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1 [Hallelujah!]
Praise Yah
Praise Yahweh, O my soul! *
[2] I will praise Yahweh as long as I live;
I will sing praises to leholay while I have my being.
2 [3] Put not your trust in rulers, nor in any child of earth, *
for there is no help in them.
3 [4] When they breathe their last, they return to earth, *
and in that day their thoughts perish.
4 [5] Happy are they who have se-el of Jacob for their help! *
whose hope is in Yahweh elohaw;
5 [6] Who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them; *
who keeps his promise for ever;
6 [7] Who gives justice to those who are oppressed, *
and food to those who hunger.
7 Yahweh sets the prisoners free;
[8] Yahweh opens the eyes of the blind; *
Yahweh lifts up those who are bowed down;
8 Yahweh loves the righteous;
[9] Yahweh cares for the stranger; *
he sustains the orphan and widow,
but frustrates the way of the wicked.
9 [10] Yahweh shall reign forever, *
elohayik, O Zion, throughout all generations.
Praise Yah!
[Hallelujah!]
--------------------
This is the Track 2 accompanying Psalm that will be read aloud in unison or sung by a cantor on the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 18], Year B, according to the lectionary for the Episcopal Church. If Track 2 is chosen, this song of praise will follow a reading from Isaiah, where the prophet sang, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.” That will precede the Epistle reading from James, where he wrote, “You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”’ All will accompany the Gospel reading from Mark, when Jesus healed a deaf man and we are told, “Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”
In the above translation into English, it should be noted that eleven times I have entered bold type that states either “Yah” or “Yahweh.” In verses one, four, seven, eight, nine and ten there are eight times the NRSV translator [as well as all others, I’m sure] improperly translated “Yahweh” [the transliteration of the written text – “יהוה”] as “Lord.” The generic use of “Lord” demeans the One God whose name is “Yahweh,” as named by all Old Testament writers of Hebrew. The word for “lord” is “adon,” which is not written; and, any spirit that controls a soul in human flesh is a “lord,” which is never a good entity if it is not Yahweh. In addition to the eight times David wrote “Yahweh,” he wrote “hal·lū-yāh” to begin this song and again to end it. The common English translation is “Halleluiah!” but in reality this is two words hyphenated together, which mean “praise YAH.” “YAH” is a short way of saying “Yahweh” [not “Lor”]. Finally, in three places David wrote a form of the plural Hebrew word that says “gods,” while writing the singular “god” once. These amount to (generally) “elohim” and “el.” I have replaced the translations of “God” to state what was actually written.
Psalm 146 has ten verses. The NRSV shows it as having ten verses; and, the Episcopal lectionary page indicates its translations come from that translation. However, they have combined verses one and two into verse one, making it appear there are only nine verses. I have placed brackets with bold numbers that reflect the true verse numbers; and, all subsequent references to verses by number will be to the truth, not some church creation. As to verses one and ten, the NRSV translates the Hebrew “hal·lū-yāh” as “Praise the Lord,” which the Episcopal Church has published as “Hallelujah!”
The truth of what the first verse says is this [in Hebrew]: “hal·lū- yāh hal·lî nap̄·šî , ’eṯ-Yah-weh .” In that, twice is written “halal” [as “hallu” and “halli”], which Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance says is the verb meaning “make boast self, celebrate, commend, deal, make, foolish glory, give light, be make.” It is properly used as “to shine, to be boastful, to praise, of self-confident boasting, and of glorifying – making one’s boast in.” [Brown-Driver-Briggs] All of this meaning means “praise” is not something demanded by instruction, such as someone yelling out, “Sieg heil!” and a bunch of German-speaking robots stick their right arms in the air and repeat, “Seig heil!” It is self-motivated inspiration, coming from the presence of a bright inner light, so David was not singing out for others to “praise Yah!,” he was himself doing that. The eruption of “praise Yah” must be seen as a statement of personal experience, not some rote command that gets tiresome (when one does not feel the reason to give praise).
A soul praises Yahweh by "Being There" with Him, meaning one doing what He says then praises Him.
By understanding this aspect of “praise” or “shine forth” as a statement that comes from within, the first verse’s first segment of words says, “praise Yah praise my soul.” In this, the Hebrew word “nephesh” means “soul,” but also implies “living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, and emotion.” (Strong’s) Simply by seeing that a soul is not a set of lips attached to a tongue and a set of lungs, David was expressing his “living being” as the “light” of Yah[weh]. The “praise” was the elation that sprang from a most divine presence that was Yahweh on earth - in David. By being an extension of Yahweh, from His Spirit having been poured out upon David’s “soul,” David was “praise of Yah praise of light.” This is then confirmed by David adding, “’eṯ-Yah-weh” [“אֶת־ יְהוָֽה”], which says “Yahweh is” the union of “Yah and soul.” Therefore, verse one is David singing of his Spiritual marriage to his One God.
Verse two then sings literally, “I will praise Yahweh while I live ; I will sing praises to my elohim as I exist beside .” Here, the element of “living” must be seen as relevant to eternal “life,” which is an elevated state of being from an eternal soul possessing a material body of flesh. The flesh is death in waiting, as no human body can retain a living soul forever. This means David’s first segment places focus on that eternal gift of life that his soul had received from Yahweh [his Anointment], so as long as his flesh sustained breath, then David’s existence would be “praise” of Yahweh on earth. The light would shine as he lived. Thus, the second segment of words sings of his psalms written, which did not come from his brain, but from his being a Yahweh elohim, who was writing the Word of praise through David, for others to sing.
Verse three then literally sings, “not do put your trust in princes ; in a son of man nothing not salvation .” This, following verse two ending with a focus on “my elohim,” where the only way to become one of Yahweh’s elohim is to join with His Spirit, says this divine union cannot be duplicated through human marriages, such as having allegiance with a worldly leader would be. David was a “prince” [intuited translation from “nadib”], when he was ‘adopted’ by Saul. David was “noble” [the truth of “nadib”] as a king. This means that those Israelites who did as David said, because they put trust in him, rather than marry their souls to Yahweh and realize the truth of faith from love of God, would likewise fall from grace when David would later sin and his lineage be condemned.
When David wrote, “bə·ḇen-’ā·ḏām,” as “in son of man,” this is a statement about every human being on earth. All are “sons” because a soul, being an eternal spirit [not physical], is of masculine essence, being breath of life from the Father. This then says all male and female bodies of flesh are “sons of man,” as “children of mankind.” Since all human beings have a soul in flesh, none are eternal, in the sense that all living bodies of flesh are born to eventually die. The point of mortal life is to find eternal “salvation” or “deliverance” [from “tə·šū·‘āh” or “teshuah”]. Therefore, one’s “trust” [“batach”] cannot be placed in anyone or anything that is lesser than Yahweh, because nothing less than Yahweh can yield eternal life [the theme of verse two].
Verse four then sings [literally translated], “leaves his breath he returns to his ground ; in day that destroys his thoughts .” This verse says why one’s soul cannot be led by another mortal being. The reason is no mortal is able to defeat death. As soon as one’s “breath of life leaves” [“tê·ṣê rū·ḥōw”], when one becomes ‘dearly departed,’ the flesh “returns to the ground.” As the saying goes: “ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” The princely ruler, like everyone else, leaves a corpse behind, when its soul “departs.” The “day” [“yom”] of significance is then chiseled into a tombstone, as when one's life ended; and, from that time on there will be nothing new added to the list of “ideas” or “thoughts” that come from that human’s brain-lips. Those bodily parts of speech are no more.
The literal English translation of verse five is then, “blessed , the god of Jacob for his help , whose hope , in Yahweh his elohim .” In this verse there are both singular and plural forms of “el.” Because the name “Yahweh” is associated with “elohim” [as “’ĕ·lō·hāw” – “his gods”], the words “še·’êl ya·‘ă·qōḇ” are then not talking about an upper-case “God.” This relates to why “Yah-weh” does not translate as “Lord,” because Jacob had his own “god” [“še·’êl” – “whose god”] that was himself [self-worship] or a demonic possession [an unclean spirit as lord]. It is vital to realize that Jacob was a sinner, who cheated, stole, and lied, before his lower-g “god” was wrestled away from him, to be replaced by the divine possession of a Yahweh elohim, when his spiritual name became “Israel” [“He Retains God”]. Therefore, David was singing about how “blessed” Jacob was, by having his worldly “god” be replaced with the “hope” [“seber”] that came from his being renamed “Israel,” as a Yahweh elohim. The same hope of Jacob was given to David’s soul, and the offer of that hope was then extended to all who would thereafter sing this song from their hearts.
Verse six then sings out literally, “who made heaven and earth , the sea and all that is within , who preserves truth forever .” This is an important statement about Genesis 1, where all the scholars who read Moses, him having divinely given instructing to be written “gods created,” where the word “elohim” is written thirty-two times, with nary a mention of “Yah-weh.” Those Yahweh-less souls of scholars, who kneel and worship their "god" intelligence, read "gods" and then correct divine text to say "God." Because their fleshy brains think there could have been no “gods,” they reduce the omnipotence of Yahweh, with a stroke of their pens. The truth is this: the "elohim" were created by Yahweh. Yahweh is stated in Genesis 1:1a, as “in the beginning created elohim ,” [“bə·rê·šîṯ bā·rā ’ĕ·lō·hîm” from “reshith bara' elohim”], without His name needing to be mentioned. Who else could have "created elohim"? David is then confirming what was written in the Torah, by says “Yahweh elohaw” [Yahweh’s elohim] as being those divine creations of Yahweh “who made heaven and earth.” That confirms Jacob as another of “his elohim” [“elohaw”], created by Yahweh, in human flesh.
In the second segment of verse six, the “sea” must be seen as a separation from the Genesis theme, with the assumption being wrong to think “all that is within” refers to the fish in the sea. That is not the point here. The use of “sea” [“hay·yām” as “yam”] is not physical, but spiritual; because Yahweh did not create all that was made on the first six days of Creation. His elohim did (by His design). This means the “sea” takes us back to Psalm 104, where verse twenty-five referred to the “sea” [“hay·yām”] and verse twenty-six referred to the Leviathan, which was metaphor for the “sea” of “elohim” Yahweh unleashed upon the world and all that is in it. Therefore, the third segment is David singing about the presence of Yahweh within his soul-being, which gave David access to all truth that is forever preserved.
Verse seven then sings, “who brings justice to the oppressed , who sets bread before the hungry , Yahweh sets free those imprisoned .” Following the use of “lə·‘ō·lām” [from “olam”] at the end of verse six, meaning “forever” or the “long duration, antiquity, futurity” of eternity, the singing of “justice” [from “mishpat”] speaks of Judgment upon death, when a soul is released from its body of flesh. Those who have been “oppressed” in physical life, due to having sinned or having been persecuted from refusing to be influenced by worldly traps, the soul out of a body of flesh is free. This freedom comes to all eternal souls; but that release then leads to “judgment” [the truth of “mishpat”].
By seeing how this release of all souls at death is freedom, the second segment says all souls will be judged on how well they fed upon the “bread set before” them by Yahweh. Those who hunger for spiritual food [which should be all Israelites, including those named Christians] will have been nourished by the “bread of life” and become Yahweh elohim. Those who instead hungered for material “food” will have found that also set before them. This then says Judgment will be based on the type of “bread” hungered for in mortal existence.
The third segment of words in verse seven then sings of the length of “freedom” a soul receives. Those who fed on the “bread of life” will have become Yahweh’s hands on earth, thereby released forever from reincarnation, able to remain one with Yahweh in heaven. Others will not be so fortunate, as they will “those imprisoned” again, as only marriage to “Yahweh sets one free.” The prison is a body of flesh; and, the jailers are the temptations that rattle the cage bars.
In should be easily noted, based on my having restored “Yahweh” in the above English translation in bold type, that the third segment of verse seven begins a barrage of uses of “Yahweh” that are repeated in verse eight, before singular uses are found in verses nine and ten. Three uses of “Yahweh” lead each of three segments of words, which must be seen as the food set before a soul while it is in a body of flesh. Verse eight then literally sings, “Yahweh opens the blind , Yahweh raises those bowed down , Yahweh loves the righteous .” In that, Yahweh allows one to see the truth, which allows one to live according to His Will, thereby gaining the freedom of all souls who bow down before Him in marriage and live righteously from a marriage of “love.”
Verse nine then begins with continuation of this series of “Yahwehs” written, literally singing, “Yahweh preserves the sojourners , the orphan and widow he relieves ; but the journey of the wicked he makes crooked .” In the first segment of words, Yahweh is the preservative [from “šō·mêr” as “shamar”] that gives a soul insights that prevent one from being lured into wicked ways. The use of “gê·rîm,” the plural of “ger,” meaning “immigrants, aliens, strangers,” thereby “travelers,” speaks of an incarnation of a soul in human flesh. Because the flesh is bound to die, it is only a temporary home, such that a soul is a “sojourner” in one’s body. To keep a soul from getting lost ‘in the moment’ and selling a soul for temporary pleasures, Yahweh “keeps watch” for His wives.
In the second segment of words, the metaphor used is that of “orphans,” which can be seen as those who are “fatherless.” Likewise, the “widows” are metaphor for women who have lost their husbands. This means the “relief” that comes from marriage to Yahweh is He becomes the Father of those souls reborn as His Sons [in both male and female bodies of flesh] and the Husband of those souls whose material ‘gods’ are all dead, seeking redemption and eternal salvation through marriage to His Spirit.
In the third segment of words, the element of “crooked” [from “yə·‘aw·wêṯ” or “avath”] speaks not of a mortal life of waywardness, but of the judgment that comes from such an illusionary ‘life.’ The truth of the word is “to be bent,” meaning “bowed” into a U-shape. This then reflects on those souls not married to Yahweh being freed upon death, but then returned to the physical realm [that of death animated], as reincarnated souls. All that had been gained will have then been lost, meaning a soul will have to start all over again. As always, the purpose of reincarnation is to seek Yahweh, find Him, marry one’s soul to Him, and gain eternal freedom in judgment.
The tenth and final verse then sings literally, “shall be king Yahweh forever , your elohim Zion dwelling of all dwellings , praise Yah .” In this, the word “Zion” [“ṣî·yō·wn,” from “tsiyyon”] should be read as the archaic [pre-Israelite] meaning as “fortress.” It should not be given the specificity of a mountain named in Jerusalem. When this is understood, the first segment of words places focus on Yahweh being one’s soul’s “king,” which was what Yahweh told Samuel when the Israelites wanted a human to reign over them (like other nations). Eternal salvation is only possible when Yahweh is one’s “king.” For that to be the truth, then one’s soul marries Yahweh and His throne is within one’s soul-body, as an “elohim fortress” that is a divine “dwelling,” which can not be replaced by other “dwellings,” as would be reincarnated bodies in future lives on earth. For that judgment of freedom, that soul will be like David and “praise Yah.”
As the companion Psalm for Isaiah’s song of salvation and redemption through Yahweh, when the faithful will find all their pains and sufferings soothed, the lesson of Psalm 146 is to listen to David and realize life is only illusionary when a soul is animating a body of flesh. The call is to marry Yahweh and become His wife, giving birth to oneself as His Son [regardless of one’s present human gender]. One has to be elevated to the state of a Yahweh elohim, who are all souls who do the work of Yahweh on the material plane. That means being filled with His Spirit and letting Him lead one’s soul in ministry, which demands one walk a path of righteousness. That path cannot be mimicked or walked alone. Attempting that will lead to the misery of coming back to start all over again.
As a reading for the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, when one’s own personal ministry to Yahweh should already be well underway, the lesson is to “praise Yahweh.” One does not do that by memorizing prayers to orate publicly or by reading the latest scholarly insights published, relative to what Scripture means, because all of that work is taking what others have done and using it falsely as one’s own work. One’s own work is selfishness and single, afraid of marriage to Yahweh. To “praise Yahweh,” one must be one with Yahweh, letting one’s self-ego go, in submission to His Will. Then, the only opinion that matters is the truth of Yahweh, which flows from one’s righteous self, without forethought or memorization. To teach others to marry Yahweh, one must have the personal experience of Him. Artists depict that personal experience as a halo around one’s head. The halo takes the place of a human brain. A halo means one is a Saint, which David referred to as Yahweh elohim.