Batyah Ginzberg has rewritten and reinterpreted the Hebrew Psalms originally written by King David in an effort to achieve an impact on spiritual healing. They have a traditional Jewish orientation. Batyah Ginzberg views HASHEM as gender rich in gender orientation possessing characteristics present universally in both genders and as a non-physical imageless spiritual entity, not a mortal human being or a ghost. The Psalms included are Psalms 78-150.






Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Psalm 78



Listen, give ear, My people, to My teaching;
turn your ears to the holy words from My sweet mouth.
I will speak to you in parables as poetry to your ears
and explain mysteries from former days of old.
The things which we have heard and known,
and which our fathers and mothershave earnestly told us
we will not hide from their family descendants;
we will tell the generation to come
the praises of HASHEM's incredible power and strength,
the multitude of wonders that has been performed by our Leader.
5 Raised up a testimony in Ya‘akov
and established a Torah in Isra’el, the Book of Life.
S/He commanded our ancient ancestors
to make this known to their children and to us,
so that the next generation would have the wisdom, the secrets and knowledge,
the children not yet born,
who would themselves arise
and tell their own children, generation after generation,
who could then put their confidence in G-d The Almighty,
not forgetting G-d’s good deeds, G-d’s mitzvoth,
but obeying G-d’s mitzvoth.
Then they would not be like their ancestors,
a stubborn, rebellious generation,
a generation with unprepared hearts,
with spirits unfaithful to G-d.
The people of Efrayim, though armed like the greatest warriors with bows and arrows,
turned their backs on the day of battle.
10 They did not keep the covenant of G-d
and refused to live by G-d’s good Torah.
11 They forgot what G-d had done, ignored all the signs and miracles,
G-d’s wonders which G-d had shown them.
12 HASHEM had done wonderful things
in the presence of their ancestors
in the land of Egypt,
in the region of Tzo‘an.
13 HASHEM split the raging sea and made them pass through,
HASHEM made the rushing waters stand up like a formidable wall.
14 HASHEM also led them by day with a white cloud in the deep blue sky
and all night long with candle light from a fierce fire.
15 HASHEM broke apart the strong heavy rocks in the dry desert
and let them sumptuously drink as if from boundless depths;
16 yes, HASHEM brought wet streams out of the parched rock,
making the water flow down like long rivers.
17 Yet they dared to defy G-d and sinned still more against HASHEM,
rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High;
18 in their hearts they tested G-d,
by demanding fancy foods that would satisfy their endless cravings.
19 Yes, they spoke against G-d by asking,
“Can G-d spread a table in the desert?
20 True, HASHEM struck the rock, and water gushed out,
until the vadis overflowed;
but what about bread? Can HASHEM give that?
Can HASHEM provide meat for His?Her people?”
21 Therefore, when HASHEM was tested and tried, G-d heard  these whimpering voices and S/He was angry;
hot white fire blazed up against Ya‘akov;
anger mounted against Isra’el;
22 because they forgot to follow the Commandments and had no faith in G-d,
no trust in HASHEM'S extreme power to save them.
23 So HASHEM commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven.
24 rained down manna on them as food;
HASHEM gave them grain from heaven —
25 mortals ate the bread of angels;
HASHEM provided for them to the full.
26 S/He stirred up the east wind in heaven,
brought on the south wind by great almighty power,
27 and rained down meat on them like dust,
birds flying thick as the sand on the seashore.
28 HASHEM let them fall in the middle of their camp,
all around their small tents.
29 So they ate till they were satisfied;
S/He gave them what they craved.
30 They were still fulfilling their craving,
the food was still in their mouths,
31 when the anger of G-d rose up against them
and slaughtered their strongest men,
laying low the young men and women of Isra’el.
32 Still, they kept on sinning and committing wrongs,
and put no faith in His/Her wonders.
33 Therefore, S/He ended their days in futility
and their years in terror.
34 When S/He brought death among them, they would seek HASHEM;
they would repent and seek G-d eagerly,
35 remembering that G-d was their firm Rock,
El ‘Elyon their Redeemer.
36 But they tried to deceive G-d with their unkind words,
they lied with their forked tongues;
37 for their hearts were not right, they fell to temptation,
and they were unfaithful to HASHEM'S Covenant.
38 Yet he, because S/He is full of compassion,
forgave their sin and did not destroy;
many times S/He turned away anger and jealousy
and didn’t rouse all His/Her wrath.
39 So S/He remembered that they were but human flesh,
a wind that blows past and does not return.
40 How often they rebelled against G-d in the desert
and grieved Him/Her in the wastelands!
41 Repeatedly they challenged G-d
and pained the Holy One of Isra’el.
42 They didn’t remember how G-d used His/Her mighty but gentle hand
on the day S/He redeemed them from their wicked enemy,
43 how S/He displayed signs in Egypt,
Wonders in the region of Tzo‘an.
44Turned their winding rivers into red blood,
so they couldn’t drink from their streams.
45Sent swarms of hateful flies, which devoured them,
and frogs, which destroyed them.
46 HASHEM gave their harvest to shearer-worms,
the fruit of their labor to millions of locusts.
47 HASHEM destroyed their vineyards with baseball-sized hail
and their sycamore-figs with freezing frost.
48 Their oxen and cattle too G-d gave over to the hail
and their flocks to burn as lightning bolts struck them.
49 HASHEM sent over them His/Her horrible fierce anger,
fury, indignation and trouble,
with a company of destroying good messenger angels
50 to clear a path for G-d's very piercing powerful wrath.
G-d did not spare them from becoming corpses in death,
but gave them over to the sickness of a plague,
51 striking all the firstborn in Egypt,
the first fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52 But G-d's own people S/He kindly led out like sheep,
guiding them like a flock of birds like babies lost in the desert.
53 HASHEM led them home to the Promised Land safely, and they weren’t afraid,
even when the sea overwhelmed their foes.
54  G-d brought them to the holy land,
to the hill-country won by G-d's right hand.
55 S/He expelled nations before them,
apportioned them property to inherit
and made Isra’el’s tribes live in their tents.
56 Yet they tested El ‘Elyon
and rebelled against G-d,
refusing to obey G-d's holy instructions.
57 They turned away and were faithless, rebellious like their fathers and mothers;
they were unreliable, like a bow without tension.
58 They provoked G-d with their arrogant behavior and high places
and made G-d jealous with their idols and images.
59 G-d heard, and G-d was terrifically angry;
G-d came to detest Isra’el completely.
60 S/He abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh,
the tent S/He had made where S/He could live among people.
61 HASHEM gave His/Her strength into exile,
His/Her pride to the power of the foe.
62 S/He gave His/Her people over to the sword
and G-d grew angry with G-d's own heritage.
63 Fire consumed their strong young men and women,
their beautiful virgins had no wedding-song,
64 their Kohanim fell by the bloody sword,
and their widows could not weep.
65 Then HASHEM awoke, as if from a deep sedated sleep,
like a warrior shouting for joy from red sweet strong wine.
66 G-d mercilessly struck His/Her foes, driving them back
and putting them to perpetual head-hanging shame.
67 Rejecting the tents of Yosef
and passing over the tribe of Efrayim,
68 HASHEM chose the tribe of Y’hudah,
Mount Tziyon, which S/He loved.
69  G-d built a sanctuary like the high heights;
like the earth, and made it to last forever and ever.
70 HASHEM chose David to be His/Her obedient servant,
taking him from the sheep-yards;
71 from tending nursing ewes S/He brought him
to shepherd Ya‘akov the people,
Isra’el G-d's heritage.
72 With upright heart G-d shepherded them
and guided them with gentle, kind, loving, and skillful hands. 

Monday, October 19, 2015

Psalm 79

 

A psalm of Asaf:
 
Dearest HASHEM my G-d, the pagans have entered Your heritage.
They have defiled and destroyed Your holy temple
and turned Yerushalayim into a devasted state of crumbling rubble.
They have given the corpses of Your holy priests, Your servants
as leftover food for the vulture birds in the air,
yes, the flesh of those faithful to You
for the wild animals like the wolves, of the earth.
All around Yerushalayim
they have shed their life source blood like weak thin water,
and no one is left to bury them decently in the ground.
We suffer the  haunting taunts of our unloving neighbors,
we are mocked and scorned by those around us.
How long, HASHEM?
Will You be angry forever?
How long will Your jealousy over our transgressions burn like fire?
Pour out Your wrath instead on the nations that don’t know You,
on the kingdoms that don’t call out Your name;
for they have devoured Ya‘akov
and left his home a waste.
Don’t count past iniquities against us, we are sorry so please forgive us,
but let your compassion  and love and understanding come quickly to meet us,
for we have been brought very low before those who hate us.
Help us, G-d HASHEM of our salvation,
for the sake of the glory of Your name HASHEM which means THE NAME..
Deliver us, forgive our sins,
for Your name’s sake, for we love Your Name.
Why should the nations ask,
“Where is their God?”
Let the vengeance taken on your servants’ shed blood
be known among the nations before our eyes.
Let the constant moaning groaning of the captives come before You;
by Your great strength save those condemned to a horrible death.
Repay our neighbors sevenfold where they can feel it
for the insults they inflicted on You, HASHEM.
Then we, Your loving, honorable, chosen people the Israelites and the flock in Your pasture,
will give You praise and gracious thanks forever, for all eternity.
From generation to generation always,
we will proclaim Your praise.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Psalm 80



Shepherd and good prophet of Isra’el, listen!
You who lead Yosef like a flock,
You whose throne is on the k’ruvim,
shine out!
Before Efrayim, Binyamin and M’nasheh,
Rouse your great power; and come to save us from ourselves and all harm.
God, restore us!
Make Your face shine, and we will be saved.
ELOHIM,, God of armies, how long
will You be seething and angry with Your people’s prayers of forgiveness?
You have fed them wet sad tears as their soft bread
and made them drink those tears in abundance.
You cause our neighbors to fight over us,
and our enemies mock us.
God of armies, please fight for us, restore us!
Make Your face shine, and we will be saved.
You brought a purple grape vine out of Egypt,
you expelled the nations and planted it,
You cleared a growing space for it;
then it took root firmly and filled the  good land and we were prosperous.
The mountains were covered with its cooling shade,
the strong mighty red cedars with its firm branches;
It put out branches as far as we could see the vast sea
and shoots to the long and winding [Euphrates] River.
Why did you break down [the vineyard’s] vines growing up the wall,
so that all passing by can pluck [its fruit]?
The boar from the plush forest tears it apart with its gripping sharp teeth;
wild creatures from the fields feed hungrily on it.
ELOHIM,, God of armies, please come back!
Look down from the heights of heaven, see, and tend this breaking dry vine!
Protect what your all-knowing right hand planted,
the child you made strong for yourself.
It is burned by fierce hot fire, it is chopped and cut down;
they perish at your angry frown of rebuke.
Help your servants, the people at your right hand,
the people you made strong for yourself.
Then we won’t turn away from you —
If you revive us, we will call on your name.
ELOHIM, God of armies, restore us!
Make your face shine, and we will be saved.

Psalm 81

Sing for joy to HASHEM our great and powerful stronghold!
Shout to the God of Ya‘akov!
Start the music! Clang the cymbals! Tap your foot! Beat the drum!
Play the sweet lyre and the lute!
Sound the shofar at Rosh-Hodesh
and at full moon for the pilgrim feast,
because this is a sacred holy law for Isra’el,
a ruling of the God of Ya‘akov.
HASHEM placed it as a testimony in Y’hosef
when he went out against the land of Egypt.
I heard a strange and unfamiliar voice say,
“I lifted the load from his shoulder;
his hands were freed from the [laborer’s] basket.
You called out when you were in trouble,
and I rescued you;
I answered you from the heavens above, from a thundercloud;
I tested you at the M’rivah Spring [by saying,] (Selah)
“‘Hear, my people, while I give you warning!
Isra’el, if you would only listen to me!
There is not to be with you any foreign god;
you are not to worship an alien god.
I am Adonai your God,
who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth, and I will fill it.’
"“But my people did not listen to my voice;
Isra’el would have none of me.
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to live by their own plans.
How I wish my people would listen to me,
that Isra’el would live by my ways!
I would quickly subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.
Those who hate Adonai would cringe before him,
while [Isra’el’s] time would last forever.
 They would be fed with the finest wheat,
and I would satisfy you with honey from the rocks.”
 
 

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Psalm 82

ELOHIM [God] stands tall and stately in the Divine and Holy assembly; there with the ELOHIM [judges], God judges: “How long will you go on judging unfairly, favoring the wicked? Selah. Give justice to the stranger, poor, needy, motherless, fatherless, widow, weak and destitute! Uphold the rights of the wretched and poverty-stricken! Rescue the compassionate and true at heart, help the needy; deliver us from the ruthless power of the wicked!” Soothe us, comfort us, keep us. They don’t know, they don’t understand, they wander about in darkness blindly; meanwhile, all the foundations of the earth are being undermined. “My decree is: ‘You are ELOHIM [gods, judges], sons of the Most High all of you. Nevertheless, you will die like mortals, mortals who do not save; like any prince, you will fall.’” Rise up, ELOHIM, and judge the earth; for all the nations are Yours.

Psalm 83

O God, call to me, don’t remain silent! Don’t stay quiet, God, or still; because here are Your vicious unrelenting enemies, causing an huge uproar; those who despicably hate You are raising their stiff-necked heads, craftily conspiring against Your Jewish people, consulting together against those You treasure as Your Chosen Ones. They say, “Come, let’s wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Isra’el be remembered no more!” With one mind they plot their schemes; the covenant they have made is against You, to destroy You —the tents of Edom and the Yishma‘elim, Mo’av and the Hagrim, G’val, ‘Amon and ‘Amalek, P’leshet with those living in Tzor; Ashur too is allied with them, to reinforce the descendants of Lot. Do to them as You did to Midyan, to Sisra and Yavin at Vadi Kishon — they were destroyed at ‘Ein-Dor and became manure for the ground. Make their leaders like ‘Orev and Ze’ev, all their princes like Zevach and Tzalmuna, who said, “Let’s take possession of God’s kingdom for ourselves.” My God, make them like whirling dust, like chaff driven by the wind. Like burning hot fire scorching up the forest, like the fire of a red flame that sets the mountains ablaze, drive them away with your threatening thunderstorms and bright electrified lightening, terrify them with your tempest. Fill their faces with shame and hang their guilty heads, so that they will seek your name, HASHEM. Let them be ashamed and fearful forever; yes, let them die 100 deaths, perishing in disgrace. Let them know that You alone, whose name is HASHEM are the Most High over all the earth.

 

Psalm 84

How gorgeous is Your heavenly home and dwelling place, HASHEM Almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints, to be able to spend a moment with You. My heart, mind and body cry out for the greatest of all gods: HASHEM. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may birth and feed her young, to have a family—a place near your altar, HASHEM Almighty, my Sovereign and my God. Blessed are those who live to praise You. Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on a journey to find You. As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of luscious lakes ands springs; the autumn stormy rains also cover it with puddles and pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion. Hear my supplications, listen to my chanting, answer my prayer, Lord God Almighty; Come to me, God of Jacob. Look on our shield, O God; Look with favor on your anointed one. Better is one day thinking of you, than a thousand days doing something else; I would rather be a servant and keeper of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord bestows favor and honor; No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. Although no one is perfect, and HASHEM forgives. HASHEM Lord Almighty, Holy is the one who trusts in you.
 
 

Psalm 85

Dearest HASHEM, You have freed me, I am free because You have released me from captivity, You have been favorable to me and to Jacob; You have forgiven me and my trespasses, I did teshuvah for my sins. Selah. You are no longer angry with me, You have no wrath. Turn toward us, O God and cause all Your anger to cease. Will You be angry with us forever for our sins? Will You be angry at my children for my sins? And their children? Revive me O Lord, so I can dance again and rejoice in thee now that You have forgiven me. Show me mercy, grant me salvation. I will listen to You speak O HASHEM, I will harken to all Your words I read in The Torah, Your words are words of peace, and I will try not to sin again. I fear You, know that I fear You and have mercy on me. Mercy and truth are one, righteousness and peace have kissed one another. Truth will be on everyone's lips, it will spring out of the earth, and righteousness will rain down upon us all from the heavens. Yes, God will give us all good things, and we shall be prosperous and holy as we follow HASHEM. Righteousness will follow all of my actions and thoughts, and I shall be guided by You and the 613 Commandments.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Psalm 86

O HASHEM, I bow to You, please lend me Your ear, listen to me, hear me, I am poor and needy, and I need You.
Preserve me, cause me to survive, for I am holy, for I do my best to follow You and Your holy teachings, save me as Your servant because I trust in You.
I cry to You everyday and sing to You, worship You and thank You. So please O HASHEM, have mercy on me.
Make me happy, rejoice the soul of Your servant, for it is You who I love, O HASHEM, unto You I lift up my soul.
For You O God, are exceedingly all good and kind, and You always forgive me, You are always ready to forgive my disappointments, and You are merciful to all who beg You to forgive.
Please O God, O SHEKINAH, answer my prayers, hear them and give voice to my cries.
When I need You, I know You are always there, and it is You who I will call when I am troubled the most, it is to You who I will cry, because I know You will help me.
No other gods match up to You O HASHEM, ADONAI, LORD, my dearest God. No other gods works come anywhere near Yours in greatness and beauty.
All nations, countries, continents, lands and cities will bow before You, to worship You, to glorify Your Name HASHEM.
For You are the greatest, You have done and will do wondrous things for me, You alone as One God.
Teach me how to be good to You, how to glorify and thank You, I will seek Your truths and fear You.
I will praise You with all my heart, soul, mind and body, with everything I  have, and I will love Your Name HASHEM.
You have delivered me from Sheol, from destruction, from a life of living in unhappiness, You are merciful to me and have saved my soul.
O God, there are arrogant and violent people who seek to destroy me, who are after me, and who want to hurt me, evil men have sought my soul, and they have not put You first.
It is only You who are truly good to me, You are truthful, You are full of compassion, You are gracious and long suffering, and have mercy upon me.
O HASHEM, turn to me, hear me, answer me, give me strength and save me.
Show me a token for good, that they which hate and seek to destroy me may see it, and be ashamed and withdraw their warfare, because You God have helped me and comforted me.

 

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Psalm 87

 His home is in the sky, in the architecture of the holy mountains, up in a mountain where the rent is free. HASHEM loves the mountains of Zion more than He loves the dwellings of Jacob. The dwellings of Jacob, with red carpets, polished silver, and the luxuries of a rich man's mansion, HASHEM turns down. Instead He prefers the open spaces of the home of the homeless man, the mountains with the rivers and flowing streams is where HASHEM dwells instead. I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to those that know Me, Behold Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia, this man was born there. Yes, it is the stranger, the man who is born in these areas who God mentions: the stranger, the poor man, the widow, the fatherless, the motherless; not the Kings and Queens does HASHEM mention. God loves the man of Zion, regardless of where he came from, where he was born, or who are his associations and family. HASHEM loves all of those who keep His Commandments and worship and thank Him. As well the singers, the players on instruments shall be there, all My springs are in thee.