If I keep the Sabbath, God will keep me

Abraham Ibn Ezra

Mid-12th Century

About This Entry

This muwashshah, called a shir ezor (girdle poem) in Hebrew, is a hymn to the Sabbath, recounting various prohibitions but emphasizing the bliss of Sabbath observance. Some communities in Provence included this poem in the Sabbath liturgy, and it continues to be sung on the Sabbath in many communities today. Abraham signed his first name in the acrostic.

If I keep the Sabbath, God will keep me.
   It is sign forever between the Lord and me.
No transactions and no traveling,
no discussing worldly needs,
business or government.
But I study Torah, for it makes me wise.
   It is sign forever between the Lord and me.
That is when my soul finds its tranquility.
God gave a sign of this to the first generation,
sending double manna on the sixth day.
Likewise, every Friday He gives me a double portion.
   It is sign forever between the Lord and me.
In His Law, God ordained that the priests
should set shewbread before Him every Sabbath.
That is why, the Sages say, there is no fasting then,
unless Yom Kippur and the Sabbath chance to coincide.
   It is sign forever between the Lord and me.
It is an honored day, a day of delight,
a day of bread and fragrant wine, a day of flesh and fish.
To spend the Sabbath mourning would be perverse,
for it is a happy day, and it should bring me joy.
   It is sign forever between the Lord and me.
Who desecrates it with work will meet an early end.
So I will cleanse my heart of all impurities,
recite the prayers of evening and the morning prayers,
Musaf and then Minḥa, and God will answer me.
   It is sign forever between the Lord and me.
Translated by Raymond P. Scheindlin.

Credits

Abraham Ibn Ezra, “Ki Eshmarah Shabbat” (If I keep the Sabbath, God will keep me), trans. Raymond P. Scheindlin, from Debra Band, Kabbalat Shabbat: The Grand Unification (Potomac, Md.: Honeybee in the Garden, LLC, 2016), 235. Used with permission of the publisher.

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

Engage with this Source

This muwashshah, called a shir ezor (girdle poem) in Hebrew, is a hymn to the Sabbath, recounting various prohibitions but emphasizing the bliss of Sabbath observance. Some communities in Provence included this poem in the Sabbath liturgy, and it continues to be sung on the Sabbath in many communities today. Abraham signed his first name in the acrostic.

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Related Guide

Early Medieval Liturgical Poetry (Piyyut)

7th to 12th Century

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