Flowers appeared at the time

Judah and Yose Zebidah

10th or 11th Century

Section 8

[Song of Songs 7:13–8:14; each line ends with a successive verse from Psalm 136]

Let us get up early—all to worship our God, our rock, together,

O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever.

The mandrakes—when they give of their aroma, they answer the people waiting to be rescued,

O give thanks unto the God of gods.

“Who can recount Your mighty deeds”—the upright people recount, calling out,

O give thanks unto the Lord of lords.

“I would lead thee,” says the community, the people who declare that He is one,

to Him who alone does great wonders.

His left hand protects, and His right hand is readied to give us joyous song.

To Him who by wisdom made the heavens.

I would charge you—do not rouse the end-time, O you who declare His unity twice a day:¹

To Him who stretched out the earth above the waters.

Who is this, who sings extensive songs,

to Him who made great lights?

Set me as a seal on your arm, O You who established foreverday,

the sun to rule by day.

Water You carried, and created a ceiling [the heavens], so that no covering would be lacking—

the moon and stars to rule by night.

A sister² have we—she is known in the world, on account of the two who bring appeasement to their creator,³

to Him who smote Egypt in their firstborn.

If we have acted with guilt, please forgive Your wrath! He brought darkness to the Egyptians,

and brought out Israel from among them.

I am my beloved’s, for He brought me out from the pretty one,⁴

with a strong hand and with a stretched-out arm.

A vineyard is the epithet for those who bound glorious crowns,⁵

to Him who divided the Sea of Reeds into parts.

My vineyard⁶ He protected; He tore the sea and split it,

and made Israel to pass through the midst of it.

Thou who dwellest in the gardens, the Lord cut down your enemies like rushes and reeds,

and overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Sea of Reeds.

Make haste⁷ to me, as in the past, when you went out, being guided,

to Him who led His people through the wilderness.

My beloved, redeem the treasured people, who have grown to be great,

to Him who smote great kings.

And be similar, in Your gait, to a gazelle leaping over hills,

and slew famous kings.

To Thee Your holy ones were sanct ifed, when You went missing,⁸ and [my enemies] dominated me like a storm,

Sihon king of the Amorites.

To a roe—friends⁹ deceived You, and You destroyed the foe, who was laying a trap,

and Og the king of Bashan.

Or may He fnish of those that plunder, as the innards of a sacrifice are entirely consumed,

and gave their land for a heritage.

To a hart the perfect One is compared, who gives His earth, the foundation, as an inheritance,

a heritage unto Israel His servant.

The gazelles—since we have gone like them in front of the pursuer,¹⁰

He remembered us in our low estate.

Upon His reliability and His promise, we have placed our hope in our protector,

and He hath redeemed us from our enemies.

The mountains of His Temple—may He reveal them when He releases Michael, the prince;

He who giveth food to all fesh.

Spices may fll His sanctum, while male and female singers sing songs to His glory,

O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for His mercy endureth forever!

Translated by Gabriel Wasserman.

Notes

[This refers to the Jews, who recite the Shema‘ that proclaims “The Lord is one” twice a day, and who do not push for the messianic time to come prematurely but wait for it patiently.—Trans.]

[The Jewish people.—Trans.]

[The reference is obscure; perhaps it means the two daily sacrificial oferings (the “tamid”; see Numbers 28:1–8), or the two daily recitations of the Shema‘.—Trans.]

[Egypt. See Jeremiah 46:20: “Egypt is a pretty calf.”—Trans.]

[The Israelites. According to b. Shabbat 88a, each Israelite received two crowns at Sinai.—Trans.]

[The Jewish people are a vineyard belonging to God, as in Isaiah 5:7.—Trans.]

[The poet is addressing God.—Trans.]

[Meaning uncertain. It may mean “when You hid Your face, rather than actively protecting me.”—Trans.]

[The word is unexpected here. God’s “friends” are the Jewish people, but the line is speaking not of Israel’s betrayal of God (by worshiping foreign deities), but of God’s destruction of Israel’s enemies. Perhaps the reading re‘im, “friends,” is corrupt, and the text should read ra‘im, “ t he w ic ked .”—Tr a ns.]

[I.e., we have fed the pursuers as gazelles run, and they would have shed our blood like the blood of gazelles.—Trans.]

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam.

Flowers appeared at the time

Section 8

Notes

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Section 8

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