Psalm 19

¹The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
² Day unto day utters speech,
And night unto night reveals knowledge.
³ There is no speech nor language
Where their voice is not heard.
⁴ Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world.

In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun,
⁵ Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
And rejoices like a strong man to run its race.
⁶ Its rising is from one end of heaven,
And its circuit to the other end;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

⁷ The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
⁸ The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
⁹ The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
¹¹ Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward.

¹² Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults.
¹³ Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
And I shall be innocent of great transgression.

¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork

I love the sky. It’s always so interesting to look at. Clouds are always cropping up in different formations and light scatters through it in different colors and patterns. And night is just as awesome with thousands of stars and the ever-changing moon. A lot of us already associate the wonders of the sky with God. This verse affirms that it is a clear sign of His handiwork, His creation. The whole first stanza reaffirms that the sky, night and day, reveals God’s glory to us, and there is no place on earth, no culture in which those wonders cannot be seen.

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul

In these two verses, law, testimony, statutes, and commandment have the same force. They are the Word of God, which is indeed perfect, sure, right, and pure. Then the commandments of God convert our souls, make us wise, cause us to rejoice, and enlighten us. My Bible study group looked at these verses a few months ago. Someone pointed out that we often think of laws as things that restrict us, but these laws are described as sweeter than honey, and in keeping them, we are freed.

Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins

I had no idea what “presumptuous” meant. So, I looked it up in the Septuagint. I still don’t know. The word is ἀλλότριος. It’s difficult to pin down a good English translation for it, but it’s something like “as if belonging to someone else” and therefore unnatural or hostile. The Latin Vulgate uses superbus, which means “haughty” or “arrogant.” Many of the Psalms in English took their translations from the Vulgate because until that point, that’s what people were reading, not the original Hebrew or even the Greek. So, that’s probably where the “presumptuous” is coming from. It’s interesting that even the earliest translators seem to not know what to do with this word. Young’s literal translation, which prides itself on translating literally from Hebrew, also uses “presumptuous,” so I guess I’m going to have to assume the Greek is the outlier. That was a lot to say just to get back to the beginning, but always a good exercise for me. If we do take that reading, it’s contrasting with the “secret” sins in the verse before.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer

Our words and our thoughts need to always be on God. And, when his glory is so apparent in the sky itself, how can we ignore him? Y’know, assuming your office isn’t in a corner of the basement with no windows. But even though mine is, do you know the first thing I notice when I go into a room with windows or actually go outside? That’s right, the sky. It’s always there and it can’t be overlooked. It is the proof of God’s hand in His creation.