay the ewe-lamb fourfold.”

And may...befall me May Your salvation befall me according to Your word which You promised me.

And do not take...from my mouth a word of truth Heb. תצל. Do not separate from my mouth a word of truth, as (Gen. 31:9): “And God separated (ויצל) your father’s property and gave it to me.” I found this.

utterly...a word of truth in all my instructions [regarding ritual law] and in all my legal decisions, that I should not stumble over them.

And I shall walk in widely accepted ways in the halachah that is widely accepted and widespread in Israel.

Remember a word through which You gave me hope, through Nathan the prophet to your servant.

Your judgments of old that You bring sufferings and You repent of your anger and forgive. Therefore, I was consoled.

At night I remembered At a time of distress and darkness.

This came to me A crown that fits me [was given] to me as a testimony and to my children who are fit to reign, as a reward for my having kept Your precepts. So did the Sages of Israel explain it. I found this:

to keep Your words the fulfillment of your words, with which You gave me hope, in that You are my portion.

I entreated You Heb. חליתי, from the expression of (Lam. 3:24): “‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul; ‘therefore, I will hope (אוחיל) to Him.’”

I considered my ways The loss of a commandment as compared to its gain, and the gain of a transgression as compared to its loss. Therefore, “I returned my feet to Your testimonies,” because I saw that it [Your way] is the best of all of them.

Bands of wicked men robbed me Heb. עודני. Bands of wicked men plundered me, like (Gen. 49: 27): “in the morning he will eat plunder (עד).” In this manner, Menachem (p. 131) associated it. It may also be interpreted as an expression of עוֹד, more, i.e., increased and outnumbered me.

Before I recited to You about Your commandments, before I uttered them in the study halls, I erred in them and sinned. But now that I have recited them, I kept your Torah, for study teaches me to turn away from sin: therefore, I beg of You, “Teach me the best of reason and knowledge.”

I recited Heb. אענה, an expression of studying and reciting in the study hall, like (verse 172): “My tongue will utter (תען) Your word.” Similarly (Mal. 2:12): “From the man who commits it, the Lord shall cut off one of acuity or erudition (ועונה) from the tents of Jacob.” An ingenious one among the sages, and one who can answer among the students.

Willful sinners have heaped false accusations upon me Heb. טפלו, they joined upon me, and similarly (Job 14:17): “and You have attached Yourself (ותטפל) to my iniquity.”

It is good for me that I was afflicted That I was chastised and afflicted in order that I repent of the evil way and keep Your statutes. In other commentaries I found the following: It is good for me that I was afflicted, etc. It appeared good to me when I suffered privations in order to learn Your statutes, when I learned the Torah in pain.

Those who fear You will see me in prosperity and rejoice, because what was bestowed upon me will be bestowed upon them, for I am among those who fear You, and I hoped for Your word.

in faith You afflicted me With justice, You afflicted me.

for they condemned me falsely For no reason they condemned me. (I found:) I say that this deals with the embarrassment [of David] when they would say to him, “If one is intimate with a married woman, with what [method] is his death penalty?” when he [David] had not sinned.

May those who fear You...return to me For the Sanhedrin separated from him when he became a mezora because of that iniquity [with Bath-sheba]. Even if she was divorced, whoever puts his eyes on her, anyone who touches her, will not be guiltless.

pines Heb. כלתה, desires.

My eyes pine Heb. כלו, lit. fail. My eyes look constantly until they fail.

like a wineskin in smoke Like a flask of skin that dries in smoke.

When will You execute that I might see it in my days.

Willful sinners have dug pits for me Those who come to disqualify me do not do so according to the Torah.

All Your commandments are faithful A Moabite and not a Moabitess; but they pursue [me] to prohibit me [from entering the congregation of the Lord].

they pursued me in vain My enemies pursued me in vain.

They almost destroyed me I was on the earth as nothing, but I stood with my strength. Likewise (verse 95): “Concerning me, the wicked hoped to destroy me” from entering the congregation, and so (above 116:16): “You loosed my thongs.”

or every finite thing, etc. to search them and to debate about them.

Of every finite thing To every conclusion of a thing there is an end and a boundary, but Your commandments have no end or boundary to their conclusion.

Each of Your commandments makes me wiser than my enemies Concerning Doeg and Ahithophel they [the Rabbis] said that their final conclusions did not agree with adopted practice. The secret of the Torah is in my hands forever, for I gained understanding from all my teachers; I learned a little from this one and I learned a little from that one (after I learned from my distinguished teacher).

are my conversation All my conversation was about them.

I restrained my feet Heb. כלאתי, I restrained, as (I Sam. 25:33): “who have restrained me (כלתני) this day from coming into bloodshed.”

Your words are a lamp for my foot When I come to promulgate a decision of law, I look in the Torah and it separates me from [transgressing] the prohibition, like a lamp which saves a man from [falling into] the pits.

I have been... humbled Heb. נעניתי, I have been made poor and humble, like (Exod. 10): “to humble Yourself from before Me”; (Hos. 5:5), “And the pride of Israel shall be humbled before them,” which Jonathan renders: וימאךְ. And a poor man is accounted as dead. Therefore, revive me according to Your words.

I have been...humbled Heb. נעניתי. This is a sickness that deranges the mind, and it is called עֲוִית convulsion, in the language of the Mishnah (Chul. 60b).

The freewill offering of my mouth Words of appeasement that my mouth offers You. Every נדבה, is an expression of appeasement.

My soul is constantly in my hand I have very often been in serious danger, close to death, but nonetheless, I have not forgotten Your Torah (following the pattern of “Whoever has a headache should engage in the Torah”).

forever on their paths On their paths and their roads.

I hate those who harbor iniquitous thoughts Those who think thoughts of iniquity, like (Job 20: 2): “Therefore, my thoughts (סעפי) answer me”; (I Kings 18:21), “between two ideas (הסעפים).” When you read סְעִפִים, it concerns the thought, but when you read סֵעֲפִים, the language refers to those who think it.

and I shall constantly engage in Your statutes Heb. ואשעה, and I shall engage, like (Exod. 5: 9): “and let them not engage (ישעו) in useless things.” Another explanation: [It is] an expression of telling and reciting, as we translate (Deut. 28:37): “and a recitation (ולשועין).”

You trampled Heb. סלית, You trampled; You made them a thing trampled on, like (Lam. 1: 15): “The Lord trampled (סלה) all my mighty men.”

bristles Heb. סמר, like (Job 4:15): “it made the hair of my flesh stand on end (מסמר),” as a person whose hair stands on end, harizer in Old French, se herisser in modern French, to bristle.

and I dread Your judgments The retribution for Your decrees.

Be surety Heb. ערב, garantis in French, to vouch for. Be a guarantor for me against the evil (i.e., be a guarantor that I keep Your precepts).

and for the word of Your righteousness The promise that You promised me.

A time to do for the Lord, etc. This goes back to the verse preceding it: Enable me to understand, and I shall know Your testimonies, to know a time to do for Your name. What should they do, those who made Your Torah void, to find good will and forgiveness, and that You should be found by them, and I will do so for every transgression that I have committed. Our Rabbis, however, derived from it [from this verse] that we may transgress the words of the Torah in order to make a fence and a wall [a safeguard] for Israel, e.g. Gideon and Elijah on Mount Carmel, who sacrificed on high places (Ber. 63a). I saw [it] further expounded upon in the Aggadah (Yerushalmi Ber. 9:4, Mid. Sam 1:1) as meaning: A person who is idle and leisurely, who devotes [only occasional] times to his Torah, makes void the covenant, for an idle person must toil in the Torah all hours of the day.

Because I loved Heb. על-כן. Because I loved Your commandments, it is fitting that You teach me a time of good will, and what I should do for You that You should accept me. There are many [instances of] על-כן that are to be interpreted as “because”; e.g., (Gen. 33:10): “because (כי על-כן) I have seen your face”; (Num. 10:33). “because (כי על-כן) you know our encampment”; (Isa. 15: 7), “Because of (כי על-כן) the many things they did.”

Because I considered all precepts of all things upright All precepts, everything that You commanded in your Torah.

I considered upright Heb. ישרתי. They were upright in my eyes, and I said about them that they are upright. Because of this, I deserve that You forgive me and favor me.

Your testimonies are hidden They are covered, and your testimonies are hidden from the sons of men. There are easy commandments for which He gave a large reward, such as sending away the nest.

therefore, my soul kept them All of them, because it is not known which is better.

The commencement of Your words enlightens The beginning of your words enlightened the heart of Israel, that You understated the simple, by Your statement (Exod. 20:2): “I am...Who took you out.” You let them know the favor that You did for them—that You acquired them from the house of bondageto know that You are their Master, and they should accept Your kingdom upon themselves. (Exod. 20:3): “You shall not have another god, etc.” and afterwards You made Your decrees (Cf. Mechilta ad loc.). Another explanation: The commencement of Your words enlightens The beginning of Your words in the Creation was (Gen. 1:3): “Let there be light.”

You make the simple understand From there, everyone will understand and will commence with words of Torah. Tanchuma (Vayakhel 6).

and panted Heb. ואשאפה, an expression of swallowing, as (Jer. 2:24): “snuffs up (שאפה) the wind.”

Redeem me from the oppression of man From the evil inclination, which oppresses the people (from the good path—Parshandatha). In other commentaries I found: Redeem me from the oppression of man Redeem me so that no man oppress me.

My zeal incenses me Heb. קנאתי. The zeal with which I am zealous for Your name against those who forget Your words, cuts me and incenses me against them.

I am young and despised As it is stated (I Sam. 17:14): “And David was the youngest.” I am despised to the extent that I humble myself beside those who engage in the Torah, to learn, for I have not forgotten Your precepts; [nor have I refrained] from searching and debating with them about Your righteousness that is within them [the precepts], which is righteousness and truth to eternity; and even though troubles have befallen me, they were my occupation. And forever enable me to understand their righteousness and I shall live by them (Deut. 30:20): “for it [the Torah] is your life and the length of your days.”

and I shall keep (The acronym of, עֵדְוֹתֶיךָ is דמה בן פֶרֶץ ; the “vav” is vowelized with a “holam,” but in the other instances, it is עֵדֹתֶיךָ ; the “daleth” is vowelized with a “holam.”)

watches Half the night, two watches, and according to one who says that the night consists of three watches, David would rise from bed at the first third of the night and engage in Torah until midnight, as it is said: “to speak of Your word.” From midnight on, he would engage in songs and praises, as it is said (verse 62): “At midnight, I rise to give thanks to You.”

Pursuers of lewdness have drawn near a counsel of sins. They follow the counsel of their sins and distance themselves from your Torah to draw near to the counsel of their evil.

You are near to these faraway people, who distance themselves from Your Torah, if they repent of their way.

From before, I knew from Your testimonies Before the thing came about, I knew it from Your testimonies. Before they inherited the land, You commanded them about the first fruits, heave offerings, and tithes, and before You gave them rest from their enemies, You commanded them (Deut. 25:19): “And it will be, when the Lord Your God gives you rest, etc.” to appoint a king, to annihilate Amalek, and to build the Temple.

to the world For You established Your testimonies concerning all things destined to be until the end of the world.

The beginning of Your word is true And the end of Your word is not true? Rather, the end of Your word proves that the beginning of Your word is true. For, when the nations heard, “I am the Lord your God,” and “You shall not have [another god],” and “You shall not take, etc.,” they said, “Everything is for His benefit and for His glory.” As soon as they heard, “Honor, etc.; You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery,” they admitted [that they had erred] about the beginning of Your word, that it is true.

I rejoice over Your word Over Your promise that You promised me. Another explanation: Over one of Your enigmatic statements, when I understand it. Our Rabbis, however, interpreted it as referring to circumcision, for [when] David was in the bathhouse and saw himself without zizith, without tefillin, and without Torah, he said, “Woe is to me, for I am naked of all commandments.” As soon as he thought of the circumcision, he rejoiced and said when he emerged (from the bathhouse), “I rejoice over Your word.” [This refers to] circumcision, which was first given with a saying (אמירה), and not with speaking (דיבור), as it is said (Gen. 17:9): “And God said (ויאמר) to Abraham, ‘And you shall keep My covenant.’”

Seven times a day In the morning, twice before the reading of “Shema” and once after it, and in the evening, twice before it and twice after it.

for Your righteous judgments For the reading of the Shema, which consists of words of Torah.

for all my ways are before You You know all my ways.

according to Your word, enable me to understand the words of Your Torah; according to their law and in the order in which they stand.

will utter will speak.

My tongue will proclaim Heb. תען. Every [expression of] עַנִיָה is an expression of a loud voice, and the “father” of them all is (Deut. 27:14): “And the Levites shall proclaim (וענו) and say [to all Israel with a loud voice].”