Rashi on TanakhPsalms 102

A prayer for a poor man Israel, who is a poor people.

when he enwraps himself when their soul is enwrapped in distress.

are dried up Heb. נחרו. The “nun” serves as a prefix, as: נַעֲשׂוּ, they were made, נִקְנוּ, they were acquired; and it is an expression of dryness, as (Job 30:30): “and my bones dried out (חרה) from the heat”; (Jer. 6:29), “the bellows is heated (נחר).”

Like a bird of Heb. לקאת. It is the name of a bird.

Like an owl of the wasteland Heb. ככוס, the name of a bird, as (Lev. 11:17): “The owl (הכוס), the cormorant, and the night owl.”

wasteland deserts. I was like a bird of the desert. So do we wander from our place to go into exile.

I pondered I pondered about myself, and behold I am like a lonely bird on a roof, sitting alone without a mate.

lonely Heb. בודד, sitting alone.

those who scorn me Heb. מהוללי, those who scorn me, an expression of mockery.

swear by me They saw my misfortune and they swear by me and say, “If it is not so, what happened to Israel should happen to me.” “So may the Lord do to me as to Israel.”

I mixed with weeping. I mixed with tears.

for You picked me up First You picked me up and now You cast me down from heaven to the earth, and if You had not picked me up first, my disgrace would not be so great.

Like a lengthening shadow At eventide, when the shadows lengthen, and when it becomes dark, they are not recognizable, but progressively disappear.

But You Who will be enthroned forever, and Who swore to us by Yourself, just as You exist, it is incumbent upon You to fulfill it. Therefore...

You will rise, You will have mercy on Zion for it is time to favor it For so You promised (Deut. 32:36): “When He sees that their power is gone,” and it is indeed gone.

For Your servants desired They loved even its stones and its earth. [According to] Midrash Aggadah, when Jeconiah and his exile left, they carried with them some of the stones and the earth of Jerusalem to build a synagogue for themselves there in Babylon.

And the nations will fear Your name when You save Your people.

He has turned to the prayer of those who cried out Heb. הערער, who cries out, as (Isa. 15:5): “a cry of destruction they will raise (יעוערו).” Another explanation: ערער means devastated and destroyed, as (below 137:7) “who say, ‘Raze it, raze it.’ “

Let this be inscribed So will those who see the salvation say, “let this salvation be inscribed for the latest generation.”

and a created people that became a new creature to emerge from slavery to freedom and from darkness to a great light.

looked...to earth to see the affliction of His people.

the dying Heb. תמותה, mortally ill, enmorindes in Old French (as above 79:11).

He has afflicted my strength on the way He returns to his original complaint, “for You picked me up and cast me down. My days are like a lengthening shadow.” My enemy afflicted my strength on the way.

I say to the Lord, “You are my God.”

do not take me away in the middle of my days Do not take us away to destroy us from the earth in the hands of our enemies in the middle of our days. And what are our days? All the days of all generations, of Your years, You promised to keep us alive before You, as he says at the end of the psalm, “and Your years do not end...and their seed will be established before You.”

In the beginning Heb. לפנים, from the beginning.

like raiment You will turn them over like a person who turns his garment inside out to take it off.

But You are He Who stands and exists.