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 Khetuvim, 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" ("happy are those whose way is perfect"). 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 118. 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 (Aramaic: "eight faces").

Text

Hebrew

The following table shows the Hebrew text of the Psalm with vowels alongside an English translation based upon the JPS 1917 translation (now in the public domain).

Other Bible Translations

The English version in the King James Bible can be seen at. Versions that mark the original section divisions also include the Geneva Bible, American Standard Version, the New International Version and the New King James Version. The Good News Translation has a sub-heading for each stanza, although biblical commentator C. S. Rodd considers this practice "misleading" because it suggests that "each stanza expresses a special theme".

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 (for example, ʾalef the first stanza, the last is taw). 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 (such as the Jewish Publication Society's The Holy Scriptures, the New International Version and the Legacy Standard Bible) 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 (in Hebrew) with that letter. The name of God (Yahweh/Jehovah) appears twenty-four times. Employed in almost every verse of the psalm is a synonym for the Torah, such as dabar ("word, promise"), mishpatim ("rulings"), etc. 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 (alef and beth): 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 (gimel, v. 17). Like many other psalms, it includes dramatic lament (e.g. verses 81–88), joyous praise (e.g. verses 45–48), and prayers for life, deliverance, and vindication (e.g. verses 132–34). 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 (eighth) 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" (v. 75), or "If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction" (v. 92). It ends with an appeal to God to seek his servant who strayed.

Uses

Judaism

Eastern Orthodox

The psalm (118 in the Septuagint) figures prominently in the worship of the Eastern Orthodox Church. There is a tradition that King David used this psalm to teach his young son Solomon the alphabet—but not just the alphabet for writing letters: the alphabet of the spiritual life.

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 (when the second half of Psalm 19 (18), which is similar in theme, is used instead) and on Friday of the third week (when the Passion Psalm 22 (21) is used). 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.

Musical settings

A complete English version of Psalm 119 from the King James Bible was completed by Frederick Steinruck, Michael Misiaszek, and Michael Owens. 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.