'Tis the season to be merry, perhaps, but not one for many Sunday psalms. Advent readings naturally enough focus on the experiences and words of the characters in the Nativity play -- Mary, Zechariah and even the voice of Isaiah from 'yesteryear'. Psalm 80 creeps in as an alternative reading and Christmas itself features Psalms … Continue reading Psalms in Advent?

Psalm 25, an acrostic psalm in Hebrew, runs to 22 verses. The alphabetical arrangement is lost in our translations. The psalmist seems to swing between two states, first soaring then penitential. Our selection is the first ten, more aspirational, verses. David then goes on to lament his failings and seek forgiveness in the second half. This theme … Continue reading Psalm 25, 2 Dec 18

'Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.' (12) Book IV opens with the only contribution by Moses to the psalter. Psalm 90 displays his grand vision: ‘For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night’. (4) … Continue reading Psalm 90, 4 Nov ’18

'Seek peace and pursue it' (14) This is an acrostic poem probably intended, as seen in verse 11, for educational purposes: "Come children and listen to me; I will teach you the way of God." David draws on a particular occasion when he avoided disaster to encourage praise and trust in a more general sense: "Many … Continue reading Psalm 34, 28 Oct ’18

'You make springs gush forth in valleys, they flow between hills.' (10) Here we have epic demonstrative poetry, the poet overcome by the glory and power of the creation — and the Creator. The author’s feelings are quite infectious: You are clothed with honour and majesty, wrapped in light as with a garment. You stretch … Continue reading Psalm 104, 21 Oct ’18

For a hand-wringing poem, Psalm 22 receives an unusually good run in the three-year Lectionary, appearing seven times (as against 6 for the old favourite Psalm 23, the very next psalm which promises a ray of sunshine after the darkness of 22). To be fair, sometimes we sample different sections of the 31 verses. The … Continue reading Psalm 22, 14 Oct ’18

Psalm 26 is a declaration of, and perhaps a prayer for, integrity. Reminiscent of Psalm 1's hope to be insulated from wicked people and their influence, it has been seen by commentators variously as the song of someone wrongly accused, a prayer for growth into worthy ways, and as a gradual for those entering a … Continue reading Psalm 26, 7 Oct ’18

A song of ascent If God be for us, who can be against us? This well-known verse is found not in the psalms but in Romans 8:31. It contains the same message as Psalm 124, and in particular the last verse which has become a standard line in many liturgies: Our help is in the name of … Continue reading Psalm 124, 30 Sep 18

The first Psalm is well placed as an introduction to the grand themes of the whole Psalter. It urges us to follow a life-style and consciousness reaching for the highest divine standards, revealed throughout the psalms as centring on love, justice and equity. Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked … Continue reading Psalm 1, 23 Sep 18