How does one work out a mnemonic so these psalms can be recited as one slips off into sleep?
Counting psalms is as good a way to get to sleep as counting sheep. I scarcely get beyond Psalm 10 - so I am working out ways to memorize the lot. E.g. the progressions of Psalm 1: walk-stand-sit to 15, walking complete, 19, Torah as complete, 26 walking in completeness, 32, in this way you will walk, 112, where every verse uses a word from Psalm 1, 119, the ultimate adoration of the one who walks in Torah, the complete of the way.
146 - begins as a first person individual celebration
then after a verse on who can be trusted, it moves to a series of 10 ongoing action verbs of the activity of the One
Counting psalms is as good a way to get to sleep as counting sheep. I scarcely get beyond Psalm 10 - so I am working out ways to memorize the lot. E.g. the progressions of Psalm 1: walk-stand-sit to 15, walking complete, 19, Torah as complete, 26 walking in completeness, 32, in this way you will walk, 112, where every verse uses a word from Psalm 1, 119, the ultimate adoration of the one who walks in Torah, the complete of the way.
Praise יהוה O my being
I will praise יהוה in my life
I will sing psalms to my God while I still exist
then after a verse on who can be trusted, it moves to a series of 10 ongoing action verbs of the activity of the One
who makes heaven and earth
and the sea and all that is in them
doing judgment for the oppressed
giving bread to the hungry
יהוה releasing the prisoners
יהוה giving sight to the blind
יהוה uplifting the disturbed
יהוה loving the righteous
יהוה sheltering the guest
orphan and widow he restores
and the way of the wicked he subverts
and the sea and all that is in them
Note that none of these actions is violent or supports violence; all show the care for the poor; this is the God that is revealed in Zion (v10)
keeping truth forever doing judgment for the oppressed
giving bread to the hungry
יהוה releasing the prisoners
יהוה giving sight to the blind
יהוה uplifting the disturbed
יהוה loving the righteous
יהוה sheltering the guest
orphan and widow he restores
and the way of the wicked he subverts
147 - continues the activity of יהוה specifically with reference to the building of Jerusalem, the healing of the broken of heart as a boundary for their hardship. It has a frigid metaphor in its final verses
He sends his message earthward
his statutes and his judgments to Israel
Not has he done so to all nations
and his judgments they have not known
swiftly races his word
this one who gives snow like wool
frost like ashes he scatters
flinging his ice like fragments
to the face of his cold who will stand
He sends his word and thaws them
he dispatches his wind
waters flow
This psalm confirms יהוה`s focus on Jacob and Israel.
making evident his word to Jacobhis statutes and his judgments to Israel
Not has he done so to all nations
and his judgments they have not known
148 - (picking up words from the prior psalm), commands praise from the heavens (6 verses noting the permanence of the created order) and from the earth (6 verses) with a special mention of dragons
The closing two verses speak of Israel and all those under his mercy.
149 - closes the brackets opened in Psalms 1-2 (Cole, Robert. JSOT 98 (2002). 75-88 An Integrated Reading of Psalms 1 and 2.)
And 150 - that one's easy to remember - lots of unconditional praise - from everything that is breath-bearing.
Praise יהוה from the earth
dragons and all abysses
Fire and hail snow and vapour
tempestuous wind doing its thing
רוּחַ סְעָרָה עֹשָׂה דְבָרוֹ
The closing two verses speak of Israel and all those under his mercy.
149 - closes the brackets opened in Psalms 1-2 (Cole, Robert. JSOT 98 (2002). 75-88 An Integrated Reading of Psalms 1 and 2.)
And 150 - that one's easy to remember - lots of unconditional praise - from everything that is breath-bearing.
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