Cum Petro et Sub Petro

With Peter & Under Peter

Sunday, September 1, 2013

psalm 119

nothing in the news I feel like talking about today.Not even Syria. It's a quiet day with a lot of needed rain falling.Father Mark came to hear our confessions today.Wonderful.He's a busy man who took the time and spent a few min talking to us. I don't feel like being especially busy either.Rosary,Mass,Read Psalm 119 from the Divine Mercy Bible. A comforting psalm to reflect upon.
[Psalm 119] This Psalm, the longest by far in the Psalter, praises God for giving such splendid laws and instruction for people to live by. The author glorifies and thanks God for the Torah, prays for protection from sinners enraged by others’ fidelity to the law, laments the cost of obedience, delights in the law’s consolations, begs for wisdom to understand the precepts, and asks for the rewards of keeping them. Several expected elements do not appear in the Psalm: Mount Sinai with its story of God’s revelation and gift to Israel of instruction and commandments, the Temple and other institutions related to revelation and laws (frequent in other Psalms). The Psalm is fascinated with God’s word directing and guiding human life. The poem is an acrostic; its twenty-two stanzas (of eight verses each) are in the order of the Hebrew alphabet. Each of the eight verses within a stanza begins with the same letter. Each verse contains one word for “instruction.” The translation here given attempts to translate each Hebrew word for “instruction” with the same English word. There are, however, nine words for “instruction,” not eight, so the principle of a different word for “instruction” in each verse cannot be maintained with perfect consistency. The nine words for “instruction” in the translation are: law, statute, commandment, precept, testimony, word, judgment, way, and promise.
You can read it here: http://usccb.org/bible/psalms/119

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