Praise God! My soul, praise Adonoy. I will praise Adonoy with my life; I will sing to my God as long as I live. Do not place your trust [even] in noble men,¹³ in man who has no [power of] deliverance. [When] his spirit departs, he returns to his earth;¹⁴ of all the world they are the one possession which is guaranteed to him.—S.R. Hirsch on that day his plans come to naught. Fortunate [is he] when the Almighty of Jacob is his help,¹⁵ whose expectation is on Adonoy, his God. He makes heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them; He keeps His promises faithfully forever.¹⁶ He performs justice for the oppressed; He gives bread to the hungry; Adonoy releases the imprisoned. Adonoy gives sight to the blind; Adonoy straightens the bent. Adonoy loves the righteous. Adonoy protects strangers; the orphan and widow He enables to stand firm; and the way of the wicked He thwarts. Adonoy will reign forever; your God, Zion, throughout all generations. Praise God.

footnotes: ¹³ According to the Sages, it is implied that one should not rely even on the merit of his sainted ancestors, the Patriarchs, for deliverance. ¹⁴ Only the four cubits of ground which will receive him one day are his; ¹⁵ Jacob, more than anyone, sensed God’s nearness and protection throughout his difficult life and through all the trials to which he was subjected.—S.R. Hirsch ¹⁶ He alone has always proven dependable and faithful, for there are no limits to His essence and to His power.—Ibn Ezra, Radak