![the Open Siddur Project [logo]](https://opensiddur.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Open-Siddur-Project-Logo-2016.svg){kind=logo}
תהלים כ״ז | Psalms 27 (translation by Yosef Razin)
Contributed on: 29 Aug 2023 by ❧
Psalms №27 has a very tight thematic structure, with a set of word plays around שיר–מישור–שוררי (straight lines of verse, path, those that line up against me/opponents), צור–צרי–צרי (Rock, those that trap/trouble me, dire straits), and the consonance between צוררי–שוררי. We also get the heavy parallelism and light chiastic structure in the framing, repeated call backs to images and phrases (My Salvation, raising, no fear, God’s Face, being forsook), word play (parents forsake so God is my הורני – the one who instructs me as a parent). There is also the contrasting image of God’s prolonged angry snort vs the shallow exhalation of violence of the lying witnesses. Note too that this is an early example of “words as violence”. The penultimate verse calls back to verse 4, looking upon God’s delightful goodness, and life or the land of the living is compared to the Temple. There is also a fascinating external reference to Moses (and Elijah) being hidden in the cleft of the Rock and from there seeking to see God’s Face. Finally, there is a rather intriguing question about what it means for God to keep us on the straight and narrow path for the sake of those that line up against us. Is God acting on their behalf? Thru them? Is this the classic “antisemitism aids in Jewish unity” argument from three millennia ago or do we walk this path in order to actually save even our opponents in some way. Perhaps צוררי–שוררי is about opponents vs adversaries and praying God will draw a fine line between them from which we will not cross over or stray into. . . .
תהלים כ״ז | Psalms 27, an interpretive translation by Zackary Sholem Berger
Contributed on: 24 Aug 2023 by ❧
This is an interpretive translation of Psalms 27 first published by Zackary Sholem Berger on medium. . . .
תהלים כ״ז | Psalms 27, translated by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer
Contributed on: 30 Aug 2018 by ❧
A translation of Psalms 27 for the season of repentance, by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer. . . .
תהלים כ״ז | Psalms 27 (interpretive translation by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi)
Contributed on: 26 Aug 2017 by ❧
This English translation of Psalms 27 by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l, was first published in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). Versification by Aharon Varady. . . .
תהלים כ״ז | Psalms 27, abridged translation by Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman and Efrat Rotem
Contributed on: 06 Feb 2020 by ❧
Psalms 27, in Hebrew with an abridged translation. . . .
