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• The Zohar (II, 116b) identifies this psalm as the climax of Hallel — the final charge in the spiritual battle conducted through praise. The repeated "His steadfast love endures forever" (four times in the opening) creates a quadruple invocation of Chesed that saturates all four worlds: Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah, and Assiyah.
• "Out of my distress I called on Hashem; Hashem answered me and set me free" — the Zohar (I, 182b) teaches that the distress (Meitzar) is the narrow place of constriction created by the Klipot, and the freedom (Merchav Yah) is the wide place of divine expansion. The calling and answering constitute a complete combat cycle: the Tzaddik signals distress, and God responds with liberation.
• "All nations surrounded me; in the name of Hashem I cut them off!" — the Zohar (III, 93b) identifies the surrounding nations as the Klipot in full encirclement. The phrase "in the name of Hashem" (BeShem Hashem) is the invocation that breaks the encirclement. The Name functions as a sword that cuts in all directions simultaneously, severing the Klipot's ring of siege.
• "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone" — the Zohar (II, 221a) identifies the rejected stone as the Sefirah of Malkhut (David), which was considered the least of Jesse's sons. The Sitra Achra underestimated Malkhut, focusing its attacks on the more visible Sefirot. But Malkhut, as the foundation of the physical world, proved to be the cornerstone of the entire divine edifice.
• "This is the day that Hashem has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" — the Zohar (I, 31a) teaches that every day in which the Tzaddik defeats the Sitra Achra is a day that Hashem has specifically made for that purpose. Rejoicing in the day is acknowledging that the battle was divinely orchestrated. The gladness generated by this acknowledgment provides fuel for the next day's combat.
• Pesachim 119a records the Talmud's debate over who sang each verse of this psalm — Moses, Joshua, David, and Esther are all suggested, meaning the entire sweep of covenant history contributed to this battle hymn, making it the collective victory song of the entire redemptive arc.
• Berakhot 13a notes "The Lord is my strength and song; He has become my salvation" (verse 14) — the Talmud treats this verse, also sung at the sea, as the paradigmatic declaration of the moment adversarial power collapses: not merely "God helped me" but "God IS my salvation."
• Sanhedrin 38a connects "The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone" (verse 22) to the messianic figure who appears weak to the adversarial evaluators but holds the entire divine structure — the Sitra Achra's mistake is always in misidentifying power.
• Sukkah 45a records that this psalm was sung with the lulav at the Temple — each wave of the four species is an enactment of God's sovereignty over the four directions, a territorial declaration that the Sitra Achra has no unclaimed corner of creation.
• Megillah 10b closes with "This is the day the Lord has made" (verse 24) — the Talmud treats this as the eschatological day declaration: there is a specific day when all adversarial rule ends, and the Hallel positions its singers as those who will recognize and inhabit it.