Psalm 19 begins with awe and wonder at beauty of the heavens, and progresses to praise of the Torah.

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The great biblical commentator R' David Kimchi understands the first few verses of the psalm as describing the "music of the spheres," which the ancient Greeks revered, and which Maimonides wrote about in his Guide for the Perplexed.

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The psalm ends with a powerful plea which has been incorporated into our daily liturgy: 

 

May the words of my mouth

And the meditations of my heart

Be acceptable before You,

O Eternal One,

My rock and my redeemer.

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By closing in this way, the psalm invites us to consider the relationship between our inner life and the way we express ourselves through speech.

 

How might we explore this connection, and cultivate greater alignment between the two?

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One practice which can support us in this work is Hitbodedut, or speaking to the Divine in our own words.

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The rap version of the psalm follows the original closely, occasionally deviating with some poetic license, and usually based on the interpretations of our sages and mystics.

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This rap has not yet been recorded, but the lyrics and sources are available. For a copy of the source sheet and lyrics, click here and please write "Psalm 19" as your message.

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The original psalm can be found here.

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To hear the 3-song EP, Rapping the Psalms, please click here or here.

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