The verses of Psalm 119 that lack any cadence

Psalm 119 is 176 verses long. It is an 8 fold alphabetic acrostic celebrating the poet's love of Torah under 8 repeating synonyms. The poet recognizes his own weakness. There are no secondary cadences in the Psalm and there are 27 verses with no primary cadence yet several of these could use one and perhaps in some editions of the Hebrew they have one.

This raises the obvious questions that have been with us for some time. How reliable are these accents? They are at least as reliable as the music they portray make them more transparent as to the sense they give to the text. So far that appears to be a significant step toward clarity.

Here they are with very abbreviated music. Without even reading the words, I can imagine that those that start above the e (tonic) are completing a comment on the prior verse or verses. Those that start and end on e are statements in themselves that are complete but the poet wants us not to stop until we have read the whole verse.

119:2	g f# f# e	4
119:4	g f# f# e	4
119:5	g f# f# e	4
119:12	e g f# f# e	5
119:14	e g f# B e	1
119:17	e g e f# e f# e	1
119:24	e e g f# e	1
119:26	e B g e f# e	1
119:33	e B g f# f# e	4
119:34	g f# e f# e	1
119:36	e g B e	1
119:44	e g f# f# e	5
119:46	e B g f# B e	1
119:47	e e f# B e	1
119:48	e e e g f# f# e	1
119:52	C g f# e e	1
119:54	g e f# B e	1
119:57	e g f# f# e	5
119:64	e B g f# f# e	4
119:68	e f# f# e	1
119:103	e B g f# e	1
119:112	e B g f# f# e	4
119:124	e g f# f# e	5
119:130	e g f# f# e	5
119:140	e g f# e f# e	1
119:144	g f# f# e	4
119:145	e B g f# f# e	4

I am sure you would like me to put them all together in one score - alas that might be a bit tedious and then we would just ask more questions about what preceded and followed them. Here is the whole score for Psalm 119.

Memorizing the Psalms - 12 (113-119)

In this series, I am considering strategies for memorizing all the psalms of the Hebrew Psalter. Ask yourself also - what is(are) the central verse(s) of each psalm? This section picks up after the first acrostic of Book 5 and leads to the second, the great adoration of Psalm 119.

הַלְלוּ יָהּ הַלְלוּ עַבְדֵי יְהוָה	113:1	Hallelu Yah Praise servants of יהוה
בְּצֵאת יִשְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרָיִם	114:1	When Israel exited from Egypt
לֹא לָנוּ יְהוָה לֹא לָנוּ	115:1	Not to us יהוה not to us
אָהַבְתִּי	116:1	I love
הַלְלוּ אֶת יְהוָה כָּל גּוֹיִם	117:1	Praise יהוה all nations
הוֹדוּ לַיהוָה כִּי טוֹב	118:1	Give thanks to יהוה for it is good
אַשְׁרֵי תְמִימֵי דָרֶךְ	119:1	All joy for those who are the complete of the way

Psalm 118 raises the question of psalms connected by a first line. This is the third of four psalms to begin הוֹדוּ לַיהוָה כִּי טוֹב. Note the phrase in Psalms 106:1, 107:1, 118:1,29, and 136:1. Another group that comes to mind are those beginning with In you I take refuge or some very similar phrase, Psalms 7, 11, 16, 31, 71. Refuge is a major theme in the Psalms, one often obscured in translation by the careless use of synonyms, e.g. the Coverdale Psalm 46, Deus noster refugium et virtus which glosses refuge as hope: God is our hope and strength. (I don't admire or advocate rigidity in translation, but concordance on major themes is important.)

• In Psalm 113, the weak are raised from the dust to live with the princes.
• In Psalm 114, Israel exits from Egypt, sea withdraws and lambkin like hillocks skip.
• Psalm 115 is a psalm of universal trust and blessing.
• Psalm 116 is the completion of the vows. The elect calls in the name of יהוה who rescues from death.
• Psalm 117 is the shortest psalm, of universal praise and commendation of יהוה.
• Psalm 118 includes the circumcision, the stone that the builders rejected, and is the origin of the Benedictus. In the story of the Psalter, this poem might be seen as the birth of the adoration that will be so evident in the psalm to follow. Psalms 118 and 136 frame the great acrostic and the 15 Psalms of Ascent including the arrival at the courts in Psalm 135. Psalms 137 to 149 then successively close the frames for the whole Psalter.
• Psalm 119 feels like the high point of the Psalter. Frames used for the first time occur even this late in the book. The verb for longing (יאב) is used only in Psalm 119:131. One might understand this as representing the primal human need.

The Present

When you have a present in front of you ready to be opened, the first thing you do with it is remove the wrapping paper. Then you take the present out of the box and remove the inner packaging. If you are an organized person, you use the box to hold the wrapping and packaging with a view to getting them into the recycling. In other words, the present is the important part that you keep, and the other stuff you throw away.

The present in front of us is the Psalms. A book containing the whole collection of these 150 poems is called a Psalter. In this case, don't throw away the box or the wrapping material. The outer wrapping and the inner packaging are both important to understanding each of the poems. And in each psalm, there is tissue paper stored with the words and phrases. Hear the rustle of the paper as you mutter the words of the psalm. Though the packaging and wrapping are not the essence of the present, they do from their shape reveal the mind of the One who is the present.

In a word, the Psalms in their sequence reveal a story. It is your story and mine. So much is shared between us in joy and sorrow. These things were written for our learning. We will move from the negative to praise, from exile to consolation. In all these things we will learn from the One who teaches humanity knowledge. These words were written to form us together into a people who know mercy.

Here is the opening negative word – listen for what is repeated: Happy the person, who does not walk in the advice of the wicked, and in the way of sinners does not stand, and in the seat of the scornful does not sit. Here is the final invitation – listen to its joy: All the breath-bearing, praise Yah. Hallelu Yah. Between these two verses, Psalm 1:1, and Psalm 150:6 you will find a complete story, creation, redemption, exile, consolation, sin, forgiveness, anger, and joy.

The Psalms, collectively known as Tehillim, or praises, are partitioned into five books. Book 1 begins with Psalm 1 and ends with Psalm 41. Book 2 begins with Psalm 42 and ends with Psalm 72. Book 3 begins with Psalm 73 and ends with Psalm 89. Books 2 and 3 contain many great laments, both personal and collective. Book four runs from Psalms 90 to 106. And so Book 5 begins at Psalm 107 and ends at Psalm 150. Each book ends with a verse of praise. Book 5 builds praise into a great crescendo. It ends with five psalms of praise following a psalm that is called a praise of David, Psalm 145.

In Books 1 and 5, there are eight special poems that are children’s games. They are alphabet poems, though they are a little more complex than A is for Apple. In Book 1, the four poems are all broken. First are Psalms 9 and 10, a single alphabetic poem but spread over two Psalms with seven missing letters. Then comes Psalm 25 (two missing letters). Then Psalm 34 (one missing letter), and finally Psalm 37 (two missing letters). Psalm 37 is named the wicked acrostic since the word for wicked occurs 14 times in that poem. In Book 5, the four acrostics are Psalms 111, 112, 119, and 145. Each of these alphabetic poems is perfect. There is no letter out of place.

You can just begin to see that this present comes in a complex box with five different compartments. The first and last compartment have these 9 poems constructed in this obvious special form of the child’s game. The second and third compartment are filled with laments over various difficulties in the history of Israel. The fourth compartment begins with a prayer of Moses and reveals a consolation and ultimate establishment of the work to be done: And let the pleasure of the Lord our God be upon us, and the deeds of our hands establish upon us, and the deeds of our hands establish. And consider the fourth verse of Psalm 106: remember me YHWH[1] in the acceptance of your people, visit me in your salvation.

But the box is yet more complex. In the first and last books, each alphabetic poem celebrates the psalm that immediately precedes it. So the first of these acrostics, Psalms 9 and 10, celebrates Psalm 8: YHWH our Lord ,how majestic your name in all the earth. Psalm 8 presents joy in the child of humanity: you make it a little less than God and with glory and honour you crown it. And in Book 5, the last of the acrostics, Psalm 145, celebrates Psalm 144. And this psalm mirrors Psalm 8 with a touch of humour. In Psalm 8, For I see your heavens, that your fingers make, moon and stars, which you have established; and In Psalm 144: Blessed is YHWH my rock, the teacher of my hands to close combat, my fingers to war. These two psalms contain the only use of the word fingers in the Psalms. Psalm 144 also presents the child of humanity, but this time with a different touch, what is this humanity that you know it, a mortal child that you devised it; humanity is like futility, its days as a shadow passing away.

Similarly, Psalm 25 celebrates Psalm 24, gates, lift up your heads, and be lifted up, doors everlasting, and the king of glory will come in. And Psalm 119 celebrates Psalm 118, Open to me the gates of righteousness. I will go into them; I will give thanks to Yah. This is the gate of YHWH. Righteous ones will go into it. Psalm 34 celebrates the first mention of the new song in Psalm 33. Psalm 37 celebrates the oracle that is Psalm 36. And Psalms 111 and 112 celebrate the only other oracle in the Psalms, Psalm 110. These sixteen Psalms are like a great set of eight pillars holding up the tent of this book of praises.

If that is part of the box that contains this present, what is the inner wrapping like? Each psalm has its own individual tissue paper, and many pairs of psalms also are packaged together. For example, if we look at repeated words, Psalm 145 has the word all repeated 17 times. It is like a drum beat in the poem. Or if we look at Psalms 1 and 2 together, we find seven key words joining these two psalms together. Psalm 2 uses five of the words in Psalm 1 in the same sequence, sit – day – gives – judge – perish. Who is seated in Psalm 2 and what is the dangerous seat in Psalm 1? What is the common time period shared between the two psalms? Who gives in Psalm 2 to whom and what is the subject of gives in Psalm 1? Who judges and what perishes? In addition, the word way is used after this sequence in Psalm 2 but before the sequence in Psalm 1. Way and happy are an overall frame for the two poems.

You can see that we cannot throw out this material. The poems are packaged with the words themselves, teaching us by means of their own patterns. When you read a psalm, look for these patterns.

That was the red tissue paper, but there is also white, green, blue, yellow and other colours of tissue paper packaging the words. What! More packaging – when do we get to the present itself? The present itself is invisible, but definitely still present. And the present will be known by presence itself, your presence to it, and its presence to you. The packaged tissue of words is exquisitely formed because the present is itself exquisite. All your senses will be needed and action too. No part can be omitted.

There are 150 starting places, some small, some large. Psalm 78 is the longest single poem at 72 verses. Psalm 119 is longer, but it can also be seen as 22 short eight-verse poems. Psalm 76:4 contains the words that are at the centre of the praises. They are a suitable hope: there he shatters the fire-brands of bow shield and sword and battle. Selah.

But let’s pick up a lesser known part of the gift, a psalm not often studied, but important because it deals with the tongue, our tongue. How well do we control what we say? Here is Psalm 52.

For the leader, An insight of David: In comes Doeg the Edomite and he makes it clear to Saul saying to him, David goes to the house of Ahimelech.

Why do you boast in evil, O valiant one? The reproof of God is all the day long.

Calamities your tongue devises, like a honed razor that acts with deceit.

You love evil over good, falsehood over a matter of righteousness. Selah.

You love to swallow up all sorts of things, tongue of deceit.

But God will overcome you in perpetuity, he will take hold of you and pluck you from your tent and root you out of the land of the living. Selah.

And the-many righteous will see and fear and they will laugh at him: So this is the valiant one who did not set up God as his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his own calamity.

But I am like an olive tree, green in the house of God. I trust in God’s reproof now and for ever. I will thank you forever, for you have acted and I await your name for it is good, made clear to those under your mercy.

This poem is in Book 2. Notice that it does not use the personal name of God, YHWH, but just the word for God (Elohim). Psalms 42 to 86, that is most of Books 2 and 3, use Elohim more often than YHWH. This is yet another aspect of the packaging, a set of Psalms with a differing style.

Notice the repeated words in bold in this angry psalm. David is escaping from Saul, and Doeg squeals on him. Not a nice usage of the tongue. I wondered if David as much as calls Doeg a reproof of God. But it is not so complicated. I have rendered the word for loving-kindness almost as its opposite. It is true, however, that reproof, if we listen, is also loving-kindness. There is a real standard to behaviour in the people of God. We cannot simply snitch on others just because we think the boss (in this case, the disturbed Saul) is going to reward us. Not only is it bad for us, but given that we belong to God’s people, it doesn’t do much for God’s reputation either. Notice also who makes evidence clear to whom: Doeg makes his evidence clear to Saul and God makes the goodness of his name (reputation) clear to those who are under his mercy.

Repeated commonly used words also show us a connection between Psalms 52 and Psalm 51. The word for come and go appears twice at the beginning of Psalm 51 when Nathan the prophet came to David as he had come to Bathsheva, and twice in the beginning of Psalm 52. One could say that these Psalms, being juxtaposed, recognize both David’s sin and Doeg’s sin. Both these persons are in need of correction and covenant mercy. For more on the tongue see Psalm 12, YHWH will cut off all lips divided ... tongue speaking greatness, who said with our tongue we will prevail; our lips are ours; who is Lord to us! And Psalm 15, the one who will dwell on the holy hill is one who does not slander with his tongue. The tongue is a theme throughout the Psalms. In Book 5, Psalm 120, the first of the 15 Psalms of Ascent asks YHWH for deliverance from a false tongue, and then poses a question to the tongue: what gives with you or what next with you deceitful tongue? Psalm 141 is the last of the prayers in this theme, asking YHWH to: set a guard on my mouth; preserve the gateway of my lips.

This sentence from Psalm 141 reveals another piece of the internal packaging of a psalm verse. Notice how the two parts of the verse say the same thing in different words. This is an example of a synonymous parallel. One can also have an antithetical parallel where one phrase is contrasted with another. For example in Psalm 30: for a moment is in his anger, lives are in his acceptance; in the evening weeping stops over, but of the morning, a shout of joy. The parallels may be sequential in form a-b, a-b as above or opposite  a-b, b-a. They may even contain more than two elements, such as in the first verse of Psalm 1 a three by three parallel, or the next to last verse of Psalm 3: for you strike all my enemies on the cheek, the teeth of the wicked you break. This is in the form a-b-c, c-b-a.

---

[1] Y-H-W-H is the personal name of the God of Israel.

Messing around with genre as inscribed

Working only with the Hebrew - the question is - do the genres in the inscriptions form a pattern? Here is the raw data [updated].

........Book 1.........	.........Book 2.........	.........Book 3.........	.........Book 4.........	.........Book 5.........
1-2 no genre 3-6 psalm 7 reel 8-9 (10) psalm 11 no genre 12-13 psalm 14 no genre 15 psalm 16 miktam 17 prayer 18 no genre 19-24 psalm 25-28 no genre 29 psalm 30 song, psalm 31 psalm 32 insight 33,34,35 no genre 36 oracle 37 no genre 38-41 psalm	42 (43) 44-45 insight 46 song 47 psalm 48 song, psalm 49-51 psalm 52-55 insight 56-60 miktam 61 no genre 62-64 psalm 65 psalm, song 66  song, psalm 67 no genre 68 psalm 69-72 no genre	73 psalm 74 insight 75-76 psalm, song 77 psalm 78 insight 79 psalm 80 testimony, psalm 81 no genre 82-85 psalm 86 prayer 87 psalm, song 88 song, psalm, insight 89 insight	90 prayer 91 no genre 92  psalm, song 93-97 no genre 98 psalm 99 no genre 100-101 psalm 102 prayer 103-106 no genre	107 no genre 108 song, psalm 109 psalm 110 oracle,  psalm 111,112,113-119 no genre 120-134 song 135-138 no genre 139-141 psalm 142 insight 143 psalm 144 no genre 145 praise 146-150 no genre

Notes and observations:
several have double even triple genre
No prayer in Book 2
The prayers of Book 4 are a significant frame for that book.
No insight (maskil, Kimhi : a poem requiring an interpreter) in Book 4
psalm 14 the double of psalm 53 - one is an insight but the other is not
Miktamim (gold, inscribed, atonement ?) only in Books 1 and 2
Analysis could be impacted by the placement of acrostics (in bold)

A side note re inscriptions: Kimhi cites the tradition that ‘of David : a Psalm signifies that the Holy Spirit rested upon him, and (then) afterwards he uttered a Psalm while a Psalm of David signifies that he uttered a Psalm and (then) afterwards the Holy Spirit rested upon him’. See Psalms 24, 40, 68, 101, 109, 110, 139. That these are the 7 psalms that are marked in this way is an argument in favour of Kimhi’s comment.

Psalm 119 compared to psalm 1

I guess you wouldn't be surprised if you heard that psalm 119 used 68% of the words of psalm 1 (28 shared stems multiply used from the 67 words of psalm 1).

It wouldn't strain credulity either to say that psalm 119 uses 61% of the words of psalm 19 (61 shared stems multiply used from the 126 words of psalm 19).

Words in psalm 119 (1064) in the order of word usage in psalm 1 (67) - showing parts 1 and 2 only

Word and gloss * first usage	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	20	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Vs	Stem
אשׁרי all joy for	░																												1	אשׁר
דרך the way						░																							1	דרך
ההלכים who walk			░																										1	הלך
בתורת in the teaching of											░																		1	תורה
אשׁרי all joy for	░																												2	אשׁר
עדתיו his testimonies																									░				2	עדה
בכל with a whole																				░									2	כל
לא not		░																											3	לא
בדרכיו in his ways						░																							3	דרך
הלכו they walk			░																										3	הלך
דרכי my ways						░																							5	דרך
לא not		░																											6	לא
כל all																				░									6	כל
משׁפטי the judgments of																								░					7	שׁפט
בכל by all																				░									10	כל
לא not		░																											11	לא
אחטא I may sin							░																						11	חטא
כל all																				░									13	כל
משׁפטי the judgments of																								░					13	שׁפט
בדרך by the way of						░																							14	דרך
עדותיך your testimonies																									░				14	עדה
כל all																				░									14	כל
לא nor		░																											16	לא

I dared to look at glosses around joy, rejoicing, shouting, (again), and soul, life etc yesterday. I changed another 100 psalms a word here and a word there. There must be a time when I will think about the wholes within the whole... What does this collection of poetry signify as a datum of history?

One unique word I eventually rendered as revel - it occurs only in psalms 94 and 119. Your commandments testimonies etc are my revel. (Not chocolate) or I revel in them.

וְתוֹרָתְךָ שַׁעֲשֻׁעָי

When one reads with the music, there is no lack of surprise

It seems easy to say, I know this. What new thing can you tell me?

Even the Preacher says And there is nothing at all new, under the sun.

Well in Psalm 119 part 1 of all places, there is something new this morning. The music is quite unexpected. We all hear Psalms because of Coverdale, and especially Psalm 119, the Aleph part, in fact the whole 22 parts, as bi-cola - two phases per verse. Of course if you don't read the psalms in traditional translations or at all, you won't think that way. But remember the Latin version of Psalm 51 immortalized by Allegri and the King's College high C. My dear sister of blessed memory asked me in her place in Tweed Ontario, Bobbie, who killed the cat?

But this music is not Allegri. It is the music implied by the accents. And perhaps I should promote the revia (*) in this case to a greater significance.

Note this: there is no mid-verse cadence in verses 2, 4, and 5. Believe me when I say this is unusual in a set of 8 verses. I noted before that there is only one rest for the 88 verses of the laments of Lamentations 3 and 5. But this is very rare. In Psalm 119, only 12 of 176 verses have no rest. [Correction: I misread my results - there are 27 in my latest count] And three of them are in this first 8 verses. And they are not symmetric within the poem. Must read this poem again and observe the prosody.

So read it with me: and note the approaches to the rest (on A). Every verse has a unique approach except for the three verses with no rest which are all of the form g-f#-e. We've seen this form before in the introductions to the speeches in Job - but it is an accidental similarity in this case. Something to keep an eye out for, I think.
1. e f# e ^A
2. no rest
3. g e B ^A
4. no rest
5. no rest
6. f# ^A
7. g B ^A
8. e f# ^A

אַשְׁרֵ֥י תְמִֽימֵי־דָ֑רֶךְ הַֽ֝הֹלְכִ֗ים בְּתוֹרַ֥ת יְהוָֽה	1	All joy for those who are the complete of the way, who walk in the instruction of Yahweh.	6 8	12 15
אַ֭שְׁרֵי נֹצְרֵ֥י עֵדֹתָ֗יו בְּכָל־לֵ֥ב יִדְרְשֽׁוּהוּ	2	All joy for those observing his testimonies. With a whole heart they search him out.	14	25
אַ֭ף לֹֽא־פָעֲל֣וּ עַוְלָ֑ה בִּדְרָכָ֥יו הָלָֽכוּ	3	Also they do not work injustice, in his ways they walk.	7 6	12 10
אַ֭תָּה צִוִּ֥יתָה פִקֻּדֶ֗יךָ לִשְׁמֹ֥ר מְאֹֽד	4	And you commanded your precepts to keep in full.	13	20
אַ֭חֲלַי יִכֹּ֥נוּ דְרָכָ֗י לִשְׁמֹ֥ר חֻקֶּֽיךָ	5	Ah that established were my ways to keep your statutes.	14	20
אָ֥ז לֹא־אֵב֑וֹשׁ בְּ֝הַבִּיטִ֗י אֶל־כָּל־מִצְוֺתֶֽיךָ	6	And then I would not be ashamed, to take note of all your commandments.	4 10	8 16
א֭וֹדְךָ בְּיֹ֣שֶׁר לֵבָ֑ב בְּ֝לָמְדִ֗י מִשְׁפְּטֵ֥י צִדְקֶֽךָ	7	And I will thank you with an upright heart when I learn the judgments of your righteousness.	7 9	11 14
אֶת־חֻקֶּ֥יךָ אֶשְׁמֹ֑ר אַֽל־תַּעַזְבֵ֥נִי עַד־מְאֹֽד	8	And your statutes I will keep. Do not forsake me in full for ever.	6 8	10 13

See the music page for the links to all 929 chapters of the Hebrew Bible.

Psalm 18 - a short meditation on complete

Bosco Peters posts on the meaning of life - 42. Anyway - 42 is 6 x 7. And 6 is the number of the human, 7 the number of completeness. So 42 represents the complete human. What then is the nature of completeness in the Psalms?

The word occurs frequently, its first usage in Psalm 7 verse 9 - Judge me יהוה for my righteousness and for my completeness in me.  Really! Who requests such a prayer!

Well, perhaps completeness is not independent of the One who judges and the same One who teaches humanity knowledge.  This is early in the Psalms - so let's see where the concept takes us.

Psalm 9 is an equally mysterious usage.

But when my enemies turn back let them stumble and perish from your presence

For you have made my judgment and my case You sit enthroned judging right

God, you rebuked the nations You made wickedness perish You have erased their name forever and ever

Here the enemy is completed the desert in perpetuity and cities you have wiped out perished is their memory of them

Completed seems a strange turn of phrase. Most translations render it as finished (JB, REB) or vanished (RSV) or some equivalent. NETS has that their swords… failed completely. The word is complete. The same word as Psalm 15:2, 18:24+, 19:8, 14. Psalm 104.35 has a similar usage to this verse. All other uses are positive. Perhaps the completeness of the enemy is desirable even for the enemy. Note the reference to judgment, as if Psalm 7 was being answered. It is important to note also that Psalm 8, as the first of the 7 psalms that precedes the 8 acrostics is included in the answer. Psalm 8 celebrates the one to whom rule is given at the creation, the human. How then will we rule?

Perhaps we will rule according to the pattern in Psalm 15, continued in Psalm 26 through a walk that is complete, (whatever that means). Walk is of course, one of the fundamentals of Psalm 1:1. It is reflected in the overall frame of Psalm 26, itself strongly reflecting Psalm 1. Psalm 1 is also reflected in Psalm 112. A word from Psalm 1 occurs in every verse of Psalm 112.

The word for completeness is used repeatedly in Psalm 18:

and I am complete with him and I have kept myself from my iniquity

and יהוה turned to me for my righteousness for the purity of my hands before his eyes

with one who is kind you show yourself kind with one who prevails complete you show yourself complete

with the pure you show yourself pure and with the devious you show yourself tortuous ...

This God, his way is complete the promise of יהוה refined he is a shield to all who take refuge in him

for who is God apart from יהוה? and who a rock except our God?

This God girds me in force and he gives the completeness of my way

The secret of completeness begins to emerge. I have rendered the word תמם (tmm) always as a form of complete. It is variously translated as blameless, upright, end, accomplish, finish, consume. The tone of the word is for me contained in the sense of finding one’s complement. Complete may include the moral, but that is not its primary sense. Blameless, for example, is a word defined by the negative, to be without blame. It denies a positive aspect for the word it might render and it limits its application to the moral world. It seems to me more appropriately associated with innocence than with completeness. Complete may require destruction or an end, but it is not ultimately destructive or terminal. The ending of self-destructive behaviour, for example, will result in healing and completeness that could not possibly be known within the tortured bounds of a self-destructive life. And how will one who is so tortured desist from the self-destroying behaviour? Perhaps it will be by following this servant’s testimony and example from Psalm 18.

The psalms are worth a careful, detailed, close study. The story of this word continues in Psalms 19:8, 14, 25:21, 26:1, 11, 37:18, 37, 38:4, 8, 41:13, 64:5, 7, 73:19, 78:72, 84:12, 2, 101:2, 6, 102:28, 104:35, 119:1, 80. This would no longer be a short meditation if I continued. [Note verse numbers may vary in the Hebrew psalms from the English.]

If completeness is in God, can we tie it to the number of perfection and the answer to the meaning of life, the universe, and everything?  Keeping the human aspect, the suggestion in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a good one:  6*7 = 42.

Note: Translations above are those in my book, Seeing the Psalter, a complete exploration of the patterns of recurrence in the Psalms.

Abstracts of Graduate Theses

Krista Mournet, John Barton (chair), Alison Gray

Not wishing by any means to be incomplete, I want to list the theses briefly from the 14 graduates. I read these on the train to Ely and made a few notes. Some struck me as of considerable interest. Three were presented from Alison Gray, John Wigfield, and Krista Mournet.

Alison Gray gave us a clear short handout illustrating the use of Metaphors in the Psalms with examples from Psalm 18. I loved her talk of course since my recent reading of the Psalms treated them as if they were framed pictures in a gallery. (See the Psalter kata Bob). Alison being from Selwyn, we soon discovered we had an acquaintance in common, my daughter Sarah, from whose house I am writing.

John Wigfield

John Wigfield (Nottingham) presented the ideal and the realized Deuteronomic king (Psalm 1) and the royal Davidic king (Psalm 2). His thesis title is "Deuteronomy and David in dialogue: evoking a conversation between Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 in the joint introduction to the Psalter."  After reading the abstract, I jotted down a few questions I would ask if he were in the room with me: how would you justify "fuse" vs "contrast" (in the two individuals in the two psalms) as the purpose of the juxtaposition of the 2 psalms? And - is David superceding Deuteronomy?

Krista Mournet (Durham) is exploring "'Turning' in the Psalms: with special reference to Psalm 90:13". Psalm 90 certainly turns on turning. I always think of the Shaker song when I consider this psalm - till by turning, turning, we come round right. Krista intends to explore the various words we translate as turn and their significance.

Stephan Attard (Pontifical Biblical Institute) The Structural Scheme Ordering Book II of the Psalter: A Synchronic Analysis. "From the point of view of a theology of prayer, a general movement from a moment of crisis or human predicament to a divine response or theological solution, leading to a human response, can be shown to occur in various cycles in the itinerary commencing with Psalm 42 and concluding with Psalm 72."

Simon - hand over mouth

Simon Chi-Chung (St Edmund's). Simon and I traveled back to Cambridge together - a scintillating 3 hour conversation. His thesis is Classifying and Contextualizing "Wisdom Psalms". He will be analyzing psalms 37, 49, and 73 in detail and applying his results to several other psalms (1, 19, 32, 39, and 128).

Helen Dare (Bristol). Always on the way and in the fray: British Baptist hermeneutics in dialogue with Walter Bruggemann. From her abstract: "...interpretation should be marked by a willingness to 'risk' a dialogical openness to the voice of covenant partners, human and divine."

Bill Goodman (Sheffield) Yearning for you: Songs in Conversation. Bill's thesis "attempts a conversation between contemporary songs and biblical songs." I put a circle in the margin against the words implying that "the language of lover or eros is notably absent" from the Psalms and that the language of rebuke is absent from the Song. Perhaps his thesis will fill in the circle from the lilies to the watchman's strike with his staff.

Will Kynes (Cambridge, St John's College) My Psalm has turned to weeping: The Dialogical Use of the Psalms in the Book of Job.  "In their dispute the Job poet often has Job and his friends represent opposing sides of tensions latent within a psalm, thereby placing his interpretation of the psalm in the space between their interpretations." He has identified a vital aspect of the white fire in this sentence. This is a paper to watch for. I note a comment from Childs that I read this week re Job: "the failure to assign any value to the final form of the book ... has resulted in widespread confusion." (Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture p523)

Seonghye Lee (Bristol) - The book of Psalms as an anthology designed to be memorized. This is a lovely idea - and every structural clue that can be identified will help translators give us a new lasting translation.

Sean Mayer (right)

Sean Maher (St Patrick's Carlow, previously Pontifico Istituto Biblico) What Law? What Truth? A study of the notion of torah in Psalm 119. Sean asked me if Yeats was my favorite poet. And I said not particularly - but that he made a mistake in not staging O'Casey's play.  (There - that's my inclusio for these blog posts - now I know I am finishing. But there is one more post if you are reading 'in sequence')

Isobel Rathbone (Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford) The theological agenda of King Alfred's reforms - and a double line goes against this sentence: "I am particularly interested in Alfred's translations, with additions, of the first 50 psalms."

Phil, Till, and Johannes

Antonia Richards (Liverpool Hope University) Who are the divine assembly in Psalm 82? Her study proposes an interesting convergence of Mesopotamian, Canaanite, and Hebrew religion, law, and culture.

and finally - not to be omitted - is fellow-blogger Phil Sumpter (Gloucestershire/Bonn) Reading Psalm 24 in the context of B.S. Childs' canonical approach. Phil's abstract is here on his blog.

The Anointing, the anointed, and the one who anoints

What do people who are called 'Christian' do when they 'preach on the Old Testament'? What do people who call themselves Christian mean with they want to 'see Christ' in the Old Testament? My own thoughts around this have to do with the unity of the Biblical witness to God. It must not be seen as too big a question.

I have suggested a thought that opens up further possibilities - what if the Christ as a word is not meant to mean exclusively Jesus? What if the anointing of say Psalm 23 points to a knowledge of God that is every bit the same as the knowledge and anointing in the Holy Spirit that is written of in the NT?

You sate with oil my head

my vessel is full

What if we recognize the ambiguity of words like Messiah, servant, son, elect etc and apply them in preaching - to Israel, the the king of Israel, to the individual who fears God, to the New Testament believer, to Jesus as having this Spirit without measure?

There is analytical work to do (and I am thinking about it) - but I have to say as one to whom our Lord has been kind, that the kindness I find in the Psalms is completely the same as the end of kindness that is pointed to in the NT and is the substance of the Mercy Seat.

Sure 'Christ' is in the OT - but not just as a pointer to the completeness that is in Jesus, also as a recognition, for example, of the work of the referee implied in Job, and the anointed king / Israel in the Psalms (e.g. 89) and also as a recognition of the work of the Spirit (hidden in the OT but still there) that moves and trains the individual as one of those under the mercy in hearing, obedience, love, and the confidence of completeness that we find in the individual psalms, whether this anticipates the completeness in Jesus or even the completeness of an individual.

That last sentence is based on the observation that the individual in Psalm 1 has become the plurality of the Chasidim in psalm 149. It is the role of the Chasidim to "bind their kings in chains" - the very thing that the Anointed of Psalm 2 is tasked to do - but also that the willing people of psalm 110 do on behalf of the king.

This individual is also the reader / poet of Psalm 119. What does this earthling say of itself? From alef to Taf it is one of those who are joyful and walk in the teaching - and it is one that wanders and needs to be sought.

All joy for those who are the complete of the way

who walk in the teaching of יְהוָה
Time and again I am straying like a sheep that has perished
seek your servant for I do not forget your commandments.

Is it this one who is chosen? or anointed? Do we apply the psalms to Christ? We certainly can apply the psalms to the anointed Jesus and also to the anointed king - like David, and they apply to Israel, and anointing applies to the priestly caste. Can the anointing be in with and on a single reader?

I have always taken an affirmative answer for this question as far as salvation in the NT is concerned. Then as I started to read the Psalms closely and realized how severely I wander (not that I did not know this earlier), I wondered: Was God testing me as an individual only - and outside of Christ - when I knew myself to be in Christ? No - in or out, what I knew was with me and therefore I was in. But I was also in a space which was before the time of the Anointed Jesus yet still anointed. Faults, failures aside - of which there are plenty in all eras, God answers the prayer of the last verse of Psalm 119 equally in all eras. It is this apparent fact that makes me question not the reality of Jesus and his own work and Anointing but the ways we have thought about Jesus and substituted Christ for Jesus without thinking.

Do you want to be happy? Read the psalms.

Warning - long post. This is a quick summary of structural elements I have found in the Psalter. Some of it is obvious and easily observable on the surface, some not. Check my counting.

The Psalter is comprised of 150 chapters divided into 5 Books. The chapters are variously inscribed,

• 94 with a name, 
• 56 with a genre, 
• 51 for the Leader, 
• 47 with additional notes perhaps referring to an incident recorded elsewhere in the Bible about the named person, some of these with instruments and or perhaps the name of the tune to which they might be sung. 

These inscriptions appear to be a somewhat random collection of curatorial notes at least at first glance.

The Books

• Book 1, using the Hebrew numbering scheme, has 41 chapters. 
• Book 2 from 42 to 72 is 31 chapters. 
• Book 3 from 73 to 89 has 17 chapters. 
• Book 4 from 90 to 106, also 17 chapters, and 
• Book 5 from 107 to 150 has 44 chapters. 

The Greek translation has a variation in numbering. Psalms 9-10 are numbered as one chapter. This produces a difference of 1 in all chapters from 11 up to 147 which in the Greek is divided at Hebrew verse 11. (Psalms 42-43 feel like one poem but neither the Greek nor the Hebrew combines them. The Greek also has differences in the inscriptions. E.g. Psalm 43 is pertaining to David! This undercuts the structures laid out below.)

• Three chapters in Book 1 have no name in the inscription. These are 1, 2, and  33. Chapter 10 is clearly a continuation of the poem of chapter 9. All other psalms in Book 1 are of David.
• Four chapters in Book 2 have no name in the inscription. These are 43, 66, 67, 71 but chapters 43 is clearly a continuation of the poem  or chapter 42. These are of the children of Korah (42-49), of Asaph (50), and of David (51-65, 68-70) and one of Solomon (72).
• All chapters in Book 3 have a name in the inscription, of Asaph (73-83), of the children of Korah (84, 85, 87), of David (86), of Hayman (88), of Ethan (89). 
• In Book 4 only three chapters have a name in the inscription (90 of Moses, 101, 103 of David). 13 are without a name.
• In Book 5, 17 chapters have a name (of David 108-110, 122, 124, 131-133, 138-145 and of Solomon 127). 27 are without a name.
• David is the only one who has at least one chapter inscribed to him in each book.

For the moment I have called these chapters. They are usually called psalms, but only 57 are actually called a psalm in their inscription. Of the others,

• 30 are called song (and several of these carry both song and psalm in their inscription), 
• 13 are labeled maskil (insight), 
• 6 are labeled miktam (written/inscribed), 
• 4 prayer,
• one reel, and
• 2 oracle.  

Of these specialized genres Book 4 has one song. Book 4 is the sparsest when it comes to inscriptions. But all the 150 chapters are poems in a unique style of word usage and dialogue among poet, reader, community, and God. They are all sung and therefore, under the special rubric 'psalm', they can all be considered psalms, prayers, and songs. And all will give insight, all are written, and all will speak or cause one to dance (or writhe). Now the name for them in Hebrew is תְּהִלּים Tehillim, a masculine plural. This word occurs in the feminine in Psalm 22:4

וְאַתָּה קָדוֹשׁ

יוֹשֵׁב תְּהִלּוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל

But you are holy

seated on the praises of Israel

So one could (and certainly in retrospect having read them from cover to cover - a task for which there is no substitute) consider the whole 150 chapters as praises.

After the introductory 2 psalms, a collection of psalms inscribed to David begins the Psalter. Before the final Hallel, Psalms 146-150, a collection of psalms inscribed to David ends the Psalter. This is where we are going when we begin Book 1, into the first forest of largely individual first person singular poems that follow the opening pair of psalms.

Psalm 1 introduces the problem space, the wicked and the righteous, and a definition of one who is happy. Psalm 2 introduces the kings and the anointed king. Psalms 3 to 7 are a group of individual psalms recognizing trouble. Trouble and enemies are present throughout. Psalm 8 is a celebration of the governance of יְהוָה and derives in part from the creation story. There is an echo of Psalm 8 in Psalm 144. Psalms 9-10 begin a playful set of acrostics. These acrostic poems occur in the Psalter only in Books 1 (9-10, 25, 34, 37) and 5 (111, 112, 119, 145).

The Psalter shows marks of design indicating that it is more than a random collection of poetry. The first mark shows at the beginning and the end. Robert Cole (An integrated reading of Psalms 1 and 2 JSOT 98 (2002) 75-88) has, through observation of several shared words between Psalms 1, 2, and 149, demonstrated that they form such an outer frame for the Psalter. Cole shows the repetition of a whole series of words from Psalm 2 in the last 5 verses of Psalm 149. This is easily verified by a table such as follows. Observe how 6 words in verses 7 and 8 of Psalm 149 are used in the same order as the corresponding words in Psalm 2.

Selected recurring words in relative order for Psalms --2,149

Word and gloss * first usage

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Vs

Stem

* גוים the-many nations

░

--2.1

גוי

ולאמים and the-many tribes

░

--2.1

לאם

* מלכי these kinglets of

░

--2.2

מלך

* ארץ earth

░

--2.2

ארץ

* מוסרותימו their monopoly

░

--2.3

יסר

* באפו in confrontation

░

--2.5

אף

* ואני I myself

░

--2.6

אני

* מלכי my own king

░

--2.6

מלך

ציון Zion

░

--2.6

ציון

בני my son

░

--2.7

בן

* אני I

░

--2.7

אני

* גוים those many nations as

░

--2.8

גוי

* ארץ the earth

░

--2.8

ארץ

ברזל strength

░

--2.9

ברזל

* מלכים kinglets all

░

--2.10

מלך

* הוסרו be warned

░

--2.10

יסר

שׁפטי you many who make judgments

░

--2.10

שׁפט

* ארץ earthly

░

--2.10

ארץ

וגילו and rejoice

░

--2.11

גיל

* אפו his anger

░

--2.12

אף

כל the many who

░

--2.12

כל

הללו Hallelu

░

149.1

הלל

יה Yah

░

149.1

יה

שׁירו sing

░

149.1

שׁיר

שׁיר a song

░

149.1

שׁיר

תהלתו praise

░

149.1

הלל

חסידים the many who know mercy

░

149.1

חסד

בעשׂיו in that one who made him

░

149.2

עשׂה

בני the children of

░

149.2

בן

ציון Zion

░

149.2

ציון

יגילו rejoice

░

149.2

גיל

במלכם in their king

░

149.2

מלך

יהללו let them praise

░

149.3

הלל

חסידים the mercied many

░

149.5

חסד

בכבוד in glory

░

149.5

כבד

לעשׂות making

░

149.7

עשׂה

בגוים in the many nations

░

149.7

גוי

בלאמים for the tribes

░

149.7

לאם

מלכיהם kinglets

░

149.8

מלך

ונכבדיהם these glorious ones

░

149.8

כבד

ברזל durable

░

149.8

ברזל

לעשׂות to make

░

149.9

עשׂה

משׁפט judgment

░

149.9

שׁפט

לכל to all

░

149.9

כל

חסידיו under his mercy

░

149.9

חסד

הללו Hallelu

░

149.9

הלל

יה Yah

░

149.9

יה

The words state that it is those to whom God has shown mercy in covenant who will carry out the judgement. One could summarize the whole Psalter as “The formation of those to whom mercy in covenant has been shown.”

Opening and closing the Psalter

[Psalms 1-2 ... Psalm 149]

Within the envelope of the beginning and end are two groups of psalms attributed to or dedicated to or in the style of David. This is the Davidic outer circle, Psalms 3-41 and 138-145.

Outer circle of psalms with the inscription to/of David
[Book 1................................................................end of Book 5]

[Psalms 1-2 [David, Psalms 3-41 ... Psalms 138-145] Psalm 149]

Book 1 is itself framed (Psalms 1-2, 40-41) by pairs of blessings given as statements of what will make a human happy. The first two psalms are themselves enfolded by their own pair of beatitudes.

אַשְׁרֵי הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר לֹא הָלַךְ בַּעֲצַת רְשָׁעִים וּבְדֶרֶךְ חַטָּאִים לֹא עָמָד וּבְמוֹשַׁב לֵצִים לֹא יָשָׁב	--1.1	Happy the person who does not walk in the advice of the wicked and in the way of sinners does not stand and in the seat of the scornful does not sit
נַשְּׁקוּ-בַר פֶּן-יֶאֱנַף וְתֹאבְדוּ דֶרֶךְ כִּי-יִבְעַר כִּמְעַט אַפּוֹ אַשְׁרֵי כָּל-חוֹסֵי בוֹ	--2.12	Kiss, aflame yourself pure lest he face you and you perish in your way kindled with a hint of his anger Happy! the many who find this protection
אַשְׁרֵי הַגֶּבֶר אֲשֶׁר שָׂם יְהוָה מִבְטַחוֹ וְלֹא פָנָה אֶל רְהָבִים וְשָׂטֵי כָזָב	-40.5	happy the valiant who sets up יְהוָה as his trust and does not save face with the defiant falling away to a lie
אַשְׁרֵי מַשְׂכִּיל אֶל דָּל בְּיוֹם רָעָה יְמַלְּטֵהוּ יְהוָה	-41.2	Happy the one giving insight to the weak in the day of evil יְהוָה will let him escape
יְהוָה יִשְׁמְרֵהוּ וִיחַיֵּהוּ וְאֻשַּׁר בָּאָרֶץ וְאַל תִּתְּנֵהוּ בְּנֶפֶשׁ אֹיְבָיו	-41.3	יְהוָה will guard him and keep him alive and he will be considered happy in the earth and you will not give him into the throat of his enemies

You will find that every book closes with such a beatitude.

יְהִי שְׁמוֹ לְעוֹלָם לִפְנֵי שֶׁמֶשׁ יִנּוֹן שְׁמוֹ וְיִתְבָּרְכוּ בוֹ כָּל גּוֹיִם יְאַשְּׁרוּהוּ	-72.17	his name will be forever his name will propagate in the presence of the sun and they will bless themselves in him - all nations will call him happy	end of Book 2
אַשְׁרֵי הָעָם יֹדְעֵי תְרוּעָה יְהוָה בְּאוֹר פָּנֶיךָ יְהַלֵּכוּן	-89.16	Happy the people knowing the jubilation of יְהוָה In the light of your face they will walk	Book 3
אַשְׁרֵי שֹׁמְרֵי מִשְׁפָּט עֹשֵׂה צְדָקָה בְכָל עֵת	106.3	happy those keeping judgment doing righteousness at all times	Book 4
אַשְׁרֵי הָעָם שֶׁכָּכָה לּוֹ אַשְׁרֵי הָעָם שֱׁיְהוָה אֱלֹהָיו	144.15	happy the people who are like this to him happy the people who have יְהוָה as their God	Book 5
אַשְׁרֵי שֶׁאֵל יַעֲקֹב בְּעֶזְרוֹ שִׂבְרוֹ עַל יְהוָה אֱלֹהָיו	146.5	Happy the one who has the God of Jacob for its help Its reliance is on יְהוָה its God

Psalm 146, the beginning of 5 psalms that close the Psalter likewise signals that it is part of the happiness frame. If these beatitudes are strategically placed, what about the others? They are clustered in the collections.

So Psalms 32-34 in Book 1,

לְדָוִד מַשְׂכִּיל אַשְׁרֵי נְשׂוּי פֶּשַׁע כְּסוּי חֲטָאָה	-32.1	Of David an insight happy lifted up transgression covered sin
אַשְׁרֵי אָדָם לֹא יַחְשֹׁב יְהוָה לוֹ עָו‍ֹן וְאֵין בְּרוּחוֹ רְמִיָּה	-32.2	happy the human to whom יְהוָה will not reckon iniquity and without deceit in his spirit
אַשְׁרֵי הַגּוֹי אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהָיו הָעָם בָּחַר לְנַחֲלָה לוֹ	-33.12	happy the nation where יְהוָה is its God the people chosen as his inheritance
טַעֲמוּ וּרְאוּ כִּי טוֹב יְהוָה אַשְׁרֵי הַגֶּבֶר יֶחֱסֶה בּוֹ	-34.9	taste and see for יְהוָה is good happy the valiant that takes refuge in him

One only in Psalm 65 in Book 2,

אַשְׁרֵי תִּבְחַר וּתְקָרֵב יִשְׁכֹּן חֲצֵרֶיךָ נִשְׂבְּעָה בְּטוּב בֵּיתֶךָ קְדֹשׁ הֵיכָלֶךָ

-65.5

Happy the one chosen and made near who will dwell in your courts We will be satisfied in the good of your house your holy temple

A frame for Psalm 84 in Book 3,

אַשְׁרֵי יוֹשְׁבֵי בֵיתֶךָ עוֹד יְהַלְלוּךָ סֶּלָה	-84.5	Happy those sitting in your house ever they will praise you Selah
אַשְׁרֵי אָדָם עוֹז לוֹ בָךְ מְסִלּוֹת בִּלְבָבָם	-84.6	Happy the human whose strength is in you with a highway in their heart
יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת אַשְׁרֵי אָדָם בֹּטֵחַ בָּךְ	-84.13	יְהוָה of hosts happy the human who trusts in you

One only in Psalm 94 in Book 4,

אַשְׁרֵי הַגֶּבֶר אֲשֶׁר תְּיַסְּרֶנּוּ יָּהּ וּמִתּוֹרָתְךָ תְלַמְּדֶנּוּ

-94.12

Happy the valiant whom you chasten Yah and from your instruction you teach them

And at significant structural points in Book 5 - following the triumph of Psalm 110, the acrostic Psalm 112, following the work of Psalm 118, the acrostic of love, Psalm 119, following the songs of ascent, poems of remembrance and intimacy 137, 139.

הַלְלוּ יָהּ אַשְׁרֵי אִישׁ יָרֵא אֶת יְהוָה בְּמִצְו‍ֹתָיו חָפֵץ מְאֹד	112.1	Hallelu Yah A happy person fears יְהוָה By his commandments he has much delight
אַשְׁרֵי תְמִימֵי דָרֶךְ הַהֹלְכִים בְּתוֹרַת יְהוָה	119.1	All joy for those who are the complete of the way who walk in the instruction of יְהוָה
אַשְׁרֵי נֹצְרֵי עֵדֹתָיו בְּכָל לֵב יִדְרְשׁוּהוּ	119.2	All joy for those observing his testimonies with a whole heart they search him out
אַשְׁרֵי הַגֶּבֶר אֲשֶׁר מִלֵּא אֶת אַשְׁפָּתוֹ מֵהֶם לֹא יֵבֹשׁוּ כִּי יְדַבְּרוּ אֶת אוֹיְבִים בַּשָּׁעַר	127.5	happy the valiant who filled his quiver with them he will not be ashamed when he speaks with enemies at the gate
שִׁיר הַמַּעֲלוֹת אַשְׁרֵי כָּל יְרֵא יְהוָה הַהֹלֵךְ בִּדְרָכָיו	128.1	A song of the ascents Happy all fearing יְהוָה those walking in his ways
יְגִיעַ כַּפֶּיךָ כִּי תֹאכֵל אַשְׁרֶיךָ וְטוֹב לָךְ	128.2	for you will eat the labour of your palms your happiness and good for you
בַּת בָּבֶל הַשְּׁדוּדָה אַשְׁרֵי שֶׁיְשַׁלֶּם לָךְ אֶת גְּמוּלֵךְ שֶׁגָּמַלְתְּ לָנוּ	137.8	Devastating daughter of Babel happy the one who makes peace with you even weans you as you weaned us
אַשְׁרֵי שֶׁיֹּאחֵז וְנִפֵּץ אֶת עֹלָלַיִךְ אֶל הַסָּלַע	137.9	happy the one who holds and dashes your unweaned against the cliff

Books 2 (Psalms 42-72) and 3 (Psalms 73-89) together comprise another cell contained in the outer envelopes. Books 2 and 3 have an outer circle of psalms of the children of Korah, Psalms 42-49, 84,85,87-88, 89 (Ethan). We also note that there is a change of the predominant name for God from יְהוָה in Books 1, 4, and 5, to Elohim as 'God' from Psalms 42 to 83.

The Korah circle and the inner Elohist Psalms

[[ the name יְהוָה [ Book 2 and 3 Elohim / Korah 42-49 ... 84-85, 86, 87-88, 89] the name יְהוָה ]]

It is in Book 2 that we first hear of the Exile and, forewarned by the longing of the individual in Psalms 42-43, experience the corporate lament of Psalm 44. The last reference to this disaster is in Psalm 137, By the waters of Babylon. The history of the nation is thus 'contained' by the Davidic corpus and does not mute the final praise. While Book 2 ends with a conclusion that the prayers of David the son of Jesse are at an end, they clearly are not at an end as far as the rest of the Psalter is concerned.  I have not found a significant verbal frame for Book 2 by itself.

Within books 2 and 3 are the psalms of Asaph 50, and 73-83, psalms of the harvest 65-67, a Davidic inner circle and its outlier doubles, 51-65, 68-70 ... 108. Within these are the six psalms inscribed as miktam and four psalms to the tune Do not destroy and their outliers 16, 56-60, 75. Psalm 78, which through its recurring words has earned the name Commanding and Guiding an Imprisoned and Provocative People, is the first of the psalms of the primal history, the exodus and the wilderness. The final of these psalms (136) celebrates with its repeated refrain, the mercy and loving kindness of God.

Inner structure of Books 2 and 3

[...[[Korah [Asaph [David [harvest] David] Asaph] Korah (Ethan)]]...]

Touch נגע may form a structurally significant word in the Psalter. It forms a wrap around the happiness of the centre of Book 1 (Psalms 32-39) and then touches only psalms at or near the borders of Books 3, 4, and 5 (73, 88, 89, 91, 105, 107, 144). This word has additional weight when considered with the other factors giving coherence to the individual books. Book 4 begins with Moses (90), includes the rebellion (95) and a series on יְהוָה as king 96-99. Book 4 ends as it began with a reference to Moses in Psalm 106.

Sequence of cells between the outer David psalms

[Opening [David [Books 2 and 3] [Moses Book 4] [Book 5] David] Closing]

Book 5 begins with Psalm 107, the human condition and the divine response. The crying out of Psalm 107 is echoed with a slightly different spelling in Psalm 144, appeal. Thanks and loving kindness are both in the frame of 107 and 149. Book 5 can be divided by the acrostics: Psalms 111 and 112 both celebrate the work of Psalm 110, prepared by 108 and 109, and Psalm 119 could be seen as celebrating the work of Psalm 118, again prepared by the sequence from 113 to 117. Of the substantial and perfect acrostic, Psalm 119, Pascal (cited in Les Psaumes, Desclée de Brouwer ) writes:

Cette supplication déroule lentement ses 176 versets en un long récitatif et n'est en son fond que la même protestation d'amour indéfiniment répétée sous diverses formes.

This supplication unrolls slowly its 176 verses in a long recitative and is at its base but the same protestation of love repeated without limitation in diverse forms.

The final psalms of Book 5 are the series of the 15 psalms of ascent 120-134, and Psalm 135 celebrating the 'arrival' in the courts of יְהוָה. Then we begin the series of closing brackets and the final cadences, for all who fear God: 136 creation and redemption, 137 exile, 138-145 Davidic reminder and last acrostic, and 146-150 the great Hallel. Psalms 137 to 139 can also be read as if in the courts, memory, prayer, and the Holy of Holies. The remembering of David from within the courts is fitting confirmation of the role of the elect in the redemption of the created order. One should then start the Psalter again considering this ultimate viewpoint.