The children's Psalm-book, a selection of Psalms with
explanatory
comments, together with a prayer-book for home use in Jewish families, by Mrs.
Childrens - Psalm-Book
The children's Psalm-book, a selection of Psalms with
explanatory
comments, together with a prayer-book for home use in Jewish families, by Mrs.
Nathaniel L.
Cohen .
.
.
London, G. Routledge & Sons Ltd. ; 1907.
http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842
Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
We have determined this work to be in the public domain in the United States of America. It may not be in the public domain in other countries. Copies are provided as a preservation service. Particularly outside of the United States, persons receiving copies should make appropriate efforts to determine the copyright status of the work in their country and use the work accordingly. It is possible that current copyright holders, heirs or the estate of the authors of individual portions of the work, such as illustrations or photographs, assert copyrights over these portions. Depending on the nature of subsequent use that is made, additional rights may need to be obtained independently of anything we can address. The digital images and OCR of this work were produced by Google, Inc. (indicated by a watermark on each page in the PageTurner). Google requests that the images and OCR not be re-hosted, redistributed or used commercially. The images are provided for educational, scholarly, non-commercial purposes.
? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 3; U e. o. *T. 'Tstf^u<<i. +/c a^^'
THE CHILDREN'S
PSALM-BOOK
A Selection of Psalms with Explanatory
Comments, together with a Prayer-Book
for Home Use in Jewish Families
By
Mrs. NATHANIEL L. COHEN
Author of "The Infant Bible-Reader"
LONDON
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS LTD
New York: BLOCH PUBLISHING CO
1907
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? M20
/ 9*J
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? TO PARENTS
This little volume is an attempt to help Parents in
the anxious task of moulding the first conscious
efforts towards abstract thought in the minds of
their children.
Little children always seem to have a very present
consciousness of the existence of a supernatural
power, as though the voice that breathed life into
them still echoed within them. It is the Parents'
task reverently to use this inborn instinct, in order
to stimulate the development of the higher impulses
of humanity. If this consciousness be stimulated
recklessly or injudiciously, it may lead to super-
stition and to the miseries of nervous terror, and all
the attendant evils of cowardliness, deceit, and
untruthfulness. But if it be treated wisely, that
mysterious consciousness develops into a loving
trustfulness in the goodness of the Great Power, and
lends courage and comfort at many a critical moment
both of childhood and after-life. It is the basis of
every form of moral teaching, and of that great
fundamental doctrine of Judaism,--the direct
personal responsibility of every human being to the
One Divine Power. It is, in fact, the well-spring of
conscience and courage, and grows with the growth
iii
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? TO PARENTS
of the understanding,and becomes an ever-expanding
ideal of goodness, around which all the great
attributes of goodness group themselves in the
youthful mind,--Justice, Truthfulness, Honour,
Kindness, Generosity. This conception of goodness
--the consciousness of something stronger, higher,
better than ourselves--helps to develop the faculty of
veneration, and with it the kindred feeling of filial
obedience and love in the highest form.
There is a questioning and analytical phase of
mental development through which all thinking
minds are bound to pass, in the transition from
accepting the parental religious teaching with child-
like faith to assimilating it by the aid of thought
and reason. At this stage, when all forms and
observances are critically considered and weighed, a
consciousness of a Higher Power above and beyond
mortality, a habit of mind of looking for help to that
Higher Power, and a knowledge of the deeper
emblematic meaning of observances temper the
judgment and aid every human being in that process
of self-discipline by which he makes his faith in a
special sense his own.
It seems to me that if the development of the
religious sense is omitted from education, the most
exalted idea of goodness is left out, and the sense of
duty, and of right and wrong, is little more than an
appreciation of the minor virtues. Life is so much
the poorer for being shorn of the halo of high
spiritual aspiration. Instead of a fixed and lofty
ideal of life and conduct, based on the highest
conception of Divine Perfection of which the human
iv
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? TO PARENTS
mind is capable, and to which one and all try to
rise, there pievails a limited and fluctuating ideal,
subject to the chance influences of surroundings and
associates, and coloured by the social grade and
worldly interests of each individual, and by the
changeful current level of public opinion.
I think it is a pressing duty to endeavour to avert
this disastrous moral plight, to which the charge of
materialism so justly comes home. I have therefore
tried in this little book to help Parents to familiarize
their children in home talks and readings with the
exalted poetry of the Psalms; with their lofty moral
teaching and their comforting prayers. The simpler
Psalms of Praise need little comment, but it may,
I hope, be found helpful to analyse the train of
thought in the more elaborate Psalms, and also to
indicate some characteristic peculiarities of Eastern
modes of expression.
The Psalms are not arranged in the Bible in the
order of simplicity; therefore in this volume the
numerical titles of the Psalms most suitable for
reading to young children are printed in red, both in
the Index and in the text.
I think the Psalms should be read to young
children more than once without any comment,
unless a child asks for explanation. Most children
love the sound and the word-pictures of the Psalms,
long before they can take in the full meaning.
I am aware that there is much repetition of the
same ideas in the comments on the Psalms. The
same moral lessons may be drawn from, and the
same explanations are applicable to, many different
v
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? TO PARENTS
Psalms. But as F. D. Maurice once said:--" I never
profess to teach new things; I never had but one or
two things that I was anxious to say, and I have
been saying them over and over again for thirty
years in as many different ways as I can, to reach
many different hearts and minds. "
I have selected about half the Psalm-book for
children's reading and for explanatory comment.
By the time that children know the whole of this
selection well, it is hoped that the ethics of the
Psalms, and also the genius of Hebrew poetry, will
have become more or less familiar to them, and
that they will dive for themselves and grasp the
pearls of beauty in the rest of the Psalter.
One word as to those Psalms in which a discordant
note of enmity jars on our ears in the midst of.
sweet and beautiful utterances. David, the typical
Psalmist, conscious of his own desire to do right,
expresses a soldier's rough and ready conviction that
sooner or later victory will be with the righteous and
defeat with the unrighteous. Indeed, war is still, as
it has ever been, the last resort of humanity seeking
justice. A certain boldness-in interpreting the signi-
ficance of events prevailed not only in Biblical times,
but as late as the days of the Puritans in England
and Covenanters in Scotland.
The simple reasonings which satisfied our fore-
fathers about cause and effect in human life no
longer carry conviction to every mind. But the
wider sphere of modern knowledge and thought
increases, as it were, the circumference of our con-
tact with the unknown, and enhances our apprecia-
vi
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? TO PARENTS
tion of the heroic mental attitude of the Psalmist,
who says: "I know, O Lord, Thy judgments are
right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted
me. "
Scattered as we are, and often out of reach of
Synagogues, it seems peculiarly desirable for us to
cultivate the habit of Domestic Services. There is
an old Rabbinical saying to the effect that sooner
than omit the daily repetition of the Shemang (that
most perfect reminder of a high mental and moral
attitude and its practical expression in life), we
should recite it while doing our daily work. It is
equally desirable never to omit holding a service
on Saturday as a tribute of thanks for the bene-
ficent law of the Sabbath--lest the day of rest
degenerate into a day merely of laziness and amuse-
ment. A very simple form of daily domestic prayers
is therefore added to this volume, and also a little
Sabbath service for use in Jewish families when
unable to attend Synagogue.
In conclusion I should like to express my indebted-
ness to several kind friends, especially Mrs. Redcliffe
Salaman, and the late Rev. D. Fay, whose death
occurred while this book was in the press, for much
valuable advice; and also to Mr. Claude G. Monte-
fiore, Dr. Driver and Dr. Wellhausen, from whose
versions I have occasionally borrowed when I have
ventured to vary the translation; and lastly my sense
of the help my own children have given me (con-
sciously and unconsciously) in this labour of love.
Julia M. Cohen.
vii
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? TO CHILDREN
Our first feeling about God is His goodness to us.
He made us and gave us all we have, our father and
mother, to love us and take care of us, the earth to
live in, and the sun to shine on us.
Our next feeling about God is His greatness. He
made the whole world and everything in it, and
every living creature. The more we think how
great God is, the more we feel how kind He is to
every one of us, and the more we want to thank Him
for all His goodness to us.
This is a book of Thanks and Praise to God, and
is called the Book of Psalms. It was written long,
long ago by our forefathers. Many of the Psalms
in it were written and sung by King David 3,000
years ago.
One of the Psalms says that a thousand years in
the sight of God "are but as yesterday, when it is
past. " For God never changes, Right and Wrong
never change, and God's mercy to us never changes.
So we still say and sing these old, old Psalms when
we want to thank God for " His goodness, and His
wonderful works to the children of men. "
viii
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? TABLE OF CONTENTS
The title number: printed in red indicate the Psalms suitable
for Younger Children.
To Parents.
To Children
First Psalm
Fourth Psalm
Eighth Psalm
Fifteenth Psalm .
Nineteenth Psalm
Twentieth Psalm
Twenty-third Psalm
Twentv-fourth Psalm
Twenty-fifth Psalm
Twenty-ninth Psalm
Thirty-second Psalm
Thirty-third Psalm
Thirty-fourth Psalm
Thirty-ninth Psalm
Forty-second Psalm
Forty-third Psalm
Forty-sixth Psalm
Forty-seventh Psalm
Forty-ninth Psalm
Fiftieth Psalm .
Fifty-first Psalm .
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www.
London, G. Routledge & Sons Ltd. ; 1907.
http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842
Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
We have determined this work to be in the public domain in the United States of America. It may not be in the public domain in other countries. Copies are provided as a preservation service. Particularly outside of the United States, persons receiving copies should make appropriate efforts to determine the copyright status of the work in their country and use the work accordingly. It is possible that current copyright holders, heirs or the estate of the authors of individual portions of the work, such as illustrations or photographs, assert copyrights over these portions. Depending on the nature of subsequent use that is made, additional rights may need to be obtained independently of anything we can address. The digital images and OCR of this work were produced by Google, Inc. (indicated by a watermark on each page in the PageTurner). Google requests that the images and OCR not be re-hosted, redistributed or used commercially. The images are provided for educational, scholarly, non-commercial purposes.
? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? ? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? 3; U e. o. *T. 'Tstf^u<<i. +/c a^^'
THE CHILDREN'S
PSALM-BOOK
A Selection of Psalms with Explanatory
Comments, together with a Prayer-Book
for Home Use in Jewish Families
By
Mrs. NATHANIEL L. COHEN
Author of "The Infant Bible-Reader"
LONDON
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS LTD
New York: BLOCH PUBLISHING CO
1907
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? M20
/ 9*J
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? TO PARENTS
This little volume is an attempt to help Parents in
the anxious task of moulding the first conscious
efforts towards abstract thought in the minds of
their children.
Little children always seem to have a very present
consciousness of the existence of a supernatural
power, as though the voice that breathed life into
them still echoed within them. It is the Parents'
task reverently to use this inborn instinct, in order
to stimulate the development of the higher impulses
of humanity. If this consciousness be stimulated
recklessly or injudiciously, it may lead to super-
stition and to the miseries of nervous terror, and all
the attendant evils of cowardliness, deceit, and
untruthfulness. But if it be treated wisely, that
mysterious consciousness develops into a loving
trustfulness in the goodness of the Great Power, and
lends courage and comfort at many a critical moment
both of childhood and after-life. It is the basis of
every form of moral teaching, and of that great
fundamental doctrine of Judaism,--the direct
personal responsibility of every human being to the
One Divine Power. It is, in fact, the well-spring of
conscience and courage, and grows with the growth
iii
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? TO PARENTS
of the understanding,and becomes an ever-expanding
ideal of goodness, around which all the great
attributes of goodness group themselves in the
youthful mind,--Justice, Truthfulness, Honour,
Kindness, Generosity. This conception of goodness
--the consciousness of something stronger, higher,
better than ourselves--helps to develop the faculty of
veneration, and with it the kindred feeling of filial
obedience and love in the highest form.
There is a questioning and analytical phase of
mental development through which all thinking
minds are bound to pass, in the transition from
accepting the parental religious teaching with child-
like faith to assimilating it by the aid of thought
and reason. At this stage, when all forms and
observances are critically considered and weighed, a
consciousness of a Higher Power above and beyond
mortality, a habit of mind of looking for help to that
Higher Power, and a knowledge of the deeper
emblematic meaning of observances temper the
judgment and aid every human being in that process
of self-discipline by which he makes his faith in a
special sense his own.
It seems to me that if the development of the
religious sense is omitted from education, the most
exalted idea of goodness is left out, and the sense of
duty, and of right and wrong, is little more than an
appreciation of the minor virtues. Life is so much
the poorer for being shorn of the halo of high
spiritual aspiration. Instead of a fixed and lofty
ideal of life and conduct, based on the highest
conception of Divine Perfection of which the human
iv
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? TO PARENTS
mind is capable, and to which one and all try to
rise, there pievails a limited and fluctuating ideal,
subject to the chance influences of surroundings and
associates, and coloured by the social grade and
worldly interests of each individual, and by the
changeful current level of public opinion.
I think it is a pressing duty to endeavour to avert
this disastrous moral plight, to which the charge of
materialism so justly comes home. I have therefore
tried in this little book to help Parents to familiarize
their children in home talks and readings with the
exalted poetry of the Psalms; with their lofty moral
teaching and their comforting prayers. The simpler
Psalms of Praise need little comment, but it may,
I hope, be found helpful to analyse the train of
thought in the more elaborate Psalms, and also to
indicate some characteristic peculiarities of Eastern
modes of expression.
The Psalms are not arranged in the Bible in the
order of simplicity; therefore in this volume the
numerical titles of the Psalms most suitable for
reading to young children are printed in red, both in
the Index and in the text.
I think the Psalms should be read to young
children more than once without any comment,
unless a child asks for explanation. Most children
love the sound and the word-pictures of the Psalms,
long before they can take in the full meaning.
I am aware that there is much repetition of the
same ideas in the comments on the Psalms. The
same moral lessons may be drawn from, and the
same explanations are applicable to, many different
v
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? TO PARENTS
Psalms. But as F. D. Maurice once said:--" I never
profess to teach new things; I never had but one or
two things that I was anxious to say, and I have
been saying them over and over again for thirty
years in as many different ways as I can, to reach
many different hearts and minds. "
I have selected about half the Psalm-book for
children's reading and for explanatory comment.
By the time that children know the whole of this
selection well, it is hoped that the ethics of the
Psalms, and also the genius of Hebrew poetry, will
have become more or less familiar to them, and
that they will dive for themselves and grasp the
pearls of beauty in the rest of the Psalter.
One word as to those Psalms in which a discordant
note of enmity jars on our ears in the midst of.
sweet and beautiful utterances. David, the typical
Psalmist, conscious of his own desire to do right,
expresses a soldier's rough and ready conviction that
sooner or later victory will be with the righteous and
defeat with the unrighteous. Indeed, war is still, as
it has ever been, the last resort of humanity seeking
justice. A certain boldness-in interpreting the signi-
ficance of events prevailed not only in Biblical times,
but as late as the days of the Puritans in England
and Covenanters in Scotland.
The simple reasonings which satisfied our fore-
fathers about cause and effect in human life no
longer carry conviction to every mind. But the
wider sphere of modern knowledge and thought
increases, as it were, the circumference of our con-
tact with the unknown, and enhances our apprecia-
vi
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? TO PARENTS
tion of the heroic mental attitude of the Psalmist,
who says: "I know, O Lord, Thy judgments are
right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted
me. "
Scattered as we are, and often out of reach of
Synagogues, it seems peculiarly desirable for us to
cultivate the habit of Domestic Services. There is
an old Rabbinical saying to the effect that sooner
than omit the daily repetition of the Shemang (that
most perfect reminder of a high mental and moral
attitude and its practical expression in life), we
should recite it while doing our daily work. It is
equally desirable never to omit holding a service
on Saturday as a tribute of thanks for the bene-
ficent law of the Sabbath--lest the day of rest
degenerate into a day merely of laziness and amuse-
ment. A very simple form of daily domestic prayers
is therefore added to this volume, and also a little
Sabbath service for use in Jewish families when
unable to attend Synagogue.
In conclusion I should like to express my indebted-
ness to several kind friends, especially Mrs. Redcliffe
Salaman, and the late Rev. D. Fay, whose death
occurred while this book was in the press, for much
valuable advice; and also to Mr. Claude G. Monte-
fiore, Dr. Driver and Dr. Wellhausen, from whose
versions I have occasionally borrowed when I have
ventured to vary the translation; and lastly my sense
of the help my own children have given me (con-
sciously and unconsciously) in this labour of love.
Julia M. Cohen.
vii
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? TO CHILDREN
Our first feeling about God is His goodness to us.
He made us and gave us all we have, our father and
mother, to love us and take care of us, the earth to
live in, and the sun to shine on us.
Our next feeling about God is His greatness. He
made the whole world and everything in it, and
every living creature. The more we think how
great God is, the more we feel how kind He is to
every one of us, and the more we want to thank Him
for all His goodness to us.
This is a book of Thanks and Praise to God, and
is called the Book of Psalms. It was written long,
long ago by our forefathers. Many of the Psalms
in it were written and sung by King David 3,000
years ago.
One of the Psalms says that a thousand years in
the sight of God "are but as yesterday, when it is
past. " For God never changes, Right and Wrong
never change, and God's mercy to us never changes.
So we still say and sing these old, old Psalms when
we want to thank God for " His goodness, and His
wonderful works to the children of men. "
viii
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-us-google
? TABLE OF CONTENTS
The title number: printed in red indicate the Psalms suitable
for Younger Children.
To Parents.
To Children
First Psalm
Fourth Psalm
Eighth Psalm
Fifteenth Psalm .
Nineteenth Psalm
Twentieth Psalm
Twenty-third Psalm
Twentv-fourth Psalm
Twenty-fifth Psalm
Twenty-ninth Psalm
Thirty-second Psalm
Thirty-third Psalm
Thirty-fourth Psalm
Thirty-ninth Psalm
Forty-second Psalm
Forty-third Psalm
Forty-sixth Psalm
Forty-seventh Psalm
Forty-ninth Psalm
Fiftieth Psalm .
Fifty-first Psalm .
? ? Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-24 15:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uc1. $b283842 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www.
