YALE JUDAICA SERIES EDITOR LEON NEMOY ASSOCIATE EDITORS SAUL LIEBERMAN HARRY A. WOLFSON VOLUME XIII THE MIDRASH ON PSALMS (MIDRASH TEHILHM) The Midrash on Psalms (the first of two volumes) TRANSLATED FROM THE HEBREW AND ARAMAIC BY WILLIAM G. BRAUDE Rabbi, Congregation Sons of Israel and David Providence, Rhode Island FREIE UNIVPRSITAT PEFUN NEW HAVEN YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1959 © / 959 by Yale University Press, Inc. Set in Granjon type and printed in the United States of America by Vad-Ballou Press, Inc., Binghamton, N.Y. All rights reserved. Th 'u book, may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Library of Congress catalog card number: 58-6535 - FA s i KTJL 11 - EDITOR’S NOTE On July i, 1956, Professor Julian J. Obermann retired as editor of the Yale Judaica Series, while generously retaining his editorial supervision of three volumes which were in the course of prepara­ tion. He had just sent to the press the first of these volumes when an illness against which he had been struggling for several years overcame him. He died on October 17. Perhaps only those intimately familiar with the progress of the Series can fully appreciate the enormous amount of thought and labor as well as the dedicated devotion which Professor Ober­ mann gave to it from the beginning, some fifteen years ago. His careful planning, his insistence on high standards of scholarship, accuracy, and precision, and his unfailing readiness to advise and help contributed largely toward making the Series what it is today. His advice, out of the wealth of his editorial experience, will be sorely missed. The future volumes of the Series will, it is hoped, continue the tradition established by Professor Obermann. New Haven L. N. November 1958 cnant tne rsaims, and To my wife, Pen, but for whose faith and love this work might not have been done CONTENTS VOLUME i Editor’s Note V Introduction xi The Midrash on Psalms 1 Book I (Psalms 1-41) 3 Book II (Psalms 42-72) 441 VOLUME 2 Book III (Psalms 73-89) 1 Book IV (Psalms 90-106) 85 Book V (Psalms 107-150) J95 Abbreviations 39i Notes 397 Glossary 529 Indexes 533 1. Passages cited 535 a. Biblical 535 b. Mishnaic 572 2. Authorities 575 3. Subjects and names 585 INTRODUCTION i. The Midrashic method of interpreting Scripture is old. Through­ out Talmudic literature there is ample evidence that the method existed in Palestine well before the Common Era. Moreover, Pal­ estinian Pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hellenistic Jewish writings, and the New Testament contain abundant material that makes use of this method. An allusion to it may even be found as early as the time of Ezra who, for the benefit of his compatriots returning from Babylonia, reinterpreted parts of Scripture which appeared strange or antiquated to them.1 Though the method is old, it was not until the second century of the Common Era that the compiling of Midrashim was actually begun, and thereafter it was continued throughout the Talmudic period well into the Middle Ages. But even post- Talmudic Midrashim—which, to be sure, occasionally have local and temporary coloring—are in effect new literary arrangements of old material that goes back to Talmudic times. It is to this type of later Midrashim that the Midrash on Psalms (Midrash Tehillim) belongs. On the basis of internal evidence, such as a possible allusion to the Moslem caliphate (6.2), a sup­ posed reference to Apulia and Sicily (9.8), and similar instances of local and temporary coloring,2 some scholars have concluded that Midrash Tehillim was compiled in Italy and as late as the ninth century. Nevertheless, as in all other Midrashim, the over­ whelming body of material in Midrash Tehillim goes back to the Talmudic period. Like other Midrashic works which are inspired by certain 1. Sec Neh. 8:8; and introduction to Mekilta de-Rabbi Ishmacl, ed. Lauter- bach, Philadelphia, 1933. 2. See below, p. xxvii. Other instances are a reference to the Goths (25.14); a late Latin word like locotenentes (149.1); and an Arabic phrase used to explain a Hebrew word (119.59).