[Flourished in Spain during the tenth century. Owing to some quarrels, he left his native country, and went to Damascus. He was an eminent talmudic scholar and liturgic poet, and is said to have translated the entire Talmud into Arabic. Only a small number of his poems have been preserved, but they tend to show that he was a skilful poet with intense religious fervor. Some of them are of ingenious and complicated structure.]
1. Hymn Based on Psalm 120[78]
O God, be gracious unto me on the day I hasten to praise Thee; forgive my sins, and judge me not according to my deeds; when with a Song of Ascents I cry to Thee, make clear to me: ‘In my distress I called unto the Lord, and He answered me.’
For Thee, O God, my soul has ever pined; through the abundance of my sins I have no respite; wipe off, I pray Thee, all my sins, the known and the unknown,—O Lord, deliver my soul from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue.
I said unto deceitful Uz[79]: ‘Shalt thou for ever walk upright in thy wantonness? Gehenna is prepared for thee as thy apportioned lot.—What shall be given unto thee, and what shall be done more unto thee, thou deceitful tongue?’
My presumptuous sins are marked before Thee; they are bound up in bundles, engraved, and sealed. Prepare a feast for them that are benign to the guileless people;—sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of broom!
Majestic Lord, before Thee are my sorrows; among the multitude of thorns I am well-nigh destroyed. But a short while I lived in magnificent dwellings; woe is me, that I sojourn with Meshech, that I dwell beside the tents of Kedar.
All my oppressors smite me with horror; in the presence of my enemies I feel deeply ashamed; all the backsliders hate me with an everlasting hate; my soul hath full long had her dwelling with him that hateth peace.
O Most High, console Thy people that is disconsolate; to her that is unpitied turn Thou, and be merciful. My adversaries say: ‘No comfort shalt thou ever see.’—I am all peace; but when I speak, they are for war.
Whenever it is time for praise, I cry to Thee, my God; as I set forth my prayers, show Thy kindness unto me. To praise Thee, O Praised One, I kept awake at night—accept Thou then my prayer with the Song of Ascents.
2. Hymn Based on Psalm 121
When I come, O Creator, to proclaim Thy unity, turn unto me! Forgive my sins, and heed not my wicked thoughts; with this my Song of Ascents I cry unto Thee, O my Crown. I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains: from whence shall my help come?
Woe to the daughter who derides the ancients of the earth; but when I hear her mockery, I boldly answer thus: ‘My Redeemer lives for ever; He dwells in the lofty skies—my help cometh from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.’
The persecutor smites the multitudes who extol Thee (behold, they have no other hope but in Thy words alone); presumptuously he mocks the words of Thy Psalms: He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: He that keepeth thee will not slumber.
When the wanton ones take counsel together, they plan to destroy the remnant of Ariel; but Israel says: Trust ye in God our Redeemer;—behold, He that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep.
May now the trust of Thy believers be made strong and firm, according to the psalmist’s words who sings Thy songs of joy: When terror seizes thee, the Lord shall be thy refuge; the Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
My trust I put in Thee, O Dweller in the skies above; I stay myself upon the psalmist’s words who sings jubilantly: In thy Creator put thy trust, always rely on Him; the sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The multitude of Thy saints come before Thee; they loudly sing Thy praises in Thy holy sanctuaries; the remnant of them that seek Thee say to one another: ‘The Lord shall keep thee from all evil; He shall keep thy soul.’
All Thy beloved ones together raise their voice, and say: ‘With perfect heart sing ye unto the Living God; He who understands all secrets will hear your cry; The Lord shall guard thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth and for ever.’
3. Hymn Based on Psalm 122
When I draw nigh to extol Thee amidst a poor and needy people, strengthen Thou my remnant scattered in all regions. With this my Song of Ascents I cry to Thee, O King: I rejoiced when they said unto me: ‘Let us go unto the house of the Lord.’
For my perversity I have been given twofold punishment; announce Thou consolations to the barefoot people.[80] The people, whose feet Thou makest strong, shall proclaim Thy greatness;—our feet are standing within thy gates, O Jerusalem!
Establish Thou the pillars of Thy desolate temple; the measurements thereof make wondrous fair, and wide, and long. This miracle shall strike with confusion him who destroyed the desirable things thereof: Jerusalem that was built as a city that is compact together.
The righteous song regard with favor; may it be Thy will to gladden with the redeemer’s coming them that trust in Thee. Thy banished children shall go up to erect Ariel, whither the tribes went up, even the tribes of the Lord, as a testimony unto Israel.
Destroy them that strive with me, and increase their tribulations; enslave the tyrant;—for there were set thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
Bring good tidings to them that sanctify Thee and sing Thy words—they that are led by a fiery wall near Thee; I shall rejoice near Thy shield, and hear Thy pleasing words: ‘Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; may they prosper that love thee.’
O city of the Lord, rejoice, and increase thy lays; burst forth with song, exult, make thy melodies great; I shall fill thy utterances with joy and exultation; peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.
They that wait for Thy utterance shall lift up their voice together; they that sanctify Thy unity shall sing new melodies; they that are satisfied with bliss from Thee shall proclaim peace; for my brethren and companions’ sakes I will now say: ‘Peace be within thee.’
Increase the glory of the stronghold in Thy border; mayest Thou hear from Thy habitation the praises which we utter; may the wisdom of Thy anointed be spoken in Thy temple: for the sake of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good.
4. Hymn Based on Psalm 123
When I seek Thee amongst them that proclaim Thy unity twice, that hope for the day of Thy wonders to be redeemed from their two exiles, I pour out my heart like water in the Song of Ascents; unto Thee I lift mine eyes, O Thou that art enthroned in the heavens.
O Give ear unto Thy people’s groans and hear their supplications, when they draw near to Thee to set forth their hymns of praise, and when, humbly kneeling, they lift their eyes to Thee: behold, as the eyes of servants unto the hand of their master.
Deliver from destruction them that seek Thy face; hasten Thy salvation in due time to them that pray for it; look on the afflicted people’s woes, when it renders thanks to Thee: as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress.
Remember Thy lovingkindness, O God, our Shield; O pity us, have mercy, and forgive our sins; O Thou that art pure, we ever seek Thee, answer us;—so our eyes look unto the Lord our God, until He be gracious unto us.
Despise not the woes of the remnant of the plundered ones, for the tents of Uz and Buz devoured and destroyed them; Jeush hastes to trample on us, and Buz[81] speeds to spoil; be gracious unto us, O Lord, be gracious unto us; for we are full sated with contempt.
Tribulations have beset us, and have humbled our heads; we have been left groaning, entangled in our snares. Through the abundance of our guilt, with filth and bitterness our soul is full sated.
The company of the needy ones, that have escaped and still remain, hope for Thy righteous acts, O Highest of all high. They that are filled with tribulations set forth their meditations;—with the scorning of those that are at ease and with the contempt of the proud oppressors.
