Psalm 92 is the 92nd psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 91. In Latin, it is known as "Bonum est confiteri Domino ".[1] The psalm is known as Mizmor Shir L'yom HaShabbat, is ostensibly dedicated to the Shabbat day.[2]
The following table shows the Hebrew text[3][4] of the Psalm with vowels alongside an English translation based upon the JPS 1917 translation (now in the public domain).
Franz Delitzsch, who sub-titles this psalm "sabbath thoughts", observes that honouring the Sabbath is "is good ... not merely good in the eyes of God, but also good for man, beneficial to the heart, pleasant and blessed".[8]
Uses
Judaism
Psalm 92 is recited three times during all of Shabbat:
Part of Kabbalat Shabbat.[9] This recitation officially ushers in the Shabbat in most communities.
During Pesukei Dezimra on the Sabbath.[10] (It is also recited in Pesukei Dezimra on a Yom Tov that occurs on a weekday, although some communities omit the first verse.)
Verse 1 is part of Likel Asher Shabbat recited in the blessings preceding the Shema on Shabbat,[13] and some add the beginning of Verse 2 as well.[14]
According to the Midrash, Psalm 92 was said by Adam. Adam was created on Friday, and he said this psalm on the onset of the Shabbat. It is not a psalm that speaks about the Shabbat, but one that was said on the Shabbat: this was Adam's first day of existence and he marveled at the work of the Creator.[15]
Christianity
In the Catholic Church, Psalm 92 is appointed to be read at Lauds (Morning Prayer) on Saturday in the fourth week of the month.
Musical settings
A 1966 hymn by Rolf Schweizer, "Das ist ein köstlich Ding, dem Herren danken", paraphrases verses from Psalm 92; it became part of the German Protestant hymnal, Evangelisches Gesangbuch, as G 285.
Heinrich Schütz set the Psalm 92 in a metred version in German as part of the Becker Psalter, first published in 1628, "Es ist fürwahr ein köstlich Ding", SWV 190. The psalm was set to music by Marc-Antoine Charpentier in Latin, Bonum est confiteri Domino, H.195, for soloists, choir, 2 treble viols or violins and continuo (1687–88). Dmitry Bortniansky wrote a setting in Old Church Slavonic, his Concerto No. 18, "Blago jest ispovjedatsja" ("It Is Good To Praise the Lord"). The psalm was set by Franz Schubert in 1828 Hebrew for Salomon Sulzer, (D 953).[16]
The Requiem Ebraico (Hebrew Requiem) (1945) by Austrian-American composer Eric Zeisl, a setting of Psalm 92 dedicated to the memory of the composer's father "and the other countless victims of the Jewish tragedy in Europe", is considered the first major work of Holocaust commemoration.[citation needed] American composers Mark Alburger, Gertrude Rohrer, and Margaret Vardell Sandresky have also composed musical settings.[17]Norma Wendelburg wrote a setting in English, It is Good, for women's chorus and organ or piano in 1973.
^Cohen, Aaron I. (1987). International encyclopedia of women composers. 2: Sai - Zyb, Appendices (2. ed., revised and enl ed.). New York: Books & Music. p. 615. ISBN978-0-9617485-1-7.
