on the sheminith A harp of eight strings, known as sheminith, and so we find (in I Chron. 15: 21): “So-and-so and his sons on the sheminith to conduct.”

languish אמלל, devastated, and poor in strength, konfondouc in Old French, confounded, perplexed as “these feeble Jews (האמללים),” of Ezra (Neh. 3:34).

and You, O Lord, how long will You look on and not heal [me]?

Return, O Lord from Your anger.

rescue my soul from my illness.

every night I sully my bed Heb. אשׂחה an expression of (Lam. 3:45): “scum (סחי) and refuse”; (Isa. 5:25), “and their corpses were like spittle (כסוחה).” I sully my bed with tears. Menachem (p. 172), however, associated it with (Isa. 25:11): “as the swimmer (השׂחה) spreads out [his hands] to swim (לשׂחות),” and with (Ezek. 47:5), “water to swim in (שׂחו).”

I wet my couch with my tears I moisten and wet as with water.

is dimmed Heb. עשׁשׁה, an expression of a lantern (עשׁשׁית), an eye which has impaired vision and seems to see through glass [held] before its eyes. Menachem (p. 139) defines it as an expression of decay, and so every expression of עשׁ, like (below 31:1 1) “and my bones are wasted away (עשׁשׁו).”

it has aged Heb. עתקה. My eye has aged and become old in that its light has dimmed. Menachem (p. 139) associated it with (Gen. 12:8): “And he moved (ויעתק) from there to the mountain.”

because of all my adversaries Because of the troubles that distress me.

shall be ashamed and very frightened, etc. What is the meaning of “they shall return and be ashamed” a second time? Said Rabbi Johanan: In the future the Holy One, blessed be He, will judge the wicked of the nations of the world and sentence them to Gehinnom. Because they will complain to Him, He will take them back and again show them their records, and He returns them to Gehinnom. This is a double embarrassment. Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani says: In the future, every nation will call to its god, but it will not answer. Consequently, they will call to the Holy One, blessed be He. He will say to them, “Had you called Me first, I would have answered you. Now you have made the idols of primary importance and Me of secondary import. Therefore, I will not answer,” for it is stated (below 18:42): “They pray, but no one saves them.” This refers to the idols, and afterward, “to the Lord, but He answered them not.” Therefore, it is said: “they shall return and be ashamed.”

in a moment In a short time.