qinat lirušaleym
qinot lirushaláyim
(LAMENTS FOR JERUSALEM)

The complete collection of the 14 books of The Exhortations has now been published in one volume. It is available from Amazon-UK at £18.50, and from Amazon-US at $23.19

If you ever have any questions about what you read, or if you profoundly disagree with anything, please email me at shmuliq.parzal@googlemail.com

The Exhortations is our equivalent of the New Testament, but does not have any scriptural authority; the only scriptural authority for Talmidis is the Galilean canon of the Hebrew Bible; therefore you do not have to agree with the contents of The Exhortations in order to call oneself a Talmidi.

Scroll One: The Sins of various Sects and Groups

11Wail and weep, O Jerusalem, over your fallen stones!

       Lament over the monuments that have been brought down!

2While they stood, you heeded not the warnings of prophets and sages;

       While their glory pleased you, you ignored the signs.

3Instead you chose lies over truth, and deceit over honesty,

       For the lies of the Dead were pleasing to your ears,

       And their deceit was like the sounds of the lyre.

2. 1My ear heard the distress and shouts of war;

       The sound of a loud shofar announcing slaughter and calamity,

2The sound of many people as of an exceedingly high wind,

       As a tempest with mighty fire sweeping through the Negev.

3And I said in my heart: Surely God is coming to judge us;

       For I heard a sound moving towards Jerusalem, the holy city.

4My loins were broken at what I heard, and my knees tottered:

       My heart was afraid, and my bones dismayed, and flayed like flax.

3. 1The enemy decreed war against Jerusalem, and against her land.

       He assailed her fortresses and the walls of Jerusalem;

2He poured out the blood of the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

       He led away her sons and daughters.

3He laid waste to Jerusalem and the things that had been hallowed to the Name of God;

4He plundered the sanctuary of God, as though there were no avenger.

       And he trod the altar of YHVH, coming straight from all manner of uncleanliness.

4.  1The House of YHVH was seized upon by Zealots;

       The precincts of the Temple were trodden by the feet of godless men.

2They deposed the true anointed of God;

       They cast down the sanctity of God’s appointed High Priest.

3Instead they chose a man of little account;

       They defamed the reputation of God’s holiness.

4The Dead Ones shed human blood in the sacred courts,

       The swords of uncleanliness defiled God’s Sanctuary.

5When the rightfully anointed of YHVH stood against them,

       When he tried to speak to regain God’s House,

6The Dead invited Edom to the city gates,

       The sons of Eisav were summoned to the slaughter.

7A third of the people of the city were slain,

      those who resisted the foreigners.

More human blood was shed in the sacred precincts,

       defiling the holiness of God’s House.

8The Dead Ones divided the city among their factions,

       And one group, to spite the other,

       Burned the city’s supply of food.

9Women and children starved,

       The bellies of Zion’s children cried out.

       Mothers roasted their children in dire hunger,

       Desperate, they devoured their young like savage beasts.

5.  1Then the men of abomination stole the sacred timbers of the Temple,

       And made siege engines and weapons,

       They set up their final abominations in the Temple,

       Their last desolating sacrilege was raised up.

2Because of all their profanity,

       Because of their unholy desolations,

       The holiness of God’s House was brought down,

       YHVH’s holiness was defamed and defiled.

3Sins against human beings will be forgiven,

       But sins against the reputation of God’s holiness can never be blotted out.

4The Temple was thereby destroyed, once the place of the holiness of a holy God,

       Now the place of utter desolation and ruin.

6. 1The Dead had desecrated the sacred precincts with their knives;

       Their sicarii defiled the holy places of God.

2You Dead, you led the enemy to the gates,

        And showed him where to lay his axe.

With your own hand, you have pointed him to his mark,

        And shown him where to direct his blows;

3Your wickedness has destroyed the very land you claimed to protect.

He that worked against God’s designs, and defiled the things of his God,

forfeited his life to destruction,

       and his soul to oblivion.

7.  1Wide was the path that led to destruction,

        Broad the way that guided you to the end of your days.

Narrow the path that would have saved the holy mountain,

        The road that held salvation for Jerusalem.

2Yet the sword claimed greater knowledge than God,

        And more wisdom than the holy ones;

3For the feeble of heart heeded the sons of falsehood,

        And put their faith in their lies,

            The edicts of oblivion.

8.  1O YHVH, deliver our souls from lawless and wicked men,

From the tongue that is lawless and slanderous, which speaks lies and deceit.

2Much twisted are the tongues of wicked men,

        Even as a fire that burns up their beauty among a people.

3So they delight to fill houses with a lying tongue,

To cut down the trees of gladness which set transgressors on fire,

To involve innocent households in warfare by means of slanderous lips.

9. 1Therefore, cry unto YHVH in your distress,

        Unto God, for the enemy has assailed you.

2You sought hope in messiahs and false prophets,

        And abandoned the Way of YHVH.

3You played the harlot with false hopes,

        You prostituted yourselves to false ideals.

4Your sons fought your fathers,

            Your brothers struggled against their own.

Daughters strove against their mother’s discipline,

They showed them no honour,

            Nor accorded them their place under God.

10.  1You, O YHVH, chose David to be king over Israel,

        And swore to him that his seed should never fail before You.

2But, against your designs, sinners rose up against us;

        They assailed us and thrust their own purpose into our hands;

3What You had not promised to them, they took away from us with violence.

        They in no way glorified Your honourable Name;

4Instead they tried to set a worldly monarchy in place of the king you promised us;

        They laid waste the throne of David in tumultuous arrogance.

5But You, O God, cast them down and removed their seed from the earth,

In that You sent against them a powerful people, ignorant of our ways.

6According to their sins You recompensed them, O God;

        So that it befell them according to their arrogant deeds.

7God showed them no partiality in judgment;

        God sought out their seed and let not one of them go free.

11. 1And you who call yourselves ‘Friends’,

        What Friends have you been to Zion?

2You ignored the ways of God,

            And turned instead to the inventions of men!

3You declared the word of God void;

        The mouth of YHVH was silence to your ears.

4God speaks through the mouths of those whom God has chosen –

        God’s warnings from the words of ordinary men and women;

5Yet you proclaimed them unworthy,

        And instead exalted your own pronouncements,

            You gilded your own decrees.

12.  1‘The voice of justice is not from the Holy One’, you said.

         ‘Therefore all prophets in our times are false.

2‘Why should we heed them, and why should we obey them?

        We have our own pronouncements to listen to;

3‘We shall obey our own teachings, and our own laws,

        Our own traditions are enough’, you said.

4‘The voice of God is not valid in a court of law,

        Only the voice of man can speak truth,

        The voice of God is a distraction, like the buzz of a gnat’.

13.  1Will the false teachers ever say, “We did not listen to YHVH”?

Will they say, “We did not follow the commandments of the God of Jacob”?

2From the day that their ancestors were led out of Egypt,

        The day that they were given freedom,

To the day all freedom was taken from them,

        It is as if they had always been slaves of men.

3They never once listened to the word of YHVH in the voices of the prophets,

They could not stop up their ears from hearing God’s voice,

        So their councils declared God’s voice silent.

14.  1And you rich, you were warned of the fire to come!

            You wealthy, of the judgment upon you!

2Yet still you said, ‘Today we are filled,

            Our masters will reward us.

3But you became insolent in your prosperity,

        Your hearts were without understanding for the poor.

4Your transgressions went beyond even those of the heathen you served –

            You polluted the ways of YHVH,

            You served the heathen, and abandoned your God.

5You ignored the just commandments of our God,

        You heeded not God’s laws to protect the poor.

6You strove to accumulate land from the poor;

        You built up what you took in your hands.

7So the judgment of the God of all the Earth fell upon you,

        The God of all the poor denied you the wealth that you have gained.

8Your paymasters have invaded and ravaged the Land,

        They have put your gains to the sword and laid them desolate;9What you have taken from the poor,

        YHVH has taken back for Himself.

10And God will keep you rich away from the Land for generations to come,

        God will hold back your descendants from returning to the Land,

11So that your children’s children cannot claim the land their fathers took –

        So that the deeds to stolen land will be forgotten.

15. 1God’s judgement is upon those who heeded not God’s voice,

        God’s righteous anger upon those who turned their faces from Him.

2The Dead defiled God’s sacred precincts,

        They polluted God’s holy courts;

3The inventors of men’s laws declared God’s voice silent,

        They nullified his warnings to the people;

4The rich bowed to their purses of silver and gold;

        They protected their wealth, instead of the laws of their God –

        The statutes of the God of Jacob received only vain worship.

16. 1But for the priests, is reserved the greatest ire,

        For you, sons of Tsadoq, will receive the final portion.

2You stoned the men of God before you,

        You imprisoned every one of the messengers of truth.

3You put to death those who could have saved you,

            You murdered those who offered you the hand of salvation.

4You cursed their souls, and called their words false,

        You proclaimed God’s word as naught before you,

        You declared evil what was good.

17.  1Mourn and weep then, you who defile your once sacred lineage,

        Wail over what God’s hand has delivered to you.

2Where now is the House that you have defiled?

        Where the den where you practiced your wickedness?

3Your lands are taken from you, your might is no more,

        Your fields are utterly destroyed.

4Your houses are no more, your party will not rise again.

        You wanted no place in the world to come,

        See, how your wish is now granted!

5O God, You have rendered to the wicked priests according to their deeds,

        Yea, according to their sins, which were very wicked.

6You have uncovered their sins, that Your judgment might be made manifest;

        You have wiped out their memorial from the earth.

7God is a righteous Judge,

        And God is no respecter of persons –

        They cannot rise up and claim Aaron or Tsadoq as their father.

18.  1And you hypocrites, do not think there are no coals left for you,

        No fuel left to fire God’s anger against you!

2You claimed to follow the ways of YHVH –

        You said, “We have done everything you asked!”

3You say that you spoke in God’s Name,

        And chastised transgressors with God’s word.

4But justice was not the rod behind your deeds,

        Nor mercy the staff on the backs of those you claimed to guide.

5So now you stand wailing beyond the gates,

        In the outer darkness is your dwelling.

Scroll Two: Laments over Jerusalem’s Ruin

19. 1I weep over the place of Your Dwelling,

        I mourn over the House of Your Presence.

2For it is torn down and brought to nothing,

        It is crushed and burnt to ashes.

3O Jerusalem, you are scourged for what you have done,

        O Holy City, you are punished for your transgressions.

4The Dead shed human blood around the Sanctuary,

        And defiled the Sanctuary itself.

5You brought abominations within these walls,

        Instruments of death within these gates.

6There you spilled the blood of your brothers and fathers,

        You took the life-blood of your kinsmen.

7So now you have been recompensed for your rebellion,

        For your open warfare against God’s commandments.

8See how the glory of the Temple lies in ruins,

        The vessels of God’s glory in disarray.

9The greatness of God’s House has been brought down to naught,

        And her wealth has been carried off as booty.

10Your Holy Place is now laid waste;

        See how the Gentiles have profaned it!

11Your children, O Jerusalem, have been slaughtered like lambs,

        Their blood runs like tears through your streets.

12Those who live wish they had died,

        For their freedom has become the slavery of death.

20. 1Jerusalem has become the dwelling place of foreigners,

        In witness to the servants who forsook her.

2Her festivals of joy are turned into periods of mourning,

        Her Sabbaths of delight have become days of misery.

3Her dishonour has now fully matched her former glory;

        Her present ruin now equals her former greatness.

4What nation can know the depth of our grief?

            How can the children of pagan gods know our bitter anguish?

5Jerusalem is empty like the desert,

        Her streets filled with the silence of death.

6Men of foreign race hold the citadel,

        Which is now become a crumbling lodge for idol-worshippers.

21. 1No more are the prayers of Aaron’s sons spoken over us,

        The songs of the sons of Levi are no more.

2Their flutes and their lyres are silent,

        Their cymbals and sistrals are dumb.

3Your children curse the day of their birth,

        And even the womb that conceived them.

4They cry, ‘Let darkness take hold of that day!

         ‘Let an eclipse blot out the memory of it!’

The day of our birth has become a curse,

        A stain on the days of the year.

5We cannot withhold sorrow from our eyes,

        Nor stop up mourning from escaping our lips.

6We are carried off as slaves to a foreign land,

        As prisoners of the people of foreign gods.

7I see your ruins burn,

            The smoke rising from your fallen stones.

        The bitter stench of death burns like acid in my lungs.

8These are the days of tribulation and bitterness,

        The hour of misery and wrath has come.

Scroll Three: The Aftermath of the Destruction of Jerusalem

22. 1While the sinner waxed proud, the enemy cast down fortified walls,

        And You did not restrain him, O God.

2Foreign nations ascended Your altar,

        They trampled it proudly with their boots and sandals;

3Yet you did nothing to halt their destruction,

        Your hand did not restrain them.

4Because the sons of Jerusalem had defiled the holy things of YHVH,

        They had profaned with iniquities the offerings to God.

5Therefore God said: ‘Cast them far from Me;

        Set them aside from Me.’ 

6The offerings were set at naught before God,

        The sacrifices were utterly dishonoured;

        They were as polluted and blemished sacrifices.

23. 1The sons and daughters of Jerusalem were put to the sword,

        The daughters of the Holy City were taken away in chains.

2But this is only the first half of the terrible tribulation,

        The first half-a-time foretold to take place twice.

3This is the beginning of the exile which will bring down the lion of Judah;

        The captivity which will finally drive the pride of Israel from the Land.

4After the days of the second half-a-time, when a dark star has risen over the Land,

        We will mourn, we will make our lament,

        To return to this land we will cry out.

5But the wicked have polluted the Land,

        They have poisoned its holy soil,

6Our prayers to return will go unheard,

        while the Land is cleansed of the wickedness bled out upon it,

7Generations will have no answer,

            Until the land of their ancestors is cleansed of its defilement.

24. 1Jerusalem, the bride of YHVH, and the Sanctuary the bridechamber!

        The Holy City a place for the wedding feast!

2Now she sits deserted and empty,

            Her streets and markets lined with tears,

3Zion is now a place of mourning,

            For the holy mountain of Judea weeps.

4In misery and distress we weep for the mountain of God’s sanctuary,

            No more! How she has fallen!5Her people groan under laboured breath,

            as they are carried away,

To destinations as yet unknown;

            They do not know the places of their exile.

25. 1The nations reproached Jerusalem, trampling her down;

        Her beauty was dragged down from the throne of glory.

2She girded on sackcloth instead of comely raiment,

        A rope was put about her head instead of a crown.

3She put off the glorious diadem which God had set upon her,

        And in dishonour was her beauty cast upon the ground.

        In shame her splendour was defiled.

26. 1The lawless heathen laid waste our land, so that none inhabited it;

        They destroyed young and old and their children together.

2But they that loved the synagogues of the pious fled from them,

        As fledgling sparrows that fly from their nest.

3They wander now in deserts, that their lives might be saved from harm.

        And precious in the eyes of those who live abroad

        Were any that escaped alive from them.

27. 1The poor and the humble in spirit, they suffered for the sins of the wicked,

        The innocent bore the loads which the wicked made for their own backs.

2The lowly did not commit the transgressions which have defiled the Land,

        But the cudgels of foreign oppression do not distinguish between the sheep and the goats;

3The pious servants of God are like innocent lambs in their midst.

      Hear their cries, O God!

4Do not reject their pleading, O YHVH!

        Free them from the judgment that has befallen them!

5They struggle to put food in their mouths,

        They beg for bread to give to their children.

6They are blameless, yet they suffer;

        They are innocent, yet they endure the pain of sinners.

7Give them respite, O God, in the generations to come,

        Bear them up and strengthen their children’s children,

        The sons and daughters who will never know Zion.

28. 1O God, when we are in distress, we call upon You for help,

        And You do not turn Your back on our petition,

        for You are our God, faithful in Your lovingkindness.

2Cause not Your hand to be heavy upon us,

        Lest through dire necessity we sin.

3Even though You will not restore us for generations, we will not keep away from You;

        Unto You we will come, the weeping children of Judah.

4For if we hunger, unto You we will cry, O God; 

        And You will give to us.

5You nourish even small birds and fish,

        You open heaven’s gates and flood dry gullies,

And You give rain to the steppes that green grass may spring up,

        Thus to prepare fodder in the steppe for every living thing;

6And if they hunger, they lift up their faces to You.

        You give Kings and rulers and peoples nourishment, O God;

7Then who is the help of the poor and destitute, if not You, O YHVH?

8And You will hearken to our plea

        For who is good and gentle and tender but You?

        Making glad the soul of the humble by opening Your hand in mercy.

29. 1Many were the false messiahs who rose up,

        The false prophets claiming to save us,

Producing signs and portents to deceive even the righteous,

        To pull the holy ones into the pit.

2We heard of wars,

       and rumours of wars,

        They said, ‘Nation fights against nation,

And kingdom against kingdom’,

        But we did not believe them.

3There were years of famine,

        And days of earthquakes, when our homes became our graves.

4Then came the days when brother betrayed brother,

        And son betrayed father,

        And lawlessness abounded.

5The righteous were tortured and put to death,

        Because of their faithfulness to YHVH.

6Armies beset Jerusalem,

      Round about her they swarmed.

7Then the abomination of desolation was set up in the Holy Place

        There, where it had no right to be.

8The hoards of the heathen surrounded the sacred precincts,

        They fell upon the Holy City like a pack of ravening wolves,

        And left not one stone standing upon another.

9Those were days of great distress,

        Unparalleled since the beginning of the world,

        Never to be seen again.

10If YHVH had not shortened those days,

        Then none would have survived it.

11But he did shorten those days,

       For the sake of those whom God chose.

12Everything that was holy and good the heathen set aflame,

        The stench of black smoke filled the air,

13So that the sun was darkened by day,

        And the moon did not give its light at night.

14The stars fell from the heavens in mourning,

        And the powers of heaven were shaken by the destruction.

15A third of the holy ones fled, a third were slain,

        And a third were taken away into captivity.

16The Land was devastated,

       And the sea was set ablaze.

        The righteous and the holy died with the wicked;

17With a great shout,

        And at the sound of a loud shofar,

The wicked were thrown like chaff into the fire,

        And the holy ones were caught up into the sky.

18But the spirits of the holy ones were gathered by the angels of YHVH,

Their souls were saved from the four winds,

        Rescued from the ends of the world,

        And gathered in from the far limits of the sky.

19The innocent who died in the Day of Tribulation,

        The holy ones who fell in the Day of Destruction,

They dwell now forever before the throne of the great Glory,

        And sit at the right hand of the Father.

Scroll Four: Hope in YHVH for the Future

30. 1Faithful is YHVH to them that love God in truth,

        To them that endure God’s trials,

To them that walk in the righteousness of God’s commandments,

        In the Teaching which God commanded us that we might live.

2The pious of YHVH shall live by it forever;

        God’s pious ones are the Paradise of YHVH, the trees of life.

Their planting is rooted forever;

        They shall not be plucked up in all the days of heaven:

3For the portion of God is Israel;

            Yeshurun is YHVH’s inheritance,

        And Ariel where God has set God’s Name forever.

31. 1Make not Your dwelling afar from us, O God;

        Lest those that hate us without cause assail us.

2For if You have rejected them, O God;

        Let not their foot trample upon Your holy inheritance.

3Discipline us Yourself in Your good judgment;

        But do not abandon us to the nations;

4For You are merciful,

       And will not be angry to the point of utterly consuming us.

32. 1For while Your Name dwells in our midst, we shall find mercy;

        And the nations shall not prevail against us.

2You are our shield,

        And when we call upon You, You hearken to our plea;

3For You will pity the seed of Israel forever,

        And You will not reject us:

4But we shall be under Your yoke forever,

        And under the rod of Your discipline.

5You will establish us on the day that You help us,

        Showing mercy to the house of Jacob,

        On the day wherein You promised to help us.

33. 1For God makes straight the ways of the righteous,

        And does not pervert them by God’s discipline.

2And the mercy of YHVH is upon those who love God in truth,

        And YHVH remembers God’s servants in mercy.

3For the testament is in the Teaching of the eternal Covenant,

        The testament of YHVH is on the ways of humankind.

4Just and kind is YHVH our God in God’s judgments forever,

        And Israel shall praise the Name of YHVH in gladness.

5And the pious shall give thanks in the assembly of the people;

        And on the poor shall God have mercy in the gladness of Israel;

6For good and merciful is God forever,

        And the assemblies of Israel shall glorify the Name of YHVH.

7The salvation of YHVH be upon the house of Israel unto everlasting gladness!

34.   1Happy are they whose hearts are fixed to call upon the Name of YHVH;

        When they remember the Name of YHVH, they will be saved.

2Their ways are made even by YHVH,

        And the works of their hands are preserved by YHVH their God.

3At what they see in their bad dreams, their souls shall not be troubled;

        When they pass through rivers and the tossing of the seas, they shall not be dismayed.

4They arise from their sleep, and bless the Name of YHVH:

        When their hearts are at peace, they sing to the Name of their God,

        And they entreat YHVH for their whole house.

5And YHVH hears the prayer of every one that reveres God in awe,

        And every humble request of the soul that hopes for Him, YHVH fulfils.

6Blessed is YHVH, who shows mercy to those who love God with sincerity,

        And forgiveness to those whose intentions are pure.

7The holy ones who revere YHVH in awe shall sit forever at God’s right hand,

        And their life shall be in the light of YHVH,

        And God’s light shall have no end.

35. 1O YHVH my God, I will praise Your Name with joy,

        In the midst of them that know Your righteous judgments.

2For You are good and merciful, the refuge of the poor;

        When I cry to You, do not silently disregard me.

3For no one can take spoil from a mighty man;

        Who, then, can take anything of all that You have made,

        Except for what You Yourself give? 

36.  1Your gift is great in goodness and wealth,

        And those whose hope is set on You shall have no lack of gifts.

2Upon the whole earth is Your mercy, O YHVH, in goodness.

3Happy are they whom God remembers by giving just enough of what they need;

        For if they abound in plenty, they are tempted to sin.

4It is sufficient to provide moderate means with righteousness,

        And thereby the blessing of YHVH becomes abundance with righteousness.

5They that revere YHVH in awe, rejoice in good gifts,

        And Your goodness is upon Israel in Your kingdom.

6Blessed is the glory of YHVH, for YHVH is our King –

        Our Redeemer and our Saviour forever.

37. 1O YHVH, You are our King forever and ever,

        For in You, O God, our souls glory.

2How long are the days of a human being’s life upon the earth?

        As are our days, so is the hope set upon them.

3But we hope in God, our Deliverer;

        For the might of our God is forever with mercy,

        And the kingdom of our God is forever over the nations in judgment.

38. 1Great is our God and glorious, dwelling in the highest.

2It is God who has established the lights of heaven in their courses,

        for determining seasons from year to year,

        And they have not turned aside from the way which God appointed them.

3In the reverence of God they pursue their path every day,

        From the day God created them and for evermore.

4And they have not erred since the day God created them.

        Since the generations of old they have not withdrawn from their path.

39. 1And so behold, you princes of the earth,

       The judgment of YHVH!

For a great King and righteous is He,

        Judging all that is under heaven.

2Bless God, you that revere YHVH with awe and wisdom,

        For the mercy of YHVH will be upon those who revere Him,

3So that God will distinguish between the righteous and the sinner;

        God will recompense the sinners according to their deeds;

4Yet have mercy on the righteous, delivering them from the affliction of the sinner,

        Not omitting to recompense the sinner for what he has done to the righteous.

5For YHVH is good to them that call upon God in patience,

        Doing to God’s pious ones according to God’s mercy.

6Blessed be YHVH for ever before God’s servants,

        Before those who revere God’s will in awe.

40.  1Why do you yet sleep, O my soul,

        And bless not YHVH?

2Sing a new psalm in gladness of heart,

        To God who is worthy to be praised.

3The righteous remember YHVH at all times,

        With thanksgiving and declaration of the righteousness of YHVH’s judgments.

4The righteous do not despise the discipline of YHVH;

        Their will is always before YHVH.

5The righteous stumble, yet hold YHVH righteous:

        They fall, yet look out for what God will do for them;

        They seek out whence their deliverance will come.

6The steadfastness of the righteous is from YHVH their Deliverer;

        There lodges not sin upon sin in the house of the righteous.

7The righteous continually search their house as if for leaven,

        To remove utterly all iniquity done by them in error.

8They make atonement for sins of ignorance by praying and afflicting their souls,

        And YHVH counts guiltless every pious man and woman and their house.

41. 1You are our God from the beginning,

        And upon You is our hope set, O YHVH;

2And we will not depart from You,

        For good are Your judgments upon us.

3Upon us and our children be Your good pleasure for ever;

        O YHVH our Saviour, we shall never more be moved.

4YHVH is worthy to be praised for God’s judgments by the mouths of God’s pious ones;

        And blessed be Israel of YHVH forever!

42. 1Behold and show pity, O God of Israel, for we are Yours;

        And do not remove Your mercy from us, lest our enemies cause us to perish.

2For You chose the seed of Abraham before all the nations,

        And set Your Name upon us, O YHVH, for all generations,

        And You will not reject us for ever.

3You made a covenant with our ancestors concerning us;

        And we hope in You, when our soul turns to You.

4May the mercy of YHVH be upon the house of Israel forever and ever;

        God’s kindness upon Jacob’s descendants throughout all the generations.

43. 1Worthy to be praised is YHVH who judges the whole earth in God’s righteousness.

2Behold now, O God, You have shown us Your judgment in Your righteousness;

        Our eyes have seen Your judgments, O God.

3We have justified Your Name that is honoured for ever;

        For You are the God of righteousness, judging Israel with discipline.

4Turn, O God, Your mercy upon us, and have pity upon us;

        Gather together the dispersed of Israel, with mercy and goodness;

        For Your faithfulness is with us.

5And though we have stiffened our neck, yet You are our chastener;

6Overlook us not, O our God, lest the nations swallow us up,

        As though there were no one to deliver us.

44. 1In Zion, blow on the silver trumpets to summon the holy ones,

        Let the voice of him that brings good tidings be heard in Jerusalem;

2For God has had pity on Israel in visiting them.

3Stand on the heights, O Jerusalem, and behold Your children,

        From the East and the West, gathered together by YHVH;

4From the North they will come in the gladness of their God,

        From the isles afar off YHVH will gather them Himself.

5God will make low even high mountains into a plain for them;

        The hills will flee at their entrance.

6The woods will give them shelter as they pass by;

        Every sweet-smelling tree God will cause to spring up for them,

        That Israel might pass by in the visitation of the glory of their God.

7Put on, O Jerusalem, your glorious garments;

        Make ready your sacred robes;

8For God has spoken good concerning Israel, forever and ever.

        Let YHVH do what God has spoken concerning Israel and Jerusalem;

9Let YHVH raise up Israel by God’s glorious Name.

        The mercy of YHVH be upon Israel for ever and ever.

45. 1O YHVH, Your mercy is over the created works of Your might forever;

        Your goodness is over Israel with a rich gift.

2Your gaze is upon us, so that none of us suffers want;

        You listen to the hopeful prayers of the poor and destitute.

3Your judgments are executed upon the whole Land in mercy;

        And Your love is toward the seed of Abraham, the children of Israel.

4Your discipline rests upon Israel as upon a first-born, an only-begotten son,

        To turn back the obedient soul from folly that is wrought in ignorance.

5May God cleanse Israel, ready for the great day of mercy and blessing to come,

        For the day of God’s own pleasing when God chooses God’s Anointed, a son of David,

        And the exiles of Judah and Israel return.

46. 1If our hope is in YHVH, then who can prevail against us?

        God will cause the House of Jacob to dwell in peace and without fear.

2If the son of David shepherds the flock of YHVH faithfully and righteously,

        God will establish Israel firmly in our own land.

3The Anointed One, as long as he speaks with a voice of justice,

        As long as he is mindful of the poor, the orphaned and the widowed,

4The wicked shall not oppress us,

            And evil kings shall not invade.

5As long as the Anointed One upholds the sacred covenant which YHVH swore with his father,

He will have great renown, greater than all the kings of the earth.

6Blessed will they be that shall live in those days,

        In that they shall see the good fortune of Israel,

        Which God shall bring to pass after the gathering together of the tribes.

7And his descendants will sit on the throne of Israel,

        And reign in prosperity and peace, as YHVH has promised.

8May YHVH hasten God’s mercy upon Israel!

        May God deliver us from the wickedness of unholy enemies!

© Shmu’eil ben Naftali

‘Qinot lirushaláyim’

(International Talmidi Version,

First edition published June 2006)

If you have any comments or questions, please email: shmuliq.parzal@googlemail.com

The original source material for this work were the apocryphal ‘Psalms of Solomon’, composed after Pompey’s war on Jerusalem in 63 BCE. However, it has a lot of new material added, relevant to the Jewish War in 70CE.