This is a faithful transcription of a 42 letter divine name acristic piyyut that seems to be a request for divine assistance in a time of communal distress. The piyyut appears in Sefer haPeliah, a work composed by a Byzantine Kabbalist in the late 14th or early 15th century. This is very likely the first prayer based on the 42 letter divine name. Prior to this, the 42 letter name appears as the rashei teivot of a sequence of angelic names recorded by the author on the same page of Sefer haPeliah. (A very similar sequence of angelic names appears in a sister tome by the same author, Sefer haQanah.)

Many thanks to R’ Emily Aviva Kapor Mater, Nathan Alcabes, and Nir Krakauer for aiding with the vocalization and translation of this piyyut.

For more on the 42 letter divine name and the piyyutim, including Ana B’Koaḥ, which provide it as an acrostic, please enjoy Ben Newman’s article, here. Rabbi Newman writes:

Sefer Peliah recounts a piyyut which it recommends saying instead of the name itself….It is quite likely, as stated above, that this piyyut in Sefer Peliah is the first instance of a prayer being written based on the name of 42. My research is by no means exhaustive, however, I have not come across a piyyut written based on the name of 42 in any text which predate Sefer Peliah. Now that we have found a probable source for this practice, let us turn briefly to a discussion of the significance of this divine name. In another section of Sefer Peliah it equates every six letter unit with one of the planets. It puts forth the idea that each six letter unit is able to draw extraordinary power to the individual from the planet to which it corresponds:

המ״ב אותיות היוצאים מהם אב״ג ית״ץ ושאר הו׳ שמות תמצאו כל כחות של ז׳ כוכבי לכת איך מתפשטים עליהם הכוחות מכח שם יהו״ה וי״ס ומכח שם בן מ״ב והם ראשי פרקים. וכאשר תחפוש במקרא תמצא לכ״א וא׳ פסוקים מן התורה והם הם ראשי פרקים של הכוחות ויהיו תמיד לעיניך ובהם יודע כל עתיד בשם יהו״ה אדנ״י יתברך ויתעלה:

אב״ג ית״ץ רקיע שבתי שבתי וארצו. ושמטתו ויובל יום אחד. עין ימין. וחיים. ימים. שבת. חודש:
קר״ע שט״ן רקיע צדק. צדק וארצו, ושמטתו ויובל יום שני. עין שמאל, ושלום. ימים. שבת. חודש:
נג״ד יכ״ש רקיע מאדים. מאדים וארצו. ושמטתו ויובל יום ג׳. אוזן ימין. וחכמה. ימים. שבת. חדש:
בט״ר צת״ג רקיע חמה. חמה וארצו. ושמטתו ויובל יום ד׳. אוזן שמאל. וחן. ימים. שבת. חדש:
חק״ב טנ״ע רקיע נוגה. נוגה וארצו. ושמטתו ויובל יום ה׳. נחיר ימין. ועושר. ימים. שבת. חדש:
יג״ל פז״ק רקיע כוכב. כוכב וארצו. ושמטתו ויובל יום ו׳. נחיר שמאל. וזרע. ימים. שבת. חדש:
שק״ו צי״ת רקיע לבנה. לבנה וארצו. ושמטתו. ויובל יום שביעי. פה. וממשלה. ימים. שבת. חדש:^[2] ספר הפליאה – ד״ה המליך אות ת׳ מבג״ד כפר״ת 

It would seem from this passage from Sefer Peliah that the reason recital of the name was considered a dangerous enterprise was because it drew down such extraordinary power. We see here also the division of the name of 42 into 7 six letter words. This theme is continues throughout later literature discussing the meaning of the name. As stated before, this 6 times 7 numerical division is probably the reason that Ana be-Koach came to be recited on Shabbat as well as on the Omer.

Source

“אֱלֹהִים בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל | Elohim b’Yisrael :: A piyyut containing the 42 Letter Name, recorded in Sefer haPeliah” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Nir Krakauer (translation)

Nir Krakauer is a civil engineering professor at City College of New York.

Unknown Author(s)

Sometimes the best we can do in attributing a historical work is to indicate the period and place it was written, the first prayer book it may have been printed in, or the archival collection in which the manuscript was found. We invite the public to help to attribute all works to their original composers. If you know something not mentioned in the commentary offered, please leave a comment or contact us.

Aharon N. Varady (translation)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer translator for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his translations, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot Naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also transcribes prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes for the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

Works of related interest:

 

אֵל בָּרוּךְ | El Barukh :: A piyyut containing the 42 Letter Name, recorded by Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz

אַדִירְיַרוֹן בַהִירְיַרוֹן | Adiryaron Ḅahiryaron, a litany of angelic names associated with the 42 letter name, recorded in Sefer haPeliah

אֶהְיֶה בְּעֵדֶן | Ehyeh b’Aden :: A piyyut containing the 42 Letter Name, in Sefer Ma’avar Yaḇoq (1626)

אַדִירְיַרוֹן בַהִירְיַרוֹן | Adiryaron Ḅahiryaron, a litany of angelic names associated with the 42 letter name, recorded in Sefer haQanah

אֱלֹהִים יִסְעָדֵנוּ | Elohim Yisadenu, a piyyut by Avraham ibn Ezra (trans. Rabbi David Aaron de Sola, 1857)

אָנָּא בְּכֹחַ | Ana b’Khoaḥ, a 42 letter name piyyut with a singing translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

אֱלֹהִים בְּעָלֽוּנוּ | Elohim B’alunu — a seliḥah on the York massacre of 1190 by Joseph ben Asher of Chartres (trans. Isaac Gantwerk Mayer)

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