A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
O Lord, You have been our refuge in every generation.
Rashi’s Commentary
- A prayer of Moses Moses recited all the eleven psalms from here to (ch. 101) “Of David, a song.” Corresponding to them, he [Moses] blessed eleven tribes with eleven blessings, in (Deut. 33): “And this is the blessing.”
- You have been our dwelling place Heb. מעון, an abode and a refuge in which to enter. [That is what] You have been for us.
- throughout all generations From time immemorial, for You preceded all.
Before the mountains came into being,
before You brought forth the earth and the world,
from eternity to eternity You are God.
Rashi’s Commentary
- Before the mountains were born [i.e., before they] were created, and before You brought forth the earth and the inhabited world, and from the first world to the last world, You are God.
For in Your sight a thousand years
are like yesterday that has passed,
like a watch of the night.
Rashi’s Commentary
- For a thousand years are in Your eyes A thousand years of man are like one day of the Holy One, blessed be He, and part of the night with it; for one day of the Holy One, blessed He, and a little of the night of the Holy One, blessed be He, are a thousand years, for the text does not say that the day of the Holy One, blessed be He, is like a thousand years, but that when a little of the night elapses with it, then His day is complete, and it is a thousand years. Therefore, Adam died within a thousand [years] for had he lived a thousand [years] it would be more than the day of the Holy One, blessed be He. Perhaps the amount of that watch equals the time from the death of Adam until a thousand years, but we do not know how much that watch was, except from conjecture. I found [this]: For a thousand years are in Your eyes, etc. And when repentance came into Your thoughts from the beginning, You judged well and created it. Now those years were appropriate for it because people’s days were many, so that a thousand years were in Your eyes like one passing day, which passed and was gone, with a little of the night with it, for You said to Adam (Gen. 2:17): “for on the day you eat of it, you will surely die,” and he lived nine hundred and thirty years. We find that a thousand years equal one whole day and a little of the night with it.
- like yesterday, which passed Which already passed.
כִּי אֶלֶף שָׁנִים בְּעֵינֶיךָ כְּיוֹם אֶתְמוֹל כִּי יַעֲבֹר וְאַשְׁמוּרָה בַלָּיְלָה׃
רש"י
- כי אלף שנים בעיניך. אלף שנים של בני אדם הם כיום אחד של הקב"ה ועוד מן הלילה עמו כי יום א' של הקב"ה ומעט מן הלילה של הקב"ה הם אלף שנים שהרי לא אמר הכתו' שיהא יומו של הקב"ה אחד כאלף שנים אבל כשיצא מעט מן הלילה עמו אז יומו שלם והוי אלף שנים ולכך מת אדם הראשון תוך אלף שאם היה חי אלף היה יותר מיומו של הקב"ה ושמא שיעור אותה אשמורה הוא כמו שיש ממיתת אדם הראשון עד אלף שנים ואנן לא ידעינן כמה הוי אותה אשמורה כי אם מסברא (מצאתי) כי אלף שנים בעיניך וגו'. וכשעלתה תשובה בדעתך מתחלה יפה דנת ובראת אותה וראוין היו השנים לכך לפי (שלא) היו ימי בני אדם רבים שלא היו אלף שנים בעיניך אלא כיום הולך שעבר וחלף ומעט מן הלילה עמו שהרי אמרת לאדם הראשון (בראשית ב׳:י״ז) כי ביום אכלך ממנו מות תמות וחיה תשע מאות ושלשים שנה נמצאו אלף שנים עולים ליום שלם ומעט מן הלילה עמו:
- כיום אתמול כי יעבור. שכבר עבר:
You engulf men in sleep;
at daybreak they are like grass that renews itself;
Rashi’s Commentary
- You carry them away as a flood; they are like a sleep Now you have seized those years and had them become a few days, which are merely like a sleep of slumber, for the years of the generations are seventy years, as is explained at the end of the chapter: “The days of our years because of them are seventy years,” and they are regarded as one sleep. As the matter that is said (below 126:1) “When the Lord returns the returnees to Zion, we shall be like dreamers.” This was stated regarding the Babylonian exile, which lasted seventy years.
- You carry them away as a flood Heb. זרמתם, an expression of flooding, as (Hab. 3:10): “A stream (זרם) of water.”
- in the morning, like grass it passes away If one is born at night, he dies in the morning at the end of his sleep. And if,...
זְרַמְתָּם שֵׁנָה יִהְיוּ בַּבֹּקֶר כֶּחָצִיר יַחֲלֹף׃
רש"י
- זרמתם שנה יהיו. עכשיו חטפתם לאותם השנים והבאתם לימים מועטים שאינם אלא כשנת תנומה ששני הדורות שבעים שנה הם, כמו שמפורש בסוף הענין ימי שנותינו בהם שבעים שנה, והם חשובים שינה אחת כענין (לקמן קכ"ז) בשוב ה' את שיבת ציון היינו כחולמים ועל שבעים שנה של גלות בבל נאמר שהיה שבעים שנה:
- זרמתם. לשון שטיפה כמו (חבקוק ג) זרם מים:
- בבקר כחציר יחלוף. הנולד בלילה מת בבוקר לסוף השינה ואם
You have set our iniquities before You,
our hidden sins in the light of Your face.
Rashi’s Commentary
- You have placed our iniquities before You and our youth, the sins of our youth, You have placed before the light of Your countenance.
- our youth Heb. עלמנו, our youth, as (I Sam. 17:56): “whose son is this youth (העלם).”
- before the light of Your countenance opposite You and to look at them.
The span of our life is seventy years,
or, given the strength, eighty years;
but the best of them are trouble and sorrow.
They pass by speedily, and we are in darkness.
Rashi’s Commentary
- The days of our years because of them are seventy years The days of these years of ours, because of these iniquities of ours and because of these sins of our youth, are seventy years.
- and if with increase And if his days are much increased, they are eighty years.
- but their pride is toil and pain But all the greatness and the dominion that a person enjoys in these days are only toil and pain. Why? Because it passes quickly and we fly away. During its swift passing, we fly away and die.
- it passes Heb. גז, an expression of passing, as (Nahum 1:12): “they have crossed (נגוזו)”; (Num. 11: 31), “and drove (ויגז) quails up from the sea.”
יְמֵי־שְׁנוֹתֵינוּ בָהֶם שִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה וְאִם בִּגְבוּרֹת שְׁמוֹנִים שָׁנָה וְרׇהְבָּם עָמָל וָאָוֶן כִּי־גָז חִישׁ וַנָּעֻפָה׃
רש"י
- ימי שנותינו בהם שבעים שנה. שנותינו אלה בעונותינו אלה ובעלומינו אלה שבעים שנה הם:
- ואם בגבורות. ואם הרבה גברו ימיו שמונים שנה הם:
- ורהבם עמל ואון. וכל הגדולה והשררה שיש לו לאדם בימים האלה אינם אלא עמל ואון ולמה שהרי כי גז חיש ונעופ' בתוך עברה מהר אנו עפים ומתים:
- גז. לשון העברה כמו נגוזו ועבר (נחום א׳:י״ב) ויגז שלוים מן הים (במדבר י״א:ל״א):
Who can know Your furious anger?
Your wrath matches the fear of You.
Rashi’s Commentary
- Who knows the might of Your wrath In these few days, who can acquire intelligence to know the might of Your wrath and to fear You, and as for You—Your fear is Your anger. Just as You are feared, so is Your anger harsh, and You exact retribution from the sinners.
Teach us to count our days rightly,
that we may obtain a wise heart.
Rashi’s Commentary
- So teach the number of our days And just as in the beginning, make known in the world the number of our long days, and since we enjoy longevity, we will be able to acquire intelligence, and we will acquire in them a heart of wisdom. The word נביא is an expression of bringing [rather than of a prophet. Cf. B.B. 12a, Targum ad. loc, Redak below]. (Some say: According to the number of our days כן, according to the numerical value of כן, seventy years. He says: According to the number of our years, which are few, so shall You chastise us, as [Jud. 8:16]: “and with them he chastised (ויודע) the men of Succoth.” This does not appear in all editions.)
לִמְנוֹת יָמֵינוּ כֵּן הוֹדַע וְנָבִא לְבַב חׇכְמָה׃
רש"י
- למנות ימינו כן הודע. כאשר בתחלה הודע בעולם את מנין ימינו ארוכים וכיון שנאריך ימים נוכל לקנות לב ונביא בתוכם לבב חכמה, ונביא לשון הבאה, (וי"א למנות ימינו כן כמנין כ"ן שבעים שנה ונמות לפי שיעור ימינו שהן מעט כן תייסר אותנו וכן ויודע בהם אנשי סוכות) (שופטים ח׳:ט״ז) (סא"א):
Satisfy us at daybreak with Your steadfast love
that we may sing for joy all our days.
Rashi’s Commentary
- Satiate us in the morning On the day of the redemption and the salvation, which is the morning of the night of the trouble, the sighing, and the darkness.
- and let us sing praises and rejoice with all our days i.e., with all the troubles that passed over us in these days of ours.
Give us joy for as long as You have afflicted us,
for the years we have suffered misfortune.
Rashi’s Commentary
- Cause us to rejoice according to the days that You afflicted us Cause us to rejoice in the days of our Messiah according to the number of days that You afflicted us in the exiles and according to the number of years that we experienced evil.
May the favor of the Lord, our God, be upon us;
let the work of our hands prosper,
O prosper the work of our hands!
Rashi’s Commentary
- And may the pleasantness of the Lord our God be upon us His presence and His consolations.
- and the work of our hands establish for us Heb. כוננה. This is an expression of supplication. כוֹננה is like שמרה, watch, שפטה, judge.
- establish it Establish it. The two times “and the work of our hands establish” [are mentioned are for the following purposes]: One is for the work of the Tabernacle, when he blessed Israel and prayed that the Shechinah should rest on the work of their hands in the Tabernacle, and one is that there should be a blessing in the work of their hands.
וִיהִי נֹעַם אֲדֹנָי אֱלֹהֵינוּ עָלֵינוּ וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדֵינוּ כּוֹנְנָה עָלֵינוּ וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדֵינוּ כּוֹנְנֵהוּ׃ {פ}
רש"י
- ויהי נועם אד' אלהינו. שכינתו ותנחומיו:
- ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו. לשון תחינה הוא, כוננה כמו שמרה שפטה:
- כוננהו. כונן אותו, ושני פעמים ומעשה ידינו כוננהו א' על מלאכת המשכן שבירכן לישראל והתפלל שתשרה שכינה במעשה ידיהם במשכן ואחת שתהא ברכה במעשה ידיהם: