Here and there new interpretations have been given to biblical passages. The usual translation of Song of Songs 5:8, for example, is not satisfactory. It reads: “If you find my beloved, what will ye tell him? that I am love-sick.” This has been corrected to read: If you find my beloved, do not tell him that I am love-sick. Thus, the word מַה has been rendered in the sense of not. In the Arabic, the same particle is constantly used as a negative. Similarly, מַה תָּעִֽירוּ וּמַה תְּעוֹרְרוּ אֶת הָאַהֲבָה, being the exact counterpart of אִם תָּעִֽירוּ וְאִם תְּעוֹרְרוּ אֶת הָאַהֲבָה (Song of Songs 2:7; 8:4) is here translated: Do not stir up, do not rouse love; that is, it must come spontaneously.
Where a given verse is quoted for homiletical purposes, the entire passage would lack coherence should that verse be translated literally. For instance, the phrase לְמַֽעַן צִדְקוֹ (Isaiah 42:21) literally refers to God's righteousness, but in a Mishnah passage it is taken as an allusion to the potential righteousness of Israel. Hence, the biblical verse cited by Rabbi Ḥananya ben Akashya has been translated here: “The Lord was pleased, for the sake of [Israel's] righteousness, to render the Torah great and glorious” (page 484).
The benedictions are phrased essentially in biblical style. “Blessed art thou, O Lord” is a phrase borrowed from Psalm 119:12, while “King of the universe” is taken from Jeremiah 10:10. Since the verb ברך originally connotes to bend the knees, that is, to worship (Psalm 95:6), it would certainly be better to translate בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה worshiped art thou; but this would be too much of a deviation from the long established "blessed art thou." Abrupt transitions from the second person to the third person occur in the benedictions as in all biblical poetry. English syntax, on the other hand, does not tolerate such transitions. For this reason, the benedictions must be rendered consistently in the second person.
A running commentary has been provided in the present edition of the Siddur to explain various points of interest. Without accompanying illustrations even the best and most lucid translation
