Friday Bible Blogging - Psalms 111 to Psalms 120
This entry is part of a series. For a listing of all entries in the series, go to the Index. Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). All headings are links to those Bible chapters.
This week's entry covers Psalms 111 through 120. It's a bit of a milestone - Psalm 117 is the midway point of the Protestant Bible, going by chapter count. There are a few ways to determine the center of the Bible, and even a bit of controversy associated with it, so I posted a bonus entry earlier in the week all about it, Friday Bible Blogging - Center Verse of the Bible. Like I wrote at the end of that entry, since I plan to read the Apocrypha in addition to the content normally included in Protestant Bibles, I'm still not halfway through with this project, yet (that won't be until Isaiah).
Other than being the sort of midway point, other highlights this week include both the shortest and longest chapters of the Bible, and chapters with language that most Christians should recognize.
According to the New Oxford Annotated Bible (NOAB), some of these psalms get grouped together. Psalms 111-113 make up the Hallelujah psalms, and Psalms 113-118 make up the Egyptian Hallel Psalms (I guess 113 goes in both collections).
Psalm 111 was a typical psalm of thanksgiving. The New Oxford Annotated Bible (NOAB) pointed out that it was an acrostic poem - one where the first letter of each line has to follow a specific pattern. Although the NOAB doesn't indicate it exactly, and I don't have access to nor the ability to read the original Hebrew, I'm assuming the pattern here was following the alphabet, since that's the pattern other acrostic psalms followed. The NOAB also notes that "Many scholars think that Pss 113-114 were sung before the Passover meal and Pss 115-118 after it."
Another fairly typical psalm, instructing people to behave morally, and that they'll be rewarded accordingly. And according to the NOAB, this is another acrostic poem.
Another psalm of praise.
Another psalm praising God, with references to Exodus and Jacob.
This is another typical psalm - part praise, part thanksgiving, part petition, and part instruction to the people.
Verses 3 and 4 offered a pretty stark contrast between Yahweh and other gods.
3 Our God is in the heavens;
he does whatever he pleases.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
The next few verses went on to describe other gods as merely idols, and not real gods. Of course, I'm pretty sure that the surrounding cultures didn't see their statues that way.
There was also a verse similar to ones I've mentioned before, showing that the psalmist's concept of the afterlife was very much different than the modern Christian concept.
The dead do not praise the Lord,
nor do any that go down into silence.
This was a psalm of thanksgiving, where the psalmist was saved from vaguely described distress by the Lord.
One verse caught my eye for how similar it sounds to language I heard going to church as a kid.
I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord...
Since this is the Old Testament, that's obviously not referring to the Last Supper. According to the NOAB, this was a drink offering that would have been poured out.
According to many sources, including the NOAB, this is the shortest chapter of the Bible at only 2 verses long. In fact, here it is in its entirety.
1 Praise the Lord, all you nations!
Extol him, all you peoples!
For great is his steadfast love towards us,
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures for ever.
Praise the Lord!
This was another psalm of thanksgiving. According to the NOAB, it might have been said by the king as a representative of the people. There was also quite a bit of language making it seem like it might have been part of a ceremony, processing through the gates of the Temple precincts.
This chapter had another verse that's very familiar to Christians, verse 22.
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
I've seen many sources that claim that this is the longest chapter of the Bible, including the NOAB. In my hard copy of the Bible, it started on page 871, and ran through page 876 - with small print and two columns per page. Just by comparison, most chapters would fit on a single page. Printing an online copy of the verse would take 11 pages. Granted, the psalms have a lot of white space with their poetic structure, but at 176 verses, it's still a long chapter.
It's basically a long petition, with the length coming from the poetic structure. Actually, I'll just quote the NOAB on this.
The psalm is an elaborate acrostic...: Each of the twenty-two stanzas begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and each stanza has eight verses and (usually) eight synonyms of "law," more accurately "authoritative teaching": "law," "word," "promise(s)," "ordinances," "statues," "commandments," "decrees," and "precepts."
The NOAB also noted how this psalm was part of a transition in the religion "in the postexilic period". The language used to describe the Torah (and the exact meaning of Torah is unclear in this psalm) was the type of language that had previously been applied only to God (love, true, truth), showing how "the Torah is a type of stand-in for God, who is no longer regarded as imminent."
The superscription to this psalm marks it as the beginning of the collection known as the "Songs of Ascents". According to the NOAB, two possible sources of this name are the literary construction of the poems ("steplike parallelism"), or as "songs sung while going up to Jerusalem for pilgrimage". The collection runs through Psalm 134.
The psalm itself is a petition to God for deliverance from the people mistreating the psalmist.
---
The psalms this week weren't too bad, but I'm glad I only have three more weeks to go before starting Proverbs.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Comments
lipitor 80mg pill oral atorvastatin 10mg lipitor 20mg us
Posted by: Wzgvzz | March 12, 2024 1:00 PM
cost ciprofloxacin - ciprofloxacin 500mg usa augmentin 1000mg oral
Posted by: Jniwog | March 14, 2024 2:24 AM
ciprofloxacin cheap - augmentin online augmentin 375mg pill
Posted by: Znqrnw | March 14, 2024 11:55 PM
ciprofloxacin without prescription - buy doryx no prescription buy erythromycin 500mg pills
Posted by: Joomjy | March 17, 2024 6:30 AM
flagyl 400mg without prescription - cefaclor 500mg drug order zithromax 250mg generic
Posted by: Vkuanp | March 17, 2024 8:18 PM
stromectol for human - buy generic sumycin order sumycin 500mg generic
Posted by: Atdodh | March 19, 2024 10:22 AM
buy generic valtrex - zovirax for sale order zovirax sale
Posted by: Dykfuu | March 20, 2024 1:20 AM
ampicillin usa buy acillin without a prescription cheap amoxicillin for sale
Posted by: Culykz | March 21, 2024 11:12 AM
oral metronidazole - order generic azithromycin 500mg purchase zithromax for sale
Posted by: Cddyfz | March 21, 2024 7:43 PM
buy furosemide 40mg - cheap coumadin captopril online order
Posted by: Kzkisj | March 23, 2024 5:23 PM
metformin 1000mg price - order bactrim 480mg for sale lincocin usa
Posted by: Wtcdfa | March 25, 2024 6:46 AM
retrovir online order - order lamivudine 100 mg order zyloprim generic
Posted by: Bfmtdp | March 27, 2024 12:16 AM
clozaril 100mg uk - buy tritace generic order pepcid pill
Posted by: Pnpxcu | March 27, 2024 3:59 PM
buy quetiapine generic - purchase effexor generic eskalith uk
Posted by: Isvkbw | March 30, 2024 3:15 AM
brand anafranil 25mg - duloxetine 40mg without prescription generic sinequan 25mg
Posted by: Hepctw | March 30, 2024 8:05 AM
purchase atarax without prescription - sarafem 40mg without prescription buy endep 10mg sale
Posted by: Vvcbag | March 31, 2024 11:42 PM
buy augmentin 1000mg generic - ciprofloxacin 1000mg cheap order baycip generic
Posted by: Vxehdb | April 3, 2024 10:27 AM
amoxil drug - order amoxicillin 500mg without prescription how to buy ciprofloxacin
Posted by: Ihudfy | April 4, 2024 1:58 PM
how to buy zithromax - ciplox 500 mg drug order ciplox 500mg for sale
Posted by: Qzbapt | April 9, 2024 9:04 AM
cleocin 150mg sale - vibra-tabs pill chloromycetin price
Posted by: Tddfjt | April 10, 2024 2:03 AM
india ivermectin - purchase levaquin pill cefaclor 250mg uk
Posted by: Dcgfln | April 12, 2024 1:58 AM
ventolin 4mg generic - order generic seroflo theophylline 400mg without prescription
Posted by: Yygzfr | April 13, 2024 5:02 PM
order depo-medrol for sale - cetirizine 10mg usa buy generic azelastine
Posted by: Kmilzg | April 15, 2024 2:01 AM
clarinex 5mg cheap - buy desloratadine 5mg for sale buy ventolin 2mg without prescription
Posted by: Qjfhqa | April 16, 2024 3:28 AM
glyburide 2.5mg sale - purchase micronase for sale dapagliflozin 10 mg pill
Posted by: Xtefem | April 18, 2024 12:30 AM
cost glycomet 1000mg - buy precose 50mg buy precose 25mg generic
Posted by: Ktjofp | April 19, 2024 4:13 AM
buy repaglinide generic - prandin 2mg canada order empagliflozin 25mg sale
Posted by: Rcbrux | April 20, 2024 3:37 AM
purchase rybelsus online - buy cheap generic rybelsus DDAVP usa
Posted by: Vpwuza | April 22, 2024 5:08 AM
buy terbinafine without prescription - diflucan 200mg us buy griseofulvin pills for sale
Posted by: Bhkjak | April 22, 2024 7:47 PM
order ketoconazole 200 mg for sale - generic lotrisone buy sporanox 100 mg online
Posted by: Ozhxvc | April 24, 2024 10:40 PM
buy famvir 250mg pill - buy generic valaciclovir valcivir 500mg for sale
Posted by: Xcsows | April 25, 2024 6:42 AM
buy lanoxin 250mg pills - buy generic digoxin 250mg furosemide cost
Posted by: Suoyar | April 27, 2024 1:23 AM
metoprolol 100mg uk - purchase inderal pills brand nifedipine
Posted by: Ogyhle | April 28, 2024 10:05 AM
buy hydrochlorothiazide 25mg sale - lisinopril 2.5mg cost order bisoprolol online cheap
Posted by: Nbjdsq | April 29, 2024 3:04 AM
nitroglycerin usa - buy cheap nitroglycerin diovan 160mg for sale
Posted by: Vqchmy | May 1, 2024 2:16 AM
simvastatin storm - buy generic atorvastatin lipitor price
Posted by: Ubyfcj | May 2, 2024 3:10 AM
crestor pills pressure - crestor online mail caduet buy whisper
Posted by: Qdlvkn | May 3, 2024 6:26 PM
asthma treatment price - asthma medication elf asthma treatment discuss
Posted by: Pqhiyt | May 20, 2024 12:01 AM
acne medication stream - acne medication lead acne treatment salute
Posted by: Slhujd | May 20, 2024 9:11 AM
prostatitis treatment reasonable - prostatitis pills evident prostatitis treatment principle
Posted by: Kzpcta | May 21, 2024 9:01 PM
treatment for uti straighten - uti medication thee uti treatment errand
Posted by: Ebpzbs | May 22, 2024 5:24 AM