26
votes
Did King David's parents abandon him? (Psalm 27)
I Samuel 16:11 and Psalms 118:22 imply that David was a rejected child in his family.
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר שְׁמוּאֵ֣ל אֶל־יִשַׁי֮ הֲתַ֣מּוּ הַנְּעָרִים֒ וַיֹּ֗אמֶר ע֚וֹד שָׁאַ֣ר הַקָּטָ֔ן וְהִנֵּ֥ה רֹעֶ֖ה ...
- 19.6k
15
votes
Location of Dead Sea Scroll with Psalm 22 verse 17 - They pierced my hands and my feet
Tehillim 22:17 (17 is the counting in Jewish editions) in the Masoretic text reads:
יז כִּי סְבָבוּנִי כְּלָבִים עֲדַת מְרֵעִים הִקִּיפוּנִי כָּאֲרִי
יָדַי וְרַגְלָי
17 For dogs have ...
- 42.9k
14
votes
Did King David's parents abandon him? (Psalm 27)
The Ibn Ezra says that the author is referring to the fact that his parents abandon him in their death,
עזבוני במותם, ואתה אספתני תמיד
Whereas the Malbim says that it has to do with David's ...
- 37.8k
13
votes
Why is sleep spelled with an aleph in Tehillim 127?
Note: As Michlol Yofi points out, there are a few other words in Tanach spelled with an Alef instead of a Heh or a Vav. For example: זרא, מרא, כלא.
As @Double AA wrote, Minchat Shai on the pasuk ...
- 24.8k
12
votes
Accepted
Psalm 41:10 Who is King David's friend who lifted his heel against him?
2 Samuel 15:12 "And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counsellor, from his city, from Giloh, as he offered the sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong, and the people with ...
- 10.7k
11
votes
How does the moon cause harm? Tehillim 121:6
The Idea in Brief
The verse is not speaking about any harm from the sun (or even the moon), but instead speaks to harm that occurs night and day; in this respect, the psalmist speaks to divine ...
- 1,590
10
votes
Accepted
Why do yekkes say Shir Mizmor Le'Osof each morning?
In the siddur Sefas Yisroel from OpenSiddur it is written:
שיר מזמור לאסף has been recited since the end of the Geonic period - a few hundred years before the introduction of the שיר של יום. Its ...
- 7,434
10
votes
Tehillim 119 -- what vav's to pronounce
The trick here (if the dot-above-the-Vav's location is ambiguous) is that if the Vav is a mater lectionis, then it is serving as the vowel for the previous letter. Thus if the previous letter has a ...
- 97.3k
10
votes
What is the source that says David wrote Psalms / Tehillim while hiding from Saul
Tehillim 54
לַמְנַצֵּ֥חַ בִּנְגִינֹ֗ת מַשְׂכִּ֥יל לְדָוִֽד׃
For the leader; with instrumental music. A maskil of David,
בְּב֣וֹא הַ֭זִּיפִים וַיֹּאמְר֣וּ לְשָׁא֑וּל הֲלֹ֥א דָ֝וִ֗ד מִסְתַּתֵּ֥ר ...
- 1,827
9
votes
Was Psalm 29 derived from Canaanite sources?
Samuel Sandmel popularized the term "parallelomania": extrapolating from the fact that two passages have some resemblance that they must have a literary connection, or that one was ...
- 24k
9
votes
Accepted
What is the history behind ascribing a heading to each of the Psalms?
Yes, these headings appear in Hebrew manuscripts. Here are two of the most famous manuscripts with the heading for your psalm: למנצח אל־תשחת לדוד מכתם בשלח שאול וישמרו את־הבית להמיתו.
Leningrad Codex ...
- 9,777
8
votes
Accepted
Tehilim 51, "in sin did his mother conceive him", What does that mean?
Rav Sa'adya Gaon explains in his commentary to Psalms (51:7) that David was not making a statement about the state of Man. Rather, he was speaking personally; that he was so ashamed, that he felt as ...
- 35.4k
8
votes
Did King David's parents abandon him? (Psalm 27)
While the sources cited by rosends refer to an "abandonment" which might occur at some point during a persons life, but which could possibly be avoided in particular circumstances, Rashi suggests that ...
- 81
8
votes
Who are the bene elim?
There are several opinions:
Rashi - They are to be understood as "שרים" - officers
Ibn Ezra - they are "כוכבים" - stars
The Targum draws the same conclusion as you that they ...
- 30.2k
7
votes
Accepted
Tehillim (Psalms) 27:2 -- Is it כָּשְׁלוּ or כָשְׁלוּ?
The Aleppo, Leningrad, and Damascus Codices all have it Rafeh. Even the original Bomberg Mikraot Gedolot has it Rafeh! Minchat Shai ad loc. comments that it should be Rafeh. I did find that the Codex ...
- 97.3k
7
votes
What is the shir shel yom for Rosh Hodesh Tevet according to the tradition of the GR"A?
Maaseh Rav 157 (a work documenting the practices of the Vilna Gaon) records the answer according to the tradition you ask about:
אין אומרים שיר של יום של יומו ואומרים במקומו בב' ימים דר"ח ברכי נפשי ...
- 97.3k
7
votes
Accepted
Tehillim 119 -- what vav's to pronounce
The siman for this is דמ"ה ב"ן פר"ץ, where those are the letter-groups of verses in which the word is pronounced Eidvosecha. (An exception is verse 138, among the צ verses; it works for ...
- 7,781
7
votes
Accepted
Layout of Shirim in Tanakh
Yes that's the official layout structure when formally writing a scroll. See Masekhet Sofrim 13:1.
Haazinu, Tehillim, Mishlei, most of Iyov, and the Song of David in Samuel are written in a split ...
- 97.3k
7
votes
In Psalm 105:39 why is the cloud said to "cover" rather than "precede" the people?
Rashi to Numbers 10:34:
Seven times is the word ענן used in the account of their journeys alluding to four clouds which screened them on all four sides, one that was above them, one beneath their ...
- 41.8k
7
votes
Looking for more details about the other authors of Tehilim: Malki Tzedek, Heiman, Yeduthun and Assaf
Malki-tzedek:
Malki-tzedek isn't explicitly mentioned in Psalms as authoring one of the psalms, but he is mentioned in psalm 110. There are different views on who Malki-tzedek of tehillim was. ...
- 24.8k
7
votes
Accepted
Refs for Ps. 119 being called "Alfa-Bita" and "Temanya Apin"?
Psalm 119 is referred to as temanya apin in Berachot 4b:
אִילֵּימָא מִשּׁוּם דְּאָתְיָא בְּאָלֶף בֵּית, נֵימָא ״אַשְׁרֵי תְמִימֵי דָרֶךְ״ דְּאָתְיָא בִּתְמָנְיָא אַפִּין
It is referred to as alfa ...
- 41.8k
7
votes
Accepted
Question about Shmuel 1:11:11 and Tehillim 83:8
The Radak makes your point in Divrei Hayamim to suggest that the Amonim are a different nation than the B'nei Amonim. In the story in Shmuel, they are referred to as Amonim throughout, not B'nei Amon, ...
- 8,045
7
votes
Accepted
Based on Tehillim 92, would playing נֶבֶל not violate Shabbat?
Partial answer:
Taking into account that this was the Shir Shel Yom of Shabbat, the gemara in Sukkah 51a states:
"However, with regard to the song that the Levites sang accompanying an offering, ...
- 24.8k
7
votes
Accepted
What are the "19 Sections" of the Book of Psalms in the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia?
The sedarim are divisions of the Tanakh into smaller chunks (remember: chapter breaks are medieval Christian creations). For the Prophets and Writings, these are commonly understood to be a study ...
- 9,777
6
votes
Accepted
Why is "we" mentioned twice in the English translation of Ps. 20:8?
Here's a more colloquial translation of what they're trying to accomplish:
Some rely on their chariots, and some on their horses, but as for us? We call out in the name of God!
(There is no double-...
- 131k
6
votes
Unusual spelling of Joseph's name
The gemara in sotah 10b says it is because he was מקדש שם שמים בסתר by not falling for אשת פוטיפר.
The context can be understood as referring to יוסף's time in Egypt and hence this is an appropriate ...
- 3,280
6
votes
What is the 'ten stringed' instrument in Psalm 33, Psalm 92 and Psalm 144?
See this:
HARP (në'-vël) [H5035] 1. an ancient string instrument of ten strings
used to accompany the voice. Standing almost three feet tall, the harp
had of two sets of strings (five on each ...
- 70k
6
votes
Accepted
Koren Siddur on Kal Atzmotai Tomarna
Newer editions of the Koren Tanach also mark kamatz katan, and they agree with the siddur and mark this one as kamatz katan as well. Here's what they have to say about it in the back:
באותו אופן ...
- 9,116
5
votes
Accepted
Torah out of order and the resurrection
In the Yalkut Shimoni on Tehillim 625.1 Rebbe Elazar says this:
א"ר אלעזר לא נתנו פרשיות התורה על הסדר שאלמלי נתנו על הסדר כל מי שהיה קורא בהן היה יכול להחיות מתים ולעשות מופתים לפיכך נתעלם סדורה ...
- 4,988
5
votes
When did David Hamelech write Tehillim?
David HaMelech wasn't the sole author of psalms — the earliest mention of someone reciting psalms is found in bava batra 14b (on the bottom); which says that king David compiled psalms from a number ...
- 1,135
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