Adapted from A Mizmor of David (Psalm 8)

 

To the Preeminent Musician

To be performed on the Gittiyth (a harp of Gath)

For Sukkot

 

YAHUAH Adoneynu

 

O, YAHUAH, Adoneynu,

How excellent Your name in all the earth!

Who has set Your Splendor

Above the heavens,

Above the visible arch of sky

Where the celestial bodies revolve,

With waters beneath and above

The space cleared by Ruah!

 

O, ALOHIM,

From the mouth of infants

And nursing mothers,

You have brought forth

Your praise.

You have laid the foundation

Of strength

And of boldness,

For the purpose of

Those who travail,

Because of the adversary,

The foe who causes

Distress,

Narrowness,

Vexation.

 

That You might rest

From Your labors—

Shabbat—

That You might bring to an end

Your haters

And be avenged upon the vengeful.

 

I look intently

Upon the face

Of the lofty sky.

I observe

Your achievement,

Those things You have made,

Your labors,

The place

Where You dipped

The fingers of your feet.

I see the moon,

And the blazing star,

Your progeny,

Which You established

And arranged to be steadfast.

What is mankind—

Mortal, weak and frail—

That You remember him,

The sons of A’dam

That You watch over them?

 

You have caused him

To lack,

To be in need,

To decrease

And be smaller,

Less

Than ELOHIM,

Than the mighty rulers,

The divine judges,

And the mighty ones,

Yet with abundance,

Riches,

Honor,

You encircled him.

 

You have given him

Dominion over Your achievement,

He reigns over the labors

Of Your hands.

You appointed him for this,

You lay these at his feet,

Like the sweetness

Of a woman in subjection

Beneath him.

You give increase

Of family,

Flocks,

Oxen—

All these and more,

The wild beast—

Behemoth—

And the fields,

The sparrow

Of the arched sky,

The fish,

That great traveler,

Across the westward sea.

 

O, YAHUAH ADONEYNU,

How excellent is Your name

In all the earth!