1 O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
2 Have mercy upon me, O Lord; for I am weak: O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed.
3 My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O Lord, how long?
4 Return, O Lord, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies' sake.
5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?
6 I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.
7 Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.
8 Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping.
9 The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.
10 Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: let them return and be ashamed suddenly.
<html><b>on the sheminith</b> A harp of eight strings, known as sheminith, and so we find (in I Chron. 15: 21): “So-and-so and his sons on the sheminith to conduct.”</html>
<html><b>languish</b> אמלל, devastated, and poor in strength, konfondouc in Old French, confounded, perplexed as “these feeble Jews (האמללים),” of Ezra (Neh. 3:34).</html>
<html><b>and You, O Lord, how long</b> will You look on and not heal [me]?</html>
<html><b>Return, O Lord</b> from Your anger. <b>rescue my soul</b> from my illness.</html>
<html><b>every night I sully my bed</b> Heb. אשׂחה an expression of (Lam. 3:45): “scum (סחי) and refuse”; (Isa. 5:25), “and their corpses were like spittle (כסוחה).” I sully my bed with tears. Menachem (p. 172), however, associated it with (Isa. 25:11): “as the swimmer (השׂחה) spreads out [his hands] to swim (לשׂחות),” and with (Ezek. 47:5), “water to swim in (שׂחו).” <b>I wet my couch with my tears</b> I moisten and wet as with water.</html>
<html><b>is dimmed</b> Heb. עשׁשׁה, an expression of a lantern (עשׁשׁית), an eye which has impaired vision and seems to see through glass [held] before its eyes. Menachem (p. 139) defines it as an expression of decay, and so every expression of עשׁ, like (below 31:1 1) “and my bones are wasted away (עשׁשׁו).” <b>it has aged</b> Heb. עתקה. My eye has aged and become old in that its light has dimmed. Menachem (p. 139) associated it with (Gen. 12:8): “And he moved (ויעתק) from there to the mountain.” <b>because of all my adversaries</b> Because of the troubles that distress me.</html>
<html><b>shall be ashamed and very frightened, etc.</b> What is the meaning of “they shall return and be ashamed” a second time? Said Rabbi Johanan: In the future the Holy One, blessed be He, will judge the wicked of the nations of the world and sentence them to Gehinnom. Because they will complain to Him, He will take them back and again show them their records, and He returns them to Gehinnom. This is a double embarrassment. Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani says: In the future, every nation will call to its god, but it will not answer. Consequently, they will call to the Holy One, blessed be He. He will say to them, “Had you called Me first, I would have answered you. Now you have made the idols of primary importance and Me of secondary import. Therefore, I will not answer,” for it is stated (below 18:42): “They pray, but no one saves them.” This refers to the idols, and afterward, “to the Lord, but He answered them not.” Therefore, it is said: “they shall return and be ashamed.” <b>in a moment</b> In a short time.</html>