← Western Sephardic Liturgical Classics
מִזְמוֹר שִׁיר לְיוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת
Mizmor Shir l’Yom haShabbat
Psalm 92 — “A song for the Sabbath day”
Text & translation
מִזְמוֹר שִׁיר לְיוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת
Mizmor shir l’yom haShabbat.
A psalm, a song for the Sabbath day.
טוֹב לְהֹדוֹת לַיְיָ וּלְזַמֵּר לְשִׁמְךָ עֶלְיוֹן
Tov l’hodot la-Adonai ul’zammer l’shimkha ʿelyon.
It is good to give thanks to God, and to sing to Your Name, Most High,
לְהַגִּיד בַּבֹּקֶר חַסְדֶּךָ וֶאֱמוּנָתְךָ בַּלֵּילוֹת
L’haggid baboker ḥasdekha, ve’emunat’kha balleilot.
to tell of Your kindness in the morning, and of Your faithfulness in the nights,
עֲלֵי־עָשׂוֹר וַעֲלֵי־נָבֶל עֲלֵי הִגָּיוֹן בְּכִנּוֹר
ʿAlei ʿasor vaʿalei navel, ʿalei higgayon b’khinnor.
upon the ten-stringed lute and the harp, to the murmur of the lyre.
כִּי שִׂמַּחְתַּנִי יְיָ בְּפׇעֳלֶךָ בְּמַעֲשֵׂי יָדֶיךָ אֲרַנֵּן
Ki simmaḥtani Adonai b’foʿolekha, b’maʿasei yadekha aranen.
For You have gladdened me, God, by Your work; at the deeds of Your hands I sing for joy.
Psalm 92; the opening of its sixteen verses.
About this piece
Psalm 92, the psalm appointed for the Sabbath day, sung as the Sabbath is received.
Its theme is the joy of giving thanks, and the flourishing of the righteous “like a palm-tree.”
Recordings — Daniel Halfon
London
In the living tradition
This music is the prayer of a living rite. It is sung today at Kehillah Kedoshah Zikhron Zvi, the egalitarian Western Sephardi congregation of the Hudson Valley — the community at the endpoint of the Program’s Sephardi Liturgy project.