It’s 176 verses, set in 22 stanzas of eight couplets each: the longest chapter in the Bible. Within each stanza all the verses begin with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet; thus verses 1-8 all begin with an א (aleph), verses 9-16 start with ב (beth), 17-24 all begin with נ (gimel), and so on.

Nearly every verse specifically highlights the wonder of the Bible, speaking of God’s “promise,” or “word,” or “law,” or “statutes” – the handful of exceptions point toward God’s word in slightly more abstract fashion, saying things like “I have done what is just and right; do not leave me to my oppressors” (Psalm 119:121), or “Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your custom toward those who love your name” (119:132), or “How long must your servant endure? When will you judge those who persecute me?” (119:84).

But other than those few, verse after verse sings specifically of the importance and the power of the things God has said. Many of us have memorized this one: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (119:105); it reminds us that our goal in life is to follow step by step as God leads us through our days. We also see the insistence that scripture is not simply important in terms of knowledge, but in terms of our behavior: “I treasure your word in my heart, so that I may not sin against you” (119:11), and “Before I was humbled I went astray, but now I keep your word” (119:67).

It is, in the end, a love song centered on the Bible. “Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all day long” (119:97). “This is my comfort in my distress, that your promise gives me life” (119:50). It is not as if the book itself is magic; the psalm clearly looks beyond the Bible to the God who has given us this law and these promises, giving thanks for ‘your’ law, ‘your’ promises, ‘your’ precepts that have made this great difference. Yet we must not miss that it is via the Bible that this connection is made: it will be through the word that we experience and understand God’s love more and more fully. “Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love, and teach me your statutes” (119:124).

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Teach us to long for your word, O Lord, studying it deeply and loving it reverently: to make your statutes our song wherever we make our home, and to keep your precepts with our whole heart.

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