I have divided Psalm 27 into four sections with the thought in mind that you might like to concentrate on one section during each of the four weeks of Elul, as you prepare for your own teshuvah. I have correlated these four sections to four steps of repentance.Week 1: Responsibility.
Last week: Regret.
This week: Rejection.
On 9-11 a lot of poems and psalms were posted around the blogosphere - but I didn't see Psalm 27. Here it is ("Adonai" is the Hebrew word for "Lord" and is usually substituted wherever one of the abbreviations for God's name appears in Jewish liturgy and scripture):
Adonai is my light and my life. Whom shall I fear?
Adonai is the foundation of my life. Whom shall I dread?
When evil-doers assail me to devour my flesh,
It is they -- my adversaries and enemies -- who stumble and fall.
Should an army besiege me, my heart would not fear.
Should war beset me
Even then would I be confident.
One thing I ask of Adonai,
Only this do I seek: to live in the house of Adonai all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of Adonai, to frequent his Temple.
For Adonai will conceal me in his sukkah on an evil day,
and hide me in the covert of his tent,
raise me up high on a rock.
And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies all around me
And I will offer sacrifices in [Adonai's] tent
with the sound of trumpets.
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to Adonai.
Hear my voice, Adonai, when I cry out
have mercy on me and answer me.
"For yourself," says my heart.
"Seek My face."
Adonai, I seek Your face.
Do not hide Your face from me.
Do not push aside Your servant in anger.
You have always been my help.
Do not forsake me, do not abandon me, O Lord my deliverer.
For my father and my mother abandon me, but Adonai gathers me up.
Show me Your way, Adonai,
and lead me on a level path
because of my ever-watchful foes.
Deliver me not over unto the will of my adversaries
For false witnesses have risen up against me
and those who breathe violence.
If I had not believed to look upon the goodness of God,
[I would no longer be] in the land of the living.
Look to Adonai.
Be strong and of good courage.
Look to Adonai !
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