Tehilllim 5 | Prayer to God Throughout the Day

While the previous psalm ended with the poet’s trust in God as he lies down to sleep at night, Psalm 5 highlights the key role of prayer in the morning: “Lord, hear my voice in the morning; in the morning I plead before You in expectation.” Throughout the psalm, the poet turns to God and expresses his confidence that God does not desire the existence of the wicked: “For You are not a God who desires wickedness; evil cannot abide with You” (5:5). This contrasts with the poet himself, who merits standing before God: “But I, with Your great loving-kindness, will come to Your House; I will worship at Your holy Sanctuary in reverence of You” (5:8).

Tehillim Vocabulary: Sefer Tehillim has a vocabulary rich with terms that are central across many psalms. Today, we’ll highlight two of them. 1. The word “רגזו” does not mean “anger,” as it does in modern Hebrew, but rather “tremble” (4:5) — the verse intends to tell them to fear God and thus avoid sinning. 2. The meaning of “צינה”  is a large shield (5:13) — the verse’s intent is that God will surround the righteous with His favor, with His love and care, and those will protect a person like a mighty shield.