We read the Psalter. Psalm 117
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Conversation with Archpriest Alexy Ladygin about the Psalter.
Dear brothers and sisters, we continue to study the Psalter and today we will talk about the 117th Psalm with the prescription: Alleluia. It speaks of thanksgiving to the Lord, and a person is called to repentance, to confess his sins, for the psalm begins with the words “Confess the Lord,” and confession, according to the interpretation of the holy fathers, is both repentance of one’s sins and sending thanksgiving to the Lord. Confess to the Lord that He is good, for His mercy endures forever. The psalmist David often glorifies confession, knowing the great importance it has. We have said more than once that the word “confess” is a call to repentance, a call for a person to bring repentance to God for his sins. Why is it necessary to repent before God? Firstly, it gives a person the opportunity to improve. Secondly, as the psalmist himself explains, for His mercy endures forever: the Lord gives special grace, shows kindness to those who repent for their sins, shows His mercy through the forgiveness of sins for which a person repents.
Let the house of Israel say, For He is good, for His mercy endures forever. The entire house of Israel is called to repentance; it is called not only Israel in the literal sense, but, according to the thoughts of the holy fathers, the entire Christian Church, the entire Christian world, which is also called to repentance, on the one hand, is called this way. On the other hand, we must talk about what kind of mercy the Lord shows through repentance to every person.
Let the house of Aaron say: For He is good, for His mercy endures forever. Let all who fear the Lord say, For He is good, for His mercy endures forever. This speaks of both the house of Israel and the house of Aaron, which unites the entire priesthood. “Let all who fear the Lord say” - the whole world, having accepted the Lord, receives forgiveness of sins through repentance and must testify to the great mercy of God, which the Lord shows to man through repentance.
Out of sorrow I called on the Lord, and heard me into space. When a person is in sorrow, he calls on the Lord. Here the holy fathers say that grief is simply necessary for a person, for it concentrates him internally, gives him the opportunity to turn to God - to get away from the everyday bustle that absorbs a person and ties him to earthly things. When sorrows come, a person turns to the Lord - and the Lord delivers him from distress. Grief is always cramped, it is the inability to do anything; it really causes a person severe pain, and when in this state a person turns to God, the Lord takes him out of this sorrow into space - gives him complete freedom to live and perform his earthly service.
The Lord is my Helper, and I will not fear: what can man do to me? We must always trust in the Lord - and I will not fear: what can man do to me? As the holy fathers say, the Lord does not deliver from difficulties and troubles that another person can cause, but He helps to get out of that disastrous and sorrowful state into which a person can fall due to the dislike of another person. Therefore, you should always trust in the Lord. And the psalmist more than once expressed the idea that he always turned to God, and the Lord always helped him: he did not look for an opportunity to take revenge on a person, to do him harm, but always relied on the will of God. And the holy Apostle Paul says: “Give place to the wrath of God,” that is, the Lord Himself will punish such a person, admonish him and lead him to repentance.
The Lord is my Helper, and I will look at my enemies - always trust in God, and God Himself will punish our enemies, He Himself will lead them to correction and to the realization of the mistakes that they have made, causing harm to another person.
It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in man: it is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in princes: “Do not trust in princes, in the sons of men.” You should always trust in the Lord. Moreover, the Holy Scripture tells us such wonderful words: “...cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes the flesh his support, and whose heart withdraws from the Lord,” for every person is a lie - it is human nature to deceive and deceive others. There are life circumstances when no one can help you: neither another person, nor even those in charge who exist in this world and occupy a special position, sometimes can do nothing. Our trust should always be in the Lord; only the Lord can help bring our soul out of prison, lead us out of a sorrowful state, help us get rid of the difficulties or illnesses that we encounter in life. Relying on another person simply means being deceived: not everyone can help you, on the one hand; on the other hand, will he want to help you, despite the fact that he is sitting at the same table with you.
It is no coincidence that there is a Russian proverb: “Everyone is a neighbor at dinner, but when trouble comes, the water washes everyone away.” Indeed, as long as you are in a special position, some kind of status, you can receive, treat, everyone comes to you and says: “We are your friends, we will help you, we will do everything for you, everything will be fine in your life,” and when trouble comes, everyone is washed away by the water: everyone shuts down, closes down, someone is disingenuous, someone is deceiving, someone does not want to help you, they run away. And only prayer to the Lord allows a person to endure this grief and solve all the problems that exist in life: the Lord is the only One who will never let you down, will never leave you and will always help. Therefore, in any condition, a person must turn to the Lord - from sorrow he called on the Lord, and heard me into space - and the Lord will free me from this tightness. The Psalmist speaks very deep words to us, so that we understand that it is good to trust in the Lord, rather than trust in man, rather than trust in princes.
All the pagans have beaten me, and in the name of the Lord I resisted them - “all nations will rise up against me,” but you can only be saved by trusting in the Lord: even if the whole world rises up against you, but you will be with God, the Lord will never leave you and will protect you; No matter what difficult condition you are in, the Lord will always help.
They cheated me, and in the name of the Lord they resisted them. The enemy of the human race surrounds us on all sides. It talks about both evil people and our enemies who surround us - sometimes it seems to us that the world is rebelling against us, that no one can help us, and here we should never give up trust in the Lord. You can overcome everything only when you trust in the Lord, and in the name of the Lord resist them. It has become commonplace, that is, the enemy of the human race surrounds us. The Holy Fathers say that you need to pay special attention to various thoughts and passions: sometimes it seems to you that it is impossible to defeat them, it is impossible to resist them, but by calling on the name of God you can defeat all the evil intentions of the enemy of the human race: “In My Name the demons will be destroyed.” – there is no greater and higher name than our Sweetest Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the psalmist draws attention to this, so that we call on the Lord and His name is always in our thoughts and on our lips - then it will be easier to fight all the evil intentions of the enemy of the human race.
I have become like bees on a honeycomb, and have burned like fire among thorns: and in the name of the Lord I have resisted them. Here again the psalmist says how passions attack a person: having beaten me like bees on a honeycomb - just as bees sting, surround, swoop down on sweet honey in a whole swarm and eat it, so do different thoughts, and sometimes enemies surround a person and attack him. And just as fire flares up in thorns, literally “burning up the thorns,” so enemies attack a person, causing him some kind of harm. But in the name of the Lord I resisted them. Despite even such terrible suffering as bee stings (the psalmist compares), the burns that you receive while in fire - no matter what sorrows and difficulties there are in your life, always trust in the Lord: the Lord will help you. Be it life's difficulties, or experiences that come from people or from our enemies, or diseases that can take over a person and sometimes it seems that this disease will defeat you (when a person is diagnosed with some kind, he goes into a frenzy, he does not know , what to do, it seems to him that life is over) - at these moments you should always turn to the Lord, and the Lord will help. You can face all of this when you call on the name of the Lord, and all of this can be overcome.
I turned away from the mouth, and the Lord accepted me. Enemies or some kind of sorrow attack a person so much that the person thinks that he is about to fall: he is already hesitating, his knees and legs are breaking, he can barely stand, ready to fall. But the Lord always helps a person, and whoever trusts in Him will always receive help from the Lord and will be able to resist even in difficult circumstances of his life.
The Lord is my strength and my song, and be my salvation. The psalmist says: “I will continually sing to the Lord, I will glorify Him, because I always trust in the Lord, and the Lord gives me salvation” - both in this life and in the eternal. It is impossible to live without the thanksgiving that we send to the Lord, for the Lord always helps us and takes care of us.
The voice of joy and salvation in the villages of the righteous: the right hand of the Lord create power. The right hand of the Lord has exalted me, the right hand of the Lord has created strength. Of course, the Lord gives a person His support, He extends a helping hand, only each of us must remember that he must cry out to God. The Holy Scripture tells us how the Apostle Peter drowned when he walked on the water to meet the Lord: a strong wind blew, he began to drown and said: “Lord! save me,” and the Lord extended His hand to him and rescued him from the water. So in our life, the Lord always extends His strong, strong hand to us, on which we lean, and the Lord helps us. The Holy Fathers say that it is no coincidence that the Psalmist says three times: the right hand of the Lord create power, the right hand of the Lord exalts me, the right hand of the Lord creates strength, indicating by this the trinitarian nature of our God. When we trust in our Lord, He helps us. "The voice of joy and salvation in the villages of the righteous." In which villages of the righteous? We call the Kingdom of Heaven the settlement of the righteous: there the voice of joy, singing, thanksgiving and praise are always sent to the Lord. The Holy Fathers say that the Church of Christ, in which there is light and truth and the affirmation of the Law, is also called the village of the righteous.
I will not die, but I will live and carry on the work of the Lord - our enemies will die first, because they do not trust in the Lord, but we trust in Him, and He gives us strength and strength. Therefore, when a person trusts in the Lord, he lives, and then, seeing how the Lord helps him, how He defeats our enemies, he (telling the work of the Lord) speaks about the mercy that the Lord showed to man: how He supported him. The older generation - our grandmothers, our parents told us in childhood how the Lord helped them through life, brought them out of a difficult state, helped them find peace and tranquility, raise children, organize a household - they felt the hand, the right hand of God: how the Lord supported them, and in an absolutely miraculous way, many issues were resolved through the prayers of our parents. We also need to talk about this to our children, so that they see our life and say: “Really, how the Lord helps us! How many miracles the Lord showed, what life circumstances we had and how miraculously they were resolved!” We always understand that if the Lord had not helped, this would never have happened and would not have been accomplished.
While the Lord punished me, He did not put me to death - the Lord, of course, sends us punishments, but not to cause us pain or so lead us to death: He did not give me over to death. Punishments are inevitable in our lives, they are given to enlighten us, so that we are more attentive to our lives, do not do wrong, do not hurt our neighbors, but do more deeds of mercy, remember the Lord more. It is no coincidence that this psalm says so: out of sorrow I called on the Lord, and hearing me into space - when you are in sorrow, you begin to call on the Lord, and when everything is good, we forget about God, we forget about the temple, about prayer - we begin to enjoy this life and we think that we are complete owners of this life. But in reality, of course, only the Lord gives us everything we need in it, gives us peace. Therefore, we must always be in connection with God, we must be grateful to the Lord for His constant blessings. Therefore, punishments are sent by the Lord for each of us, so that we would come to our senses - not fix our eyes only on this life, but also strive to acquire the eternal Kingdom of Heaven.
Open the gates of righteousness for me: when we enter, let us confess to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord: the righteous shall enter into it. What is the gate of truth? The Holy Fathers say that this is the Law that the Lord gave us, and we must go through these gates: this is the gate of the Lord. The Lord gives us narrow gates, but the Lord passed through them - and He calls us to follow Him, fulfilling the commandments of God: whoever lives according to the commandments of God does not follow the broad path of this life, but these narrow gates lead a person to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Let us confess to You that You heard me and You were my salvation - when a person is in such a state and after punishment the Lord delivers him, then he sends thanks to God that the Lord heard him and gave him salvation, that is, corrected him. Here we glorify and thank the Lord for the fact that He has so wisely arranged and takes such wonderful care of man.
The stone that was built carelessly, this was at the head of the corner: this came from the Lord, and is marvelous in our hands: amazing words that the psalmist says, as if out of context - first he talks about thanksgiving, glorification, confession, the structure of our human life, and suddenly, among other things, he begins to sharply prophesy about Christ. The Holy Fathers are amazed: why does the psalmist do this, why does he begin to prophesy about Christ so sharply? They say that he speaks a little secretly about Christ, so that this mystery would be understood only by those who are in spiritual contemplation and reasoning. Here he prophesies about Christ: the stone that was carelessly built will become the cornerstone. This Stone is Christ, Whom the Jews neglected, and He became the foundation of the Church of Christ; This came from the Lord, and is marvelous in our minds - God came from God the Father and appeared here on earth.
This is the day that the Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad on it. Every day is blessed. We often say that “this day is hard, this day is not good, this day you can’t do this or that.” Every day is blessed - there is no hard day: we ourselves, with our sins or wrong actions, make the day hard, but every day was created by the Lord for man, every day is a new blessing of God for man, so we should rejoice about every day. And there is also a spiritual meaning here: this day that the Lord has created - what day is this? For us, the most amazing and saving day is when the Lord resurrected, when He gave man eternal life, trampled death itself with His death and opened the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Resurrection of Christ is, of course, the holiest and most blessed day that the Lord gave to the whole world and, first of all, to those who believed in Him.
Oh, Lord, save me, oh Lord, hurry up. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord: by blessing you from the house of the Lord, blessing and thanksgiving are sent forth again. He who comes in the name of the Lord is the Lord who came from God the Father, and blessings are sent to Him. You are blessed from the house of the Lord: every person who enters the temple of God (and the temple of God is the house of the Lord) receives a blessing from the Lord.
God is the Lord, and appear to us: make a holiday in the frequenting roads of the altar. God the Lord - who is He? The Holy Fathers say, the Lord is the God of armies.
You are my God, and we will confess to You: You are my God, and I will exalt You. Let us confess to You that You heard me and You were my salvation. Here again the psalmist sends thanks to the Lord for His constant good deeds, for the fact that the Lord came to this earth, appeared to man and arranged salvation for every believing person - a person who gains faith is saved, for “whoever has faith and is baptized will be saved and whoever does not have faith will be condemned.”
And the psalmist ends with amazing words - the same ones with which this psalm began: Confess to the Lord, for His mercy endures forever. Again there is a call to repentance, for it is necessary to repent for one’s sins. The one who repents receives many benefits from the Lord and receives mercy from the Lord - forgiveness of our sins, which hinder us not only in this life, but most importantly, become a terrible obstacle on our path to the Kingdom of Heaven.
This is such an amazing psalm, dear brothers and sisters, that we studied today. God bless you all!
Recorded by Nina Kirsanova
Why read Christian Psalm 117
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The content of Psalm 117 in the Orthodox Bible directly indicates the time and reasons for its writing: it was the period after the Jewish people emerged from the captivity of the Babylonians and the construction of the second temple. Psalm 117 is a solemn, sublime hymn in which the anonymous author expresses rejoicing at the occasion of returning to his native lands, and invites all fellow citizens to join him. “It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in princes” (Ps. 117:9) - with this phrase the psalmist says that Israel’s numerous attempts to come to an agreement with the pagan peoples surrounding it did not yield results, and that only hope in God was always justified. The interpretation of Psalm 117 explains that by God's help it means the building of the temple.
Christian Psalm 117 as a prayer against enemy attacks
In the text of Psalm 117, the author writes about the difficulties that befell the Israelites during the construction of the temple: how all the nations (meaning, of course, the tribes neighboring Israel) laughed at the Jews, not believing that the construction would be completed. The psalm mentions problems with building materials and the people's grief over the small size of the temple, but at the end of construction it describes widespread joy. Listening online and reading Psalm 117 in Orthodoxy is customary for protection from enemy invasions.
Listen to the video prayer Psalm 117 in Russian
Read the text of the Orthodox prayer Psalm 117 in Russian
Hallelujah.
Praise the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever. Let the house of Israel say today: He is good, for His mercy endures forever. Let the house of Aaron say today: He is good, for His mercy endures forever. Let those who fear the Lord now say: He is good, for His mercy endures forever. Out of the cramped space I cried out to the Lord, and he heard me, and the Lord brought me to a spacious place. The Lord is for me - I will not be afraid: what will man do to me? The Lord is my helper: I will look upon my enemies. It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in princes. All nations surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord I overthrew them; they surrounded me, surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord I overthrew them; they surrounded me like the bees of a honeycomb, and were quenched like fire among thorns: in the name of the Lord I cast them down. They pushed me hard so that I would fall, but the Lord supported me. The Lord is my strength and song; He became my salvation. The voice of joy and salvation in the dwellings of the righteous: the right hand of the Lord creates power! The right hand of the Lord is high, the right hand of the Lord creates power! I will not die, but will live and proclaim the works of the Lord. The Lord punished me severely, but did not put me to death. Open the gates of truth to me; I will enter into them and glorify the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous will enter into them. I praise You that You heard me and became my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner: this is from the Lord, and is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad on it! Oh, Lord, save me! Oh, Lord, make haste! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord. God is Lord and has shone upon us; bind the sacrifice with ropes, lead it to the horns of the altar. You are my God: I will praise You; You are my God: I will exalt You, I will glorify You, for You heard me and became my salvation. Praise the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever.
Psalter, text of Psalm 117 in Church Slavonic
Confess to the Lord that He is good, for His mercy endures forever. Let the house of Israel speak for its sake; for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. Let the house of Aaron speak; for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. Let all who fear the Lord say this; for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. Out of sorrow I called on the Lord, and heard me into space. The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear; What will man do to me? The Lord is my helper, and I will look upon my enemies. It is good to trust in the Lord rather than rely on man; It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in princes. All the nations have gone after me, and in the name of the Lord I have resisted them; they cheated me, and in the name of the Lord they resisted them; she passed over me like bees on a honeycomb, and burned like fire among thorns; and in the name of the Lord I resisted them. I rejected the mouth, and the Lord accepted me. The Lord is my strength and my song, and be my salvation. The voice of joy and salvation in the villages of the righteous; the right hand of the Lord create strength. The right hand of the Lord has exalted me, the right hand of the Lord has created strength. I will not die, but I will live and carry on the work of the Lord. While the Lord punished me, He did not give me over to death. Open for me the gates of righteousness; Having entered into it, let us confess to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous will enter into her. Let us confess to you that you heard me and were my salvation. The stone that was built carelessly, this quickly became the cornerstone; This came from the Lord, and is marvelous in our eyes. This day which the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Oh, Lord, save, Oh, Lord, hurry up. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; Bless you from the house of the Lord. God is the Lord, and appear to us; make a holiday in the horns of the oltar. You are my God, and we will confess to you; You are my God, and I will exalt you; Let us confess to you that you heard me and were my salvation. Confess to the Lord that He is good, for His mercy endures forever.
