is Your wrath kindled lit. do Your nostrils smoke. Whenever one is angry, the nostrils emit smoke.

which You acquired from time immemorial Before the creation of the world, as it is said (below 90: 1,2): “You were a dwelling place for us, etc., before mountains were formed.”

on which You dwelt Heb. זה שכנתבו, this upon which You dwelt. This is an improvement of the language, as (Isa. 42: 24): “against whom (זו) we sinned.” It is like אשר שכנתבו, on which You dwelt.

Raise Your blows to inflict eternal ruin Raise Your blows and Your terrors that Your enemies will experience as eternal ruin for every evil thing that the enemy did in the Temple. In this manner, Menachem (p. 144) associates it with (Gen. 41:8): “that his spirit was troubled (ותפעם).”

to...ruin Heb. למשאות, an expression of destruction, as (Isa. 24:12): “through desolation (שאיה)”; (Isa. 6:11), “and the ground lies waste (למשאות) and desolate.”

Your meeting place That is the Temple about which it is said (Exod. 25:22): וְנוֹעַדְתִּי לְךָ שָׁם, “There I will meet with you at appointed times.”

they made their signs for signs When they became powerful enough to destroy it, then they themselves accepted that the signs of their divination were true signs. Now what were their divinations? “He shook the arrows, he consulted the terafim.”

May he be known as though bringing on high; the hatchets were in the thicket of the trees The enemy knows that when he strikes the gates of the entrances of the Sanctuary, it was as though he was bringing his blows on high, even into the sky. Now how did he know it? For he would see that the trees would entangle, grasp, and swallow up the hatchets, as our Rabbis said (Sanh. 96b): One gate of Jerusalem swallowed them all up.

the hatchets were in the thicket of the trees Heb. בסבך-עץ, an expression of (Gen. 22:13): “caught in the thicket (בסבך).” The tree entangles them, and they become entangled in it.

And now although he saw that this troubled the Holy One, blessed be He, he did not refrain from striking all its entrances and all its gates together.

with hatchets and hammers They are tools of destruction used by carpenters (Jer. 46:22): “and will come against her with axes (ובקרדמות).” Jonathan renders: בּכשיליא. כֵּילַפּוֹת is Arabic. This is how Dunash (p. 34) explained it, and it is one of the carpenters’ tools.

they strike The enemies [strike].

They said in their heart, their rulers together Heb. נינם, their rulers, and similarly (above 72: 17): “his name will be magnified (ינון) ; (Prov. 29:21), “he will ultimately be a ruler (מנון).” All their rulers devise one plot, the first as the last: namely, to get at the protector of Israel first and afterwards they would get at them [Israel], You should know this by the fact that they burned all the meeting places of God in the land, all His meeting houses. The Philistines destroyed Shiloh; Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the First Temple; Titus destroyed the Second Temple.

our signs which You promised us through Your prophets—we have not seen them in the many days that we have been in exile. Asaph prophesied concerning the days of the (last) exile.

how long How long we will be in this trouble.

Draw it out from within Your bosom Cast it and draw it out from within Your bosom and wage battle with Your enemies. כַּלֵה is an expression of driving out, as (Exod. 11:1): “he will drive you out completely (כלה).”

But God is my King from time immemorial Behold, You were our salvation from time immemorial.

the beads of the sea monsters They are the Egyptians, who are called sea monsters, as it is said (Ezek. 29:3): “the great sea monster, etc.”

the heads of Leviathan Pharaoh is called [by] this [name], as it is said (Isa. 27:1): “the Lord will visit with His hard...sword on leviathan, etc.”

You give it as food to the people in companies You gave his money to the people of Israel to consume. in companies Heb. לציים. To the companies and hosts that You took out.

ציים are companies, as (Num. 24:24): “And companies from the Kittites,” which is translated as וסיען, and companies.

You split for Israel fountains from the rock.

You dried up the Jordan, which is a mighty river.

Day is Yours The redemption of Israel.

even night is Yours And they were with You in the darkness of the night.

You established the luminary and the sun You established the light of the Torah for them.

You set for them all the boundaries of their land with all good.

summer and winter—You formed them This is similar to (Jer. 5:24): “the weeks of the laws of harvest He keeps for us.” You did not alter for us the order of the years.

Remember how the enemy, etc. And since all our salvation is through You, remember how the enemy reviled You by destroying us.

Do not deliver to the company To the companies of the nations, as (II Sam. 23:11): “Now the Philistines were gathered together into a troop (לחיה).”

the soul of Your turtledove Heb. תורך, Your turtledove. And Jonathan rendered this as (sic) an expression of turtledoves and young pigeons. This turtledoveas soon as the male recognizes its mate, it does not mate with another. So have Israel not exchanged You for another god, although You have distanced Yourself from them and they were like a widow.

the soul of Your poor ones Heb. חית ענייך, the soul of Your poor ones.

Look to the covenant which You formed with our forefathers.

with dwellings of violence Heb. נאות חמס, a dwelling of violence, an expression of a dwelling place.

Let not the poor turn back in disgrace Let the poor not turn back from before You disgraced in his prayer.

Your disgrace Your blasphemies, as (verse 18): “Remember how the enemy reviled.”