לדור ודור
FOR GENERATION AND GENERATION
A) You have been and will always be the Rock and the Shield of Your People Yisroel, “from generation to generation.”
B) “From generation to generation we thank You”. Forever we are indebted for the kindnesses that You have bestowed upon us throughout the generations, and we will thus continue to thank You forever.
נודה לך ונספר תהלתך
WE SHALL THANK YOU AND WE SHALL RELATE YOUR PRAISE
‘We shall thank only You’, with our mouths and our deeds; and to others as well, ‘we shall relate’ תהלתך, nothing but ‘Your praise’.
על חיינו המסורים בידך
FOR OUR LIVES THAT ARE GIVEN OVER INTO YOUR HAND
You alone provide us with the entire sequence of life and all of life’s necessities. And we ourselves have given over “our lives” into Your hand as well, by putting our full trust only in You.
ועל נשמותינו הפקודות לך
AND FOR OUR SOULS THAT ARE DEPOSITED WITH YOU
פקודות, ‘deposited’ or ‘entrusted’. The existence of the soul in the body is deposited with You, for it is entirely in Your power. And we too entrust our soul with You and rely on You that it continue to exist.
