Psalm 19 (1928 BCP)
Psalm 19 (1928 BCP) is the psalm Caeli enarrant, appointed in the Book of Common Prayer (1928) for Morning Prayer on the Fourth Day of the month. Its movement is deliberate: the heavens proclaim their Maker; the LORD's law gives wisdom and joy; and the worshipper finally asks that hidden and wilful sin may be cleansed. In the 1928 Psalter it is therefore both praise and self-examination.
Prayer Book Text
THE heavens declare the glory of God; * and the firmament showeth his handy-work. One day telleth another; * and one night certifieth another. There is neither speech nor language; * but their voices are heard among them. Their sound is gone out into all lands; * and their words into the ends of the world.
The first four verses make no equation between creation and Scripture. Rather, the wordless witness of day and night reaches every land; it gives the public setting for the psalm's more particular praise of the LORD's instruction.
In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun; * which cometh forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a giant to run his course. It goeth forth from the uttermost part of the heaven, and runneth about unto the end of it again; * and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
The sun is a creature within God's ordered world, not an object of worship. Its all-reaching heat sharpens the psalm's claim that no human community stands outside the Creator's testimony.
Creation and the Word
The law of the LORD is an undefiled law, converting the soul; * the testimony of the LORD is sure, and giveth wisdom unto the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, and rejoice the heart; * the commandment of the LORD is pure, and giveth light unto the eyes.
The change from God's glory in the heavens to the LORD's law is not a change of subject from worship to rule-keeping. The law gives life, wisdom, gladness, and light: it forms a people able to answer the Creator with obedient praise.
The fear of the LORD is clean, and endureth for ever; * the judgments of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; * sweeter also than honey, and the honeycomb.
The apostle Paul makes a related claim about creation's witness: it leaves humanity accountable to God; it cannot become a pretext for exchanging the Creator for creatures.[5] Psalm 19 joins that universal witness to the particular gift of God's teaching and then carries both into prayer.
This psalm consists of two parts, in the first of which David celebrates the glory of God as manifested in his works; and, in the other, exalts and magnifies the knowledge of God which shines forth more clearly in his word.
Calvin's formulation is a useful historical interpretation of the psalm's sequence, even where Anglican readers may articulate the relation of creation and Scripture differently. It identifies why the middle of the psalm is not an interruption: the creator known in his works addresses and restores his servants through his word.
Vv. 1–6 hymn the silent declaration by the heavens. “Declare” and “makes known” are participles, and thus express the continuity of the acts.
Maclaren's observation helps explain the Prayer Book's repeated praying of the psalm: day and night do not merely furnish a striking image once, but continually call the congregation to attend to God's glory.
From Examination to Prayer
Moreover, by them is thy servant taught; * and in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can tell how oft he offendeth? * O cleanse thou me from my secret faults. Keep thy servant also from presumptuous sins, lest they get the dominion over me.
The psalmist does not claim mastery over God's law. Its teaching exposes faults the worshipper cannot fully count and turns the voice of praise into a petition for cleansing and freedom from sin's dominion. This penitential turn coheres with the Daily Office's recurring confession of sin and declaration of forgiveness.[9]
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be alway acceptable in thy sight, * O LORD, my strength and my redeemer.
The final address gathers the whole psalm. The God whose glory is announced in creation and whose commandments instruct the heart is named “my strength and my redeemer.” Psalm 19 consequently supplies a fitting prayer before preaching, study, or the Daily Office: not that speech may display the worshipper, but that it may be acceptable before God.
Liturgical Use
The 1928 BCP prints Psalm 19 as the Fourth Day's Morning Prayer psalm, within the monthly cycle of the Psalter.[11] Prayed in that pattern, its final petition trains public worship to join cosmic praise, receptivity to Scripture, and personal repentance rather than separating them.
See Also
- Book of Common Prayer (1928)
- The Psalter (1928 BCP)
- Daily Office (1928 BCP)
- Morning Prayer (1928 BCP)
External Links
References
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), Psalter, Psalm 19, p. 355, Fourth Day: Morning Prayer, "Psalm 19, 1928 BCP Psalter" (accessed 22 October 2026).
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), Psalter, Psalm 19:5–6, p. 355, "Psalm 19, 1928 BCP Psalter" (accessed 22 October 2026).
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), Psalter, Psalm 19:7–8, p. 355, "Psalm 19, 1928 BCP Psalter" (accessed 22 October 2026).
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), Psalter, Psalm 19:9–10, p. 355, "Psalm 19, 1928 BCP Psalter" (accessed 22 October 2026).
- ↑ The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version (London: Robert Barker, 1611), Romans 1:20–25, "Romans 1:20–25, KJV" (accessed 22 October 2026).
- ↑ John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of Psalms, trans. James Anderson (Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1845), vol. 1, commentary on Psalm 19:1, "Calvin, Commentary on Psalm 19" (accessed 22 October 2026).
- ↑ Alexander Maclaren, The Expositor's Bible: The Psalms, vol. 1 (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1892), pp. 187–188, exposition of Psalm 19, "Maclaren, The Psalms, exposition of Psalm 19" (accessed 22 October 2026).
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), Psalter, Psalm 19:11–13, p. 355, "Psalm 19, 1928 BCP Psalter" (accessed 22 October 2026).
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “The Order for Daily Morning Prayer,” pp. 3–7, "Daily Morning Prayer, 1928 BCP" (accessed 22 October 2026).
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), Psalter, Psalm 19:14, p. 355, "Psalm 19, 1928 BCP Psalter" (accessed 22 October 2026).
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “The Order how the Psalter is appointed to be read,” p. vii, and Psalter, p. 355, "1928 Book of Common Prayer" (accessed 22 October 2026).