תהלים קכ | Psalms 120, an "up song" (shir la-ma'alot) translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi
Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=53011
open_content_license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license date_src_start: -1000-00-00 date_src_end: -0400-00-00 languages_meta: [{"name":"English","code":"eng","standard":"ISO 639-3"},{"name":"Hebrew","code":"heb","standard":"ISO 639-3"}] scripts_meta: [{"name":"Latin","code":"Latn","standard":"ISO 15924"},{"name":"Hebrew (Ktav Ashuri)","code":"Hebr","standard":"ISO 15924"}] Date: 2023-10-11
Last Updated: 2025-04-11
Categories: Tehilim Book 5 (Psalms 107–150)
Tags: apotropaic prayers of protection, devotional interpretation, interpretive translation, Psalms 121, שיר Shir
Excerpt: Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi's translation of Psalms 120 was first published in Psalms in a Translation for Praying (Alliance for Jewish Renewal, Philadelphia: 2014), p. 214. . . .
Content:
| Source (Hebrew) |
Translation (English) |
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שִׁיר לַמַּעֲלוֹת
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An up song
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אֶל־יְהֹוָה בַּצָּרָתָה
לִּי קָרָאתִי
וַיַּעֲנֵנִי׃
|
In my misery
I called to You, YaH
and You answered me
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יְהֹוָה הַצִּילָה נַפְשִׁי
מִשְּׂפַת־שֶׁקֶר
מִלָּשׁוֹן
רְמִיָּה׃
|
So now, too, I cry—
YaH, rescue my life!
A web of lies,
false reports,
defame me.
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מַה־יִּתֵּן לְךָ וּמַה־יֹּסִיף לָךְ לָשׁוֹן רְמִיָּה׃
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חִצֵּי גִבּוֹר שְׁנוּנִים
עִם גַּחֲלֵי רְתָמִים׃
|
They hurt like piercing arrows,
as if they were tipped
with blazing cinders—
searing, where it hurts the most.
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אוֹיָה־לִי כִּי־גַרְתִּי מֶשֶׁךְ שָׁכַנְתִּי עִם־אׇהֳלֵי קֵדָר׃
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רַבַּת שָׁכְנָה־לָּהּ נַפְשִׁי עִם שׂוֹנֵא שָׁלוֹם׃
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Too long have I been bullied and brutalized;
Too long have I suffered viciousness.
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אֲנִי־שָׁלוֹם וְכִי אֲדַבֵּר
הֵמָּה לַמִּלְחָמָה׃
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Even when I talk Peace—
they gear for attack.
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Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi’s translation of Psalms 120 was first published in Psalms in a Translation for Praying (Alliance for Jewish Renewal, Philadelphia: 2014), p. 214.
Reb Zalman was, in 2009, an early advocate of the Open Siddur Project and generously shared his liturgical and prayer work with the project following his vision of a common “Database Davvenen.” I have set his translation opposite the Masoretic Hebrew text of the psalm according to the phrasing he provided. –Aharon Varady
Contributor: Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation)
Co-authors:
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Name: Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation)
Bio: Rabbi Dr. Zalman Meshullam Schachter-Shalomi, affectionately known as "Reb Zalman" (28 August 1924 – 3 July 2014) was one of the founders of the Jewish Renewal movement. Born in Żółkiew, Poland (now Ukraine) and raised in Vienna, he was interned in detention camps under the Vichy Regime but managed to flee the Nazi advance, emigrating to the United States in 1941. He was ordained as an Orthodox rabbi in 1947 within the ḤaBaD Hasidic movement while under the leadership of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, and served ḤaBaD communities in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He subsequently earned an M.A. in psychology of religion at Boston University, and a doctorate from the Hebrew Union College. He was initially sent out to speak on college campuses by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, but in the early 1960s, after experimenting with "the sacramental value of lysergic acid", the main ingredient in LSD, leadership within ḤaBaD circles cut ties with him. He continued teaching the Torah of Ḥassidut until the end of his life to creative, free and open-minded Jewish thinkers with humility and kindness and established warm ecumenical ties as well. In September 2009, he became the first contributor of a siddur to the Open Siddur Project database of Jewish liturgy and related work. Reb Zalman supported the Open Siddur Project telling its founder, "this is what I've been looking forward to!" and sharing among many additional works of liturgy, an interview he had with Havurah magazine in the early to mid-1980s detailing his vision of "Database Davenen." The Open Siddur Project is proud to be realizing one of Reb Zalman's long held dreams.
Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zalman_Schachter-Shalomi
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/zalman-schachter-shalomi-translation
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Name: the Mesorah (TaNaKh)
Bio: The Mesorah (Heb: מָסוֹרָה) a/k/a, the Masoretic text is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the TaNaKh for Karaite and Rabbinic Judaism. It was primarily copied, edited and distributed by a group of Jews known as the Masoretes between the 7th and 10th centuries CE. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocalization and accentuation known as the Masorah.
Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masoretic_Text
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/mesorah
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