ayeleth hashachar The name of a musical instrument. Another explanation: Concerning the nation of Israel, which is a beloved hind (אילת אהבים), who looks forth like the dawn (שחר) (Song 6:10). Our Sages, however, interpreted it as referring to Esther (Mid. Ps. 22:1, Meg. 15b). Menachem (p. 22) interprets אילת as an expression of strength, as (verse 20): “My strength (אילותי), hasten to my assistance.”

השחר is an expression of dawn, but Menachem (p. 172) interprets it as an expression of seeking, as (in Prov. 11:27): “He who desires (שֹׁחֵר) good etc.” and as (ibid. 7:15) “to look (לשחר) for you.”

why have You forsaken me? They are destined to go into exile, and David recited this prayer for the future.

far from my salvation and from the words of my moaning.

I call out by day I call out to You every day, and You do not answer.

But You are holy and You wait to hear the praises of Israel from time immemorial.

But I am a worm He refers to all Israel as one man.

they will open Heb. יפטירו, they open, as (in Exod. 13:12, 13): “all that open (פטר) the womb,...and firstling (ופטר) of a donkey.” [Also] (in Prov. 17: 14): “like letting out (פוטר) water.”

One should cast his trust upon the Lord Heb. גֹּל like לגל, lit. to roll. A person should roll his burden and his load upon His Creator so that He rescue him.

drew me Heb. גחי, who took me out and drew me out, as (in Job 40:23): “he will draw (יגיח) the Jordan into his mouth.”

You made me secure on my mother’s breast You prepared breasts for a person, upon which to rely for sustenance.

Upon You, I was cast from birth I was cast from birth since You took me out of the womb, as Scripture states (in Isa. 46:3): “who are carried from birth.” From the time the tribes were born, He carried them and led them.

Great bulls Mighty kingdoms.

the mighty ones of Bashan That too is an expression of the bulls of Bashan, which are fat.

encompassed me Heb. כתרוני. They encompassed me like a crown (כתר), which encompasses the head.

a tearing lion Nebuchadnezzar.

like wax Wax, which melts from the heat of the fire.

my palate Heb. מלקוחי. This is the palate which is called palayc (palais) in Old French, gaumen in German. When a person is distressed, he has no saliva in his mouth. Menachem, however, interprets מלקוחי as etenayles in Old French (tongs), like (Isa. 6:6): “with tongs (במלקחים) he had taken it.” And the מלקוח is the teeth, which resemble a smith’s tongs. (The quotation from Menachem appears only in the Salonika edition of Rashi printed in 1515.)

and in the dust of death To the crushing of death.

You set me down Heb. תשפתני You set me down, an expression of setting a pot, as (in Ezek. 24:3, II Kings 4:38): “set on (שפת) the pot.” Menachem (p.179) interprets every expression of שפיתה as an expression of placing.

like a lion, my hands and feet As though they are crushed in a lion’s mouth, and so did Hezekiah say (in Isa. 38:13): “like a lion, so it would break all my bones.”

I tell about all my bones The pain of my bones.

They look They rejoice at my misfortune.

and cast lots for my raiment They plunder our property.

my strength Heb. אילותי, my strength, as (below 88:5): “I was as a man without strength (איל),” and as (Gen. 31:29): “It is within the power (לאל) of my hand.”

Save me from the lion’s mouth as You answered me from the horns of the wild oxen. This is the Amorite, “whose height is as the height of the cedar trees” (Amos 2:9); the thirty-one kings.

I will tell Your name to my brothers when any of my assemblies gathers, and so I will say to them, “You who fear the Lord, praise Him.” This refers to the proselytes, and “all the seed of Jacob.”

and fear Heb. וגורו, an expression of fear.

the cry of the poor Every [expression of] עניה in Scripture is an expression of a cry. ענות can also be interpreted as an expression of humility, as (in Exod. 10:3): “to humble yourself (לענת),” because he (the poor man) humbles himself and prays before You.

The humble shall eat at the time of our redemption in the days of our Messiah.

your hearts shall live forever I will say all this before them.

shall remember and return to the Lord The nations shall remember the evil that befell us when they see the good and return to the Lord.

For the kingship is the Lord’s For they will see that the kingship and the rule has returned to You.

They shall eat all the best of the earth and prostrate themselves Lit. they shall eat and prostrate themselves all the best of the earth. This is a transposed verse. The humble shall eat all the best of the earth and prostrate themselves to the Lord with praise and thanksgiving for the good. דשני means the good, the fat of the earth. [People at] all the ends of the earth will see all this and return to the Lord.

before Him shall...kneel Then all the dead of nations [will kneel] from Gehinnom but He will not have mercy upon them to revive their souls from Gehinnom.

his soul [The soul] of each one.

He will not quicken Lit. He did not quicken. Our Sages (Mid. Ps. 22:32) derived from this verse that the dead, before their death, at the time their soul is taken, see the countenance of the Shechinah.

The seed that worships Him The seed of Israel, who constantly worship Him.

it shall be told to the generation concerning the Lord Transpose the verse and explain it thus: It shall be told to the last generation in the name of the Lord and in His praise what He did for that seed.

They shall come The first ones shall come and tell His righteousness to the newborn people, for He performed righteous deeds for them.