Psalm 19

Commentary

The classical Jewish commentators all point to the connection the psalmist makes between the Sun and the Torah. These connections include:

• The Torah enlightens man, just as the sun lights his way (Rashi)
• Both the sun and the Torah testify to the glory of their Creator (Ibn Ezra and Radak)
• The Torah is more perfect, whole, or complete than the powerful sun (Metzudat David)
• While the sun conveys God's glory and greatness in the physical world, the Torah expresses God's glory in the spiritual realm (Malbim).

According to the Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon, this psalm compares and contrasts "the study of God's two great books—nature and Scripture".

John Mason Good theorizes that this psalm was composed either in the morning or around noon, when the bright sun eclipses the other heavenly bodies; he contrasts this with Psalm 8, in which the psalmist contemplates the starry sky in the evening.

On the matter of unity, Artur Weiser states that the first part (verses 1 to 7) are a completely distinct song from the second (verses 8 to 15). He upholds that not only the subjects, but also the metrics, the language and the tone are distinct and the two parts could not have been composed by the same author. Lewis, on the other hand, indicates nature as "an index, a symbol, a manifestation, of the Divine" and he points that here "the searching and cleansing sun becomes an image of the searching and cleansing Law", on which he suppresses the idea of these two subjects not being correlated. Rav Elchanan Samet identifies the same problems that Weiser did: "These two halves are strikingly different from one another in their content as well as in their style, to the point that it is difficult to point to verbal, stylistic, or conceptual connections between them." Nonetheless, he points that these two parts have been in unity since the Septuagint and agrees with it, "the inclination to adopt this [critical] solution is liable to stem from intellectual laziness."

Concerning Psalm 19's place in the architectural arrangement of the Psalms, Psalm 18 precedes Psalm 19, wherein David's adversaries are vanquished. Following this triumph and following Psalm 19, a succession of five royal Psalms, Psalms 20 through 24, according to O. Palmer Robertson, seemingly accentuating the unequivocal establishment of the Davidic kingdom

The centrality of Psalm 19 within a literary chiasm extending from Psalm 15 to Psalm 24 has been also expounded upon in Carissa Quinn's doctoral thesis.

Text

The following table shows the Hebrew text of the Psalm with vowels, alongside the Koine Greek text in the Septuagint and the English translation from the King James Version. Note that the meaning can slightly differ between these versions, as the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text come from different textual traditions.A 1917 translation directly from Hebrew to English by the Jewish Publication Society can be found here or here, and an 1844 translation directly from the Septuagint by L. C. L. Brenton can be found here. Both translations are in the public domain. In the Septuagint, this psalm is numbered Psalm 18.

Uses

The final verse in both the Hebrew and KJV versions, "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my Redeemer," is used as a prayer in both the Jewish

Judaism

Psalm 19 is recited in its entirety during the Pesukei dezimra of Shabbat and Yom Tov.

The verses of this psalm are recited before each hakafah on Simchat Torah.

In the ancient Jewish text Perek Shirah, verse 2 (in the Hebrew) is said by the heavens and verse 3 is said by the day.

Verses 8 and 9 (in the Hebrew) are recited in the synagogue after the first person is called up to the Torah.

Verses 12 and 13 (in the Hebrew) are part of Selichos.

Verse 15 (in the Hebrew) is recited in several parts of the Jewish prayer service, including: at the conclusion of the Amidah; and in some communities during the removal of the Torah scroll from the Ark on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Yom Tov; as part of Selichos; and at the conclusion of Tefillah Zakah, a prayer for Yom Kippur eve.

New Testament

Verse 4 is quoted in Romans .

Catholic Church

In the Rule of Saint Benedict of the Benedictine Order, the psalm is to be recited at Prime on Saturdays.

Coptic Orthodox Church

In the Agpeya, the Coptic Church's book of hours, this psalm is prayed in the office of Prime.

Book of Common Prayer

In the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer, this psalm is appointed to be read on the morning of the fourth day of the month, as well as at Mattins on Christmas Day.

Musical settings

Psalm 19 has been set to music several times. Handel's Messiah features a setting of the fourth verse of the Psalm in the chorus "Their Sound is Gone Out."

In France, Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville composed in 1749, le grand motet de type versaillais "Cæli enarrant gloriam Dei " and Camille Saint-Saëns composed in 1865 one "Cæli enarrant" (Psaume XVIII) op. 42.

Notable settings to German texts include:

• Heinrich Schütz in "Die Himmel, Herr, preisen dein göttliche Macht und Ehr", SWV 115 as part of the Becker Psalter, published in 1628.
• Johann Sebastian Bach in the cantata Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, BWV 76 (1723)
• Joseph Haydn in "Die Himmel erzählen" ("The Heavens are Telling") – the chorus at the end of part 1 of his oratorio Die Schöpfung (1798)
• Ludwig van Beethoven in his 1803 song for voice and piano, "Die Himmel rühmen des Ewigen Ehre", setting a paraphrase by Gellert in "Die Himmel rühmen des Ewigen Ehre", a song from an 1803 lieder collection.

In Protestant Christianity, various metrical settings of Psalm 19 have been published, including "The heav'ns and firmament on high do wondrously declare" in The Whole Booke of Psalmes (Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins, 1584) and "The heav’ns God’s glory do declare" in the Scottish Psalter (1650).

The American composer Steve Reich set part of the Hebrew text in his 1981 work Tehillim.

The Rastafarian song "Rivers of Babylon" (recorded 1970 by The Melodians) includes a reference to the Amidah through verse 14 of Psalm 19 in English together with a reference to Psalm 137 that was written in memory of the first destruction of Zion (Jerusalem) by the Babylonians in 586 BC (the city and the Second Temple were destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans). This song was also popularized as a cover recorded by Boney M. in 1978.

"Torat Hashem Temimah" (The word of God is perfect), consisting of the first five words of verse 8 (in the Hebrew), is a popular Jewish song.

Other

"The judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether", a phrase from Psalm 19:9, is inscribed on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.

Notes

References

Sources

References

1. [http://medievalist.net/psalmstxt/ps18.htm Parallel Latin/English Psalter / Psalmus 18 (19)] {{webarchive. link. (2017-05-07 medievalist.net)
2. Breen, C., [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27658797 The Psalms of the Law], ''The Furrow'', Vol. 15, No. 8 (Aug., 1964), pp. 516-525
3. 0-15-676248-X p.64
4. (2019). "Psalm 19 Bible Commentary: Charles H. Spurgeon's Treasury of David". Christianity.com.
5. 8534900361 p. 141
6. 0-15-676248-X p.69
7. Rav Elchanan Samet, [https://www.etzion.org.il/en/shiur-61-psalm-19-%D6%A0the-heavens-declare-glory-god ''Shiur #61: Psalm 19 "The Heavens Declare The Glory Of God"''] {{Webarchive. link. (2020-12-02 . Retrieved February 04, 2021.)
8. The Flow of the Psalms, O Palmer Robertson, pp.66-74, 2015, ISBN 978-1-62995-133-1
9. Toward the Kingdom: The Shape and Message of Psalm 15 to Psalm 24 presented at the Institute of Biblical Research, Carissa Quinn, https://www.academia.edu/28709636/Toward_the_Kingdom_The_Shape_and_Message_of_Psalms_15_24
10. "Psalms – Chapter 19". Mechon Mamre.
11. "Psalms 19 - JPS 1917". [[Sefaria.
12. "Psalm 18 - Septuagint and Brenton's Septuagint Translation". Ellopos.
13. link. (2021-10-09 , sermon given at [[Peterhouse]] Chapel, Cambridge, 5 February 2006, 6.00pm Evensong, accessed 9 October 2021)
14. [[John Kittmer. Kittmer, J.]], [https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/her-majesty-the-queens-90th-birthday Address by John Kittmer, HMA to Greece, at a service at St Paul's Anglican Church in Athens to commemorate Her Majesty The Queen's 90th Birthday], 5 June 2016, published 9 June 2016, accessed 9 October 2021
15. Yaffe, Barry. (October 7, 2019). "Tehillim 19 and the Essence of Simchas Torah". [[Orthodox Union]].
16. Brauner, Reuven. (2013). "Shimush Pesukim: Comprehensive Index to Liturgical and Ceremonial Uses of Biblical Verses and Passages".
17. Slifkin, Nosson. (2002). "Perek Shirah". Zoo Torah.
18. Kirkpatrick, A. F.. (1901). "The Book of Psalms: with Introduction and Notes". At the University Press.
19. "Psalter of the Divine Office according to the Rule of Saint Benedict". Rosarychurch.net.
20. "Prime". agpeya.org.
21. Church of England, [https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2019-10/The%20Book%20of%20Common%20Prayer%201662.pdf Book of Common Prayer: The Psalter] as printed by [[John Baskerville]] in 1762, pp. 196ff
22. "The Book of Common Prayer: Proper Psalms On Certain Days".
23. "Coeli enarrant".
24. "The Whole Booke of Psalmes collected into Englishe Metre (1584)".
25. (May 23, 2016). "Psalm 19".
26. The Visual Commentary on Scripture VCS. (2025-02-11). "VCS Creative Conversations: Ben Quash with Steve Reich".
27. "Torat Hashem Temimah". Zemirot Database.
28. National Park Service, [http://insidethecoldwar.org/sites/default/files/documents/Lincoln%20Memorial%20Quotations_0.pdf Abraham Lincoln: Words Inscribed on the Lincoln Memorial Washington, D.C.] {{Webarchive. link. (2020-11-12)