Psalm 119 (1928 BCP)
Psalm 119 (1928 BCP) is Beati immaculati in The Psalter (1928 BCP). The Book of Common Prayer (1928) appoints all 176 verses across Evening Prayer on the Twenty-fourth Day and Morning and Evening Prayer on the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Days. Thus its sustained prayer for understanding, obedience, mercy, and life is received as common worship, not merely private instruction.
Prayer Book text and Daily Office use
The first portion sets blessedness in the pilgrim way of seeking God with the whole heart.
BLESSED are those that are undefiled in the way, and walk in the law of the LORD. 2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, * and seek him with their whole heart; 3 Even they who do no wickedness, * and walk in his ways. 4 Thou hast charged * that we shall diligently keep thy commandments. 5 O that my ways were made so direct, * that I might keep thy statutes! 6 So shall I not be confounded, * while I have respect unto all thy commandments. 7 I will thank thee with an unfeigned heart, * when I shall have learned the judgments of thy righteousness. 8 I will keep thy statutes; * O forsake me not utterly.
WHEREWITHAL shall a young man cleanse his way? * even by ruling himself after thy word. 10 With my whole heart have I sought thee; * O let me not go wrong out of thy commandments. 11 Thy word have I hid within my heart, * that I should not sin against thee. 12 Blessed art thou, O LORD; * O teach me thy statutes. 13 With my lips have I been telling * of all the judgments of thy mouth. 14 I have had as great delight in the way of thy testimonies, * as in all manner of riches. 15 I will talk of thy commandments, * and have respect unto thy ways. 16 My delight shall be in thy statutes, * and I will not forget thy word.
O DO well unto thy servant; * that I may live, and keep thy word. 18 Open thou mine eyes; * that I may see the wondrous things of thy law. 19 I am a stranger upon earth; * O hide not thy commandments from me. 20 My soul breaketh out for the very fervent desire * that it hath alway unto thy judgments. 21 Thou hast rebuked the proud; * and cursed are they that do err from thy commandments. 22 O turn from me shame and rebuke; * for I have kept thy testimonies. 23 Princes also did sit and speak against me; * but thy servant is occupied in thy statutes. 24 For thy testimonies are my delight, * and my counsellors.
The psalm's discipline is not legal self-assertion. The speaker remains a stranger, faces the opposition of princes, and asks God to do well, open, teach, and turn. The next morning's petitions place understanding and desire before performance.
TEACH me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes, * and I shall keep it unto the end. 34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; * yea, I shall keep it with my whole heart. 35 Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; * for therein is my desire. 36 Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, * and not to covetousness. 37 O turn away mine eyes, lest they behold vanity; * and quicken thou me in thy way. 38 O stablish thy word in thy servant, * that I may fear thee. 39 Take away the rebuke that I am afraid of; * for thy judgments are good. 40 Behold, my delight is in thy commandments; * O quicken me in thy righteousness.
Let thy loving mercy come also unto me, O LORD, * even thy salvation, according unto thy word. 42 So shall I make answer unto my blasphemers; * for my trust is in thy word. 43 O take not the word of thy truth utterly out of my mouth; * for my hope is in thy judgments. 44 So shall I alway keep thy law; * yea, for ever and ever. 45 And I will walk at liberty; * for I seek thy commandments. 46 I will speak of thy testimonies also, even before kings, * and will not be ashamed. 47 And my delight shall be in thy commandments, * which I have loved. 48 My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; * and my study shall be in thy statutes.
Law, word, and liberty
Neale and Littledale's careful distinction between the psalm's recurring terms shows why its many near-synonyms are not empty repetition.
Law is the generic phrase, including all the others, and taken for the whole scope of Divine revelation; Testimonies, are such precepts as are prohibitory, attesting God's holiness, protesting against man's sinfulness; Statutes, are positive enactments, ceremonial ordinances, and the like; Commandments, moral enactments.
This interpretive scheme should not displace the psalm's Hebrew voice, but it usefully explains its Prayer Book cadence: law, word, testimonies, statutes, judgments, and commandments train worshippers to desire God's whole revealed will. The liberty of verse 45 is consequently not freedom from God, but freedom for the path God gives.
Word, affliction, and hope
The next Evening Prayer portion refuses a shallow piety: the word endures, but the worshipper knows trouble, enemies, and the need to be quickened.
O LORD, thy word * endureth for ever in heaven. 90 Thy truth also remaineth from one generation to another; * thou hast laid the foundation of the earth, and it abideth. 91 They continue this day according to thine ordinance; * for all things serve thee. 92 If my delight had not been in thy law, * I should have perished in my trouble. 93 I will never forget thy commandments; * for with them thou hast quickened me. 94 I am thine: O save me, * for I have sought thy commandments. 95 The ungodly laid wait for me, to destroy me; * but I will consider thy testimonies. 96 I see that all things come to an end; * but thy commandment is exceeding broad.
THY word is a lantern unto my feet, * and a light unto my paths. 106 I have sworn, and am stedfastly purposed, * to keep thy righteous judgments. 107 I am troubled above measure: * quicken me, O LORD, according to thy word. 108 Let the free-will offerings of my mouth please thee, O LORD, * and teach me thy judgments. 109 My soul is alway in my hand; * yet do I not forget thy law. 110 The ungodly have laid a snare for me; * but yet I swerved not from thy commandments. 111 Thy testimonies have I claimed as mine heritage for ever; * and why? they are the very joy of my heart. 112 I have applied my heart to fulfil thy statutes alway, * even unto the end.
Older western offices also treated Psalm 119 as material for the regular round of prayer, a useful historical parallel to the 1928 distribution.
Gregorian, Daily: Prime (vv. 1–32); Terce (vv. 33–80); Sext (vv. 81–128); None (vv. 129–176).
Christian reading
Christians pray Psalm 119 in the light of Christ without cancelling Israel's prayer. Jesus' own account of his relation to the law prevents the psalm's love of God's instruction from being treated as an embarrassing preliminary to grace.
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Psalm 119 therefore gives the Daily Office a school of desire: it teaches worshippers to ask for opened eyes, bring affliction before God, and seek a freedom shaped by the LORD's good word.
See also
References
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), The Psalter, Psalm 119, Beati immaculati, I, verses 1–8, Evening Prayer, Twenty-fourth Day; 1928 BCP Psalter, Psalm 119.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), The Psalter, Psalm 119, In quo corrigit?, II, verses 9–16, Evening Prayer, Twenty-fourth Day; 1928 BCP Psalter, Psalm 119.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), The Psalter, Psalm 119, Retribue servo tuo, III, verses 17–24, Evening Prayer, Twenty-fourth Day; 1928 BCP Psalter, Psalm 119.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), The Psalter, Psalm 119, Legem pone, V, verses 33–40, Morning Prayer, Twenty-fifth Day; 1928 BCP Psalter, Psalm 119.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), The Psalter, Psalm 119, Et veniat super me, VI, verses 41–48, Morning Prayer, Twenty-fifth Day; 1928 BCP Psalter, Psalm 119.
- ↑ John Mason Neale and Richard Frederick Littledale, A Commentary on the Psalms: from Primitive and Mediæval Writers; and from the Various Office-Books and Hymns of the Roman, Mozarabic, Ambrosian, Gallican, Greek, Coptic, Armenian, and Syriac Rites, vol. IV, Psalm CXIX–Psalm CL, 2nd ed. (London: Joseph Masters, 1874), pp. 2–3, introductory commentary on Psalm CXIX; Internet Archive, full scan and text.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), The Psalter, Psalm 119, In aeternum, Domine, XII, verses 89–96, Evening Prayer, Twenty-fifth Day; 1928 BCP Psalter, Psalm 119.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), The Psalter, Psalm 119, Lucerna pedibus meis, XIV, verses 105–112, Morning Prayer, Twenty-sixth Day; 1928 BCP Psalter, Psalm 119.
- ↑ John Mason Neale and Richard Frederick Littledale, A Commentary on the Psalms: from Primitive and Mediæval Writers; and from the Various Office-Books and Hymns of the Roman, Mozarabic, Ambrosian, Gallican, Greek, Coptic, Armenian, and Syriac Rites, vol. IV, Psalm CXIX–Psalm CL, 2nd ed. (London: Joseph Masters, 1874), p. 2, “Various Uses,” Psalm CXIX; Internet Archive, full scan and text.
- ↑ The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version (Cambridge: University Press, 1769), Matthew 5:17–18; Bible Gateway, Matthew 5:17–20 KJV.