We kindle these lights [to commemorate] the saving acts, miracles and wonders which You have performed for our forefathers, in those days at this time, through Your holy priests. Throughout the eight days of Chanukah, these lights are sacred, and we are not permitted to make use of them, but only to look at them, in order to offer thanks and praise to Your great Name for Your miracles, for Your wonders and for Your salvations.
30
A psalm of David. A song for the dedication of the House.aI.e., the Temple.
I extol You, O LORD,
for You have lifted me up,
and not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O LORD, my God,
I cried out to You,
and You healed me.
O LORD, You brought me up from Sheol,
preserved me from going down into the Pit.
O you faithful of the LORD, sing to Him,
and praise His holy name.
For He is angry but a moment,
and when He is pleased there is life. bOr “Weeping may linger for the night.”One may lie down weeping at nightfall;-b
but at dawn there are shouts of joy.
When I was untroubled,
I thought, “I shall never be shaken,”
for You, O LORD, when You were pleased,
made [me]cFollowing Saadia, R. Isaiah of Trani; cf. Ibn Ezra. firm as a mighty mountain.
When You hid Your face,
I was terrified.
I called to You, O LORD;
to my Lord I made appeal,
“What is to be gained from my death,dLit. “blood.”
from my descent into the Pit?
Can dust praise You?
Can it declare Your faithfulness?
Hear, O LORD, and have mercy on me;
O LORD, be my help!”
You turned my lament into dancing,
you undid my sackcloth and girded me with joy,
that [my] whole being might sing hymns to You endlessly;
O LORD my God, I will praise You forever.
90
May the favor of the Lord, our God, be upon us;
let the work of our hands prosper,
O prosper the work of our hands!
91
O you who dwell in the shelter of the Most High
and abide in the protection of Shaddai—
I say of the LORD, my refuge and stronghold,
my God in whom I trust,
that He will save you from the fowler’s trap,
from the destructive plague.
He will cover you with His pinions;
you will find refuge under His wings;
His fidelity is an encircling shield.
You need not fear the terror by night,
or the arrow that flies by day,
the plague that stalks in the darkness,
or the scourge that ravages at noon.
A thousand may fall at your left side,
ten thousand at your right,
but it shall not reach you.
You will see it with your eyes,
you will witness the punishment of the wicked.
Because you took the LORD—my refuge,
the Most High—as your haven,
no harm will befall you,
no disease touch your tent.
For He will order His angels
to guard you wherever you go.
They will carry you in their hands
lest you hurt your foot on a stone.
You will tread on cubs and vipers;
you will trample lions and asps.
“Because he is devoted to Me I will deliver him;
I will keep him safe, for he knows My name.
When he calls on Me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in distress;
I will rescue him and make him honored;
I will let him live to a ripe old age,
and show him My salvation.”
(Read 90 and 91 seven (7) times)
67
For the leader; with instrumental music. A psalm. A song.
May God be gracious to us and bless us;
may He show us favor, selah
that Your way be known on earth,
Your deliverance among all nations.
Peoples will praise You, O God;
all peoples will praise You.
Nations will exult and shout for joy,
for You rule the peoples with equity,
You guide the nations of the earth. Selah.
The peoples will praise You, O God;
all peoples will praise You.
May the earth yield its produce;
may God, our God, bless us.
May God bless us,
and be revered to the ends of the earth.
O mighty stronghold of my salvation,
to praise You is a delight.
Restore my House of Prayer
and there we will bring a thanksgiving offering.
When You will have prepared the slaughter
for the blaspheming foe,
Then I shall complete with a song of hymn
the dedication of the Altar.
My soul had been sated with troubles,
my strength has been consumed with grief.
They had embittered my life with hardship,
with the calf-like kingdom’s bondage.
But with His great power
He brought forth the treasured ones,
Pharaoh’s army and all his offspring
Went down like a stone into the deep.
To the holy abode of His Word He brought me.
But there, too, I had no rest
And an oppressor came and exiled me.
For I had served aliens,
And had drunk benumbing wine.
Scarcely had I departed
At Babylon’s end Zerubabel came.
At the end of seventy years I was saved.
To sever the towering cypress
sought the Aggagite, son of Hammedatha,
But it became [a snare and] a stumbling block to him
and his arrogance was stilled.
The head of the Benjaminite You lifted
and the enemy, his name You obliterated
His numerous progeny – his possessions –
on the gallows You hanged.
Greeks gathered against me
then in Hasmonean days.
They breached the walls of my towers
and they defiled all the oils;
And from the one remnant of the flasks
a miracle was wrought for the roses.
Men of insight – eight days
established for song and jubilation
Bare Your holy arm
and hasten the End for salvation –
Avenge the vengeance of Your servants’ blood
from the wicked nation.
For the triumph is too long delayed for us,
and there is no end to days of evil,
Repel the Red One in the nethermost shadow
and establish for us the seven shepherds.