Table of Contents
Psalm 32
Psalm 32
1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
5 I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.
7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.
11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
Notes
Cross Reference
Concordance
Commentary
Rashi
Verse 1
<html><b>Of David, a maskil</b> The Sages said (Pes. 117a): Every Psalm in which “maskil” is mentioned was said through an interpreter. <b>Praiseworthy is he whose transgression is forgiven</b> Whose transgression the Holy One, Blessed Be He, forgives, and He conceals his sins.
h.(נשוי is anpardone in Old French, pardoned. The implication is forgiveness, because the forgiveness of iniquity represents [the sin] being lifted up and withdrawn from upon a person.)</html>
Verse 2
<html><b>to whom the Lord ascribes no iniquity</b> provided that in his spirit there is no guile, thinking to revert to his “vomit.”</html>
Verse 3
<html><b>When I was silent</b> When I was silent, [when I refrained] from confessing my transgressions before You. <b>my bones decayed</b> because of my many sighs and my worries all day, that I was worrying about the punishment.</html>
Verse 4
<html><b>For [both] day and night</b> the fear of Your hand and Your decrees was heavy upon me. <b>my freshness was transformed</b> Heb. לשדי, my moisture, and so (in Num. 11:8): “the moisture (לשד) of oil,” the moisture of oil. This is how Dunash explained it (p. 14). Menachem (p. 171) associates [it with] an expression of plunder as (above 12:6): “from the plunder (משד) of the poor”; (above 17: 9) “Because of the wicked who have robbed me (שדוני).” <b>as in the droughts of summer</b> Until it dries up as the drought of summer out of my worry of the heaviness of Your hand, that I was worrying about my sins; therefore…</html>
Verse 5
<html><b>I would inform You of my sin</b> always. This is a present tense. For I said, It is good that I should confess my transgressions to the Lord, and now that I confessed and said to Nathan the prophet, “I have sinned,” (as in II Samuel 12:13)…<b>You forgave the iniquity of my sin</b> as the matter that is stated there (verse 13): “Also the Lord has removed your sin, etc.”</html>
Verse 6
<html><b>at the time that You are found</b> When You are found to accept his prayer, and what is this?…<b>only about a flood of vast waters</b> that they should not reach him, that he should not fall into the hands of enemies, who are like flooding waters. And so we find that David prayed for this and said (II Sam. 24: 14): “Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great; but into the hand of man let me not fall.”</html>
Verse 7
<html><b>You are a shelter for me</b> to hide in Your shadow from before the enemy. <b>You guard me</b> Heb. תצרני, like תשמרני. <b>songs of deliverance</b> A song of rescue. <b>You encompass me</b> Heb. תסובבני. This is the present tense. You always encompassed me with songs of deliverance. And so You said to me…</html>
Verse 8
<html><b>I will enlighten you and instruct you which way</b> to go. <b>I will wink</b> With My eye; I will hint to you what to do. איעצה is an expression of winking the eye, as (in Prov. 16:30): “He winks (עצה) his eyes to think perverse thoughts.”</html>
Verse 9
<html><b>Be not like a horse, like a mule</b> which does not discern between one who benefits him and one who does him harm, for when you insert a bit into his mouth, he closes his mouth and shakes his bridle, and when you curry him and brush him, you must close his mouth and chastise him with a bit and bridle while you adorn him and groom him. <b>so that…he does not come near you</b> So that he should not come near you to hurt you while you groom him, with bit and bridle (when he is being groomed, to close his mouth. When he is being groomedwhile you curry him and brush himyou must close his mouth with a bit and bridle so that he does not come near you.) בלימה is an expression of closing in the language of the Mishnah: Its mouth is closed (בלום), its feet are closed (מבלמות), in Tractate Bechoroth (40b). (Menachem associated לבלום, and also בלימה [Job 26:7] as an expression of regulating [p. 45].)</html>