The most esoteric section of Shimush Tehillim deals with the divine names hidden within the Psalms themselves—names that are not written explicitly but encoded through acrostics, gematria (numerical values), and the technique of reading first or last letters of consecutive words. These hidden names, according to the text, are what give the Psalms their theurgic power.
The primary technique is the roshei tevot (ראשי תיבות) method—reading the first letters of consecutive words to form a divine name. For example, the first letters of the four Hebrew words in (Psalms 96:11)—"Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad"—form a divine name that Shimush Tehillim identifies as having the power to bring joy and dispel sadness. This technique was later adopted extensively by the kabbalists of Safed in the 16th century, particularly Rabbi <strong>Isaac Luria</strong> (the Ari, 1534-1572 CE), who identified dozens of divine names encoded in standard prayers.
A second technique uses gematria (גמטריא), the system that assigns numerical values to Hebrew letters. When the numerical value of a word or phrase in a Psalm equals the numerical value of a known divine name, the text treats them as mystically equivalent. This creates a web of hidden connections between the Psalms and the divine names cataloged in works like Sefer Raziel HaMalakh.
A third technique involves the sofei tevot (סופי תיבות)—the final letters of consecutive words. These final-letter combinations, the text argues, encode names that operate in the hidden realms, governing forces that the initial-letter names cannot reach. The initial letters work in the revealed world; the final letters work in the concealed world.
Shimush Tehillim lists specific divine names for each Psalm, creating a comprehensive reference that allows the practitioner to know exactly which aspect of <strong>God's</strong> power they are invoking with each recitation. This system transformed the Psalms from devotional poetry into what the tradition calls segulot (סגולות)—spiritual remedies with specific, targeted effects. The influence of Shimush Tehillim on Jewish folk religion has been enormous, and its practices continue in traditional Sephardic, Mizrachi, and Hasidic communities to this day.