Psalm 119
Psalm 119 is the 119th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in the English of the King James Version: "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord". The Book of Psalms is in the third section of the Hebrew Bible, the Ketuvim, and a book of the Christian Old Testament. The psalm, which is anonymous, is referred to in Hebrew by its opening words, "Ashrei temimei derech". In Latin, it is known as "Beati inmaculati in via qui ambulant in lege Domini".
The psalm is a hymn psalm and an acrostic poem, in which each set of eight verses begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The theme of the verses is the prayer of one who delights in and lives by the Torah, the sacred law. Psalms 1, 19 and 119 may be referred to as "the psalms of the Law".
In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 119. With 176 verses, it is the longest psalm as well as the longest chapter in the Bible.
The psalm forms a regular part of Jewish, Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and other Protestant liturgies. It has often been set to music. British politician William Wilberforce recited the entire psalm while walking back from Parliament, through Hyde Park, to his home.
Background and themes
In Judaism, Psalm 119 has the monikers Alpha-Beta and Temanya Apin.Structure
Psalm 119 is one of several acrostic poems found in the Bible. Its 176 verses are divided into 22 stanzas, one for each of the 22 characters that make up the Hebrew alphabet. In the Hebrew text, each of the eight verses of each stanza begins with the same Hebrew letter. This feature was not maintained in the Septuagint, except that many manuscripts have placed at the beginning of each stanza the name of the corresponding Hebrew letter.Because of this structure, the Psalm was one of the main occurrences of the Hebrew alphabet in the texts of the medieval and modern West. A Romanized version of the names of all the Hebrew letters, in a red typeface, can be seen in this circa 1455 Gutenberg edition of the Latin Vulgate; in which someone also added by hand the Hebrew letters Aleph through Zayin in the margin.
Each of the 22 sections of 8 verses is subheaded with the name of a letter in the Hebrew alphabet. These subheadings are spelled very differently in the various Bible text versions, even in translations. Their antiquated spellings shown in the Authorized King James Version of 1611 were written with influences of Latin and German medieval theological scholarship—forms that greatly differ from the standard modern-day renditions.
Some printed editions also show the actual Hebrew letters along with these subheadings.
Literary features
Psalm 119 is one of about a dozen alphabetic acrostic poems in the Bible. Its 176 verses are divided into twenty-two stanzas, one stanza for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet; within each stanza, each of the eight verses begins with that letter. The name of God appears twenty-four times.Employed in almost every verse of the psalm is a synonym for the Torah, such as dabar, mishpatim, etc. Biblical commentator C. S. Rodd identifies 8 such words, generally translated as 'law', 'promise', 'word', 'statutes', 'commandments', 'ordinances', 'decrees', and 'precepts' in the New Revised Standard Version. But he considers it "unlikely" that all eight words were originally to be found in every stanza, as some scholars have suggested.
The acrostic form and the use of the Torah words are the framework of an elaborate prayer. The grounds for the prayer are established in the first two stanzas : the Torah is held up as a source of blessing and right conduct, and the psalmist pledges to dedicate himself to the law. The prayer proper begins in the third stanza. Like many other psalms, it includes dramatic lament, joyous praise, and prayers for life, deliverance, and vindication. What makes Psalm 119 unique is the way that these requests are continually and explicitly grounded in the gift of the Torah and the psalmist's loyalty to it.
The first and fifth verses in a stanza often state the same theme followed by a statement of opposition, affliction or conflict, and the final verse tends to be a transition introducing the next stanza. Several dozen prayers are incorporated into the Psalm, e.g. "Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law." Themes include opposition by man, affliction, delight in the law and the goodness of God, which sometimes run into each other: "I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me", or "If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction". It ends with an appeal to God to seek his servant who strayed.
Uses
Judaism
- Verse 66 is recited before the shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah.
- Verse 72 is quoted in Pirkei Avot, Chapter 6, no. 9.
- Verses 89–91 are recited during the blessings before the Shema on the second day of Rosh Hashanah.
- Verse 99 is quoted in Pirkei Avot, Chapter 4, no. 1.
- Verse 108 is recited prior to the shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah.
- Verse 122 is recited prior to the shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah.
- Verse 142 is part of Uva Letzion and Tzidkatcha.
- Parts of verses 153–54 comprise the blessing Re'eh of the weekday Amidah.
- Verse 160 is recited prior to the shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah.
- Verse 162 is recited prior to the shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah.
- Verse 165 is part of Talmud Berachos 64a.
- Verses 166, 162, and 165 are recited in that order by the mohel at a brit milah.
Eastern Orthodox
Latin Church liturgy
The Rule of Saint Benedict assigned this psalm to four minor canonical hours on Sundays and three on Mondays. The sections corresponding to the first four letters of the 22-letter Hebrew alphabet are used at Prime, the following sets of three sections at Terce, Sext and None on Sundays. The remaining sections, corresponding to the last nine letters of the Hebrew alphabet, are assigned to Terce, Sext and None on Mondays.The 1568 Roman Breviary of Pope Pius V has Psalm 119 recited in its entirety every day: the sections corresponding to the first four letters of the Hebrew alphabet at Prime, and the others in sets of six sections each at Terce, Sext and None, respectively.
In the 1910 reform of the Roman Breviary by Pope Pius X, Psalm 119 is recited on Sundays and major feasts, divided as in the arrangement of Pius V.
Since the reform of the Roman Rite liturgy in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, the Liturgy of the Hours has a section of Psalm 119, corresponding to a single letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in the midday canonical hour on each day of the four-week cycle except on Monday of the first week and on Friday of the third week. In addition, a section of Psalm 119 is used at Saturday Lauds in weeks 1 and 3, and another section at Vespers of Saturday of week 1.
In the Roman Rite Mass, portions of Psalm 119 are used a responsorial psalm on Sundays 6 and 17 of Year A of the three-year cycle of Sunday readings, on Saturday of the first week in Lent and on the third Monday in Eastertide. It is also used on five days of Year I of the two-year cycle of Ordinary Time weekday readings and 15 days of Year II. A portion is also used on the feast of a Doctor of the Church.
Book of Common Prayer
In the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer, this psalm is appointed to be read in sections between the 24th and 26th days of the month. In the Daily Office lectionary of the Episcopal Church, the psalm is read in sections between the week after Easter and the week after Pentecost. The Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer also includes a portion of Psalm 119 as a choice for use at Noonday Prayer, a service that is based on the minor hours of Terce, Sext, and None.Coptic Orthodox Church
In the Agpeya, the Coptic Church's book of hours, this psalm is prayed in the first watch of the Midnight office. Verses 153-176 are also in the prayer of the Veil, which is generally prayed only by monks.Musical settings
- Psalm 119:1 was set to music by Charles Villiers Stanford in Three Latin Motets, Op. 38.
- Psalm 119:18 inspired the hymn Open My Eyes, That I May See by Clara H. Scott.
- Psalm 119:33–38 was set to music by William Byrd as Teach Me, O Lord.
- Psalm 119:57–64 was set to music by Robert White as Portio mea Domine.
- Psalm 119:89 is a popular Nigerian praise song.
- Psalm 119:105 was set to music by Amy Grant as "Thy Word" on the 1984 album Straight Ahead.
- Psalm 119:105–111 was set to music by Henry Purcell as "Thy word is a lantern".
- Psalm 119:1–176 was completed in 1671 by Heinrich Schütz, who also composed eight settings of metres paraphrases of sections from the psalm in German, beginning with "Wohl denen, die da leben", SWV 217 to 224, for the Becker Psalter, published first in 1628.
- Psalm 119:18, 36, and 133 as "Open Thou Mine Eyes" by John Rutter. Performed by The Cambridge Singers on "Gloria" and other albums.
- Czech composer Antonín Dvořák set verses 114, 117, 119 and 120 to music in his Biblical Songs.
In Protestant Christianity, various metrical settings of Psalm 119 have been published, including "O God, My Strength and Fortitude" by Thomas Sternhold, which appeared in the Scottish Psalter of 1564. The Psalm is put to music in The Book of Psalms for Worship, published by Crown and Covenant Publications.