Each day of the week, we recite a psalm linked specifically to that day. The links, however, are less than clear. What follows is based on an ancient Midrash that seeks to explain the pattern:

  • Sunday (Ps. 24), is the first day of the week, and thus the day the creation of the world began. Ps. 24 contains the verse, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it.”
  • Monday (Ps. 48). In verse 2, it says, “Great is the Lord and highly to be praised in the city of our G-d, His holy mountain.” The rabbis saw the reference to Jerusalem as an echo of divine rule: “He divided His works and reigned over them as a king.” This refers to G-d’s division between the upper and lower waters, which in rabbinic cosmogony were only kept apart by the continually applied divine power. This division took place on the second day
  • Tuesday (Ps. 82). On the third day, the earth was revealed and stands firm. The Psalm proclaims, “G-d stands in the congregation of the mighty judges” and when those judges act unjustly “all the foundations of the earth are moved.”
  • Wednesday (Ps. 94). This was the day heavenly bodies were created, and with them, the possibility of idolatry. In fact, a common way to say “idolater” in Hebrew is “star worshipper.” The first verse of the Psalm refers to G-d, to whom vengeance belongs, and the primary object of G-d’s wrath is idolatry.
  • Thursday (Ps. 81). This was the day the fish and birds were created. There is a broadly held rabbinic tradition that all created things declare the praise of G-d. Hence the second verse of Psalm 81: “Sing aloud to the G-d of our strength” is seen as referring to the teeming multitudes of creatures who can now praise G-d.
  • Friday (Ps. 93), is the day that G-d’s work was completed and G-d’s reign over all creation began. Thus verse 1: “The Lord reigns, He is clothed in majesty. The world is set firm.”
  • Saturday/Shabbat (Ps. 92). This Psalm is specifically titled “A psalm, a song for the Sabbath day.” It contains the verse, “I sing for joy at all that you have done. How great are thy works, O Lord, How very deep are thy designs.”  An interesting twist in interpretation is a rabbinic debate about what it means when it says, “a song for the Sabbath day.” It could mean, “A song we recite on the Sabbath day.” Or, in a more daring sense, it could mean, “A song that is recited by the Sabbath day.” The Sabbath day is so anthropomorphized in Judaism (think of “the Sabbath bride” for whom we rise at the end of Lecha Dodi) that the rabbis could seriously imagine that the day itself will lead us in prayer.

And perhaps that’s what these psalms are ultimately all about. It is not just that we humans are meant to praise G-d. Everything in or vast and wonderful universe, even the days themselves, are meant to praise G-d.