Psalms

About this book

Psalm 16

1 A prayer of David. Protect me, O God, for I have taken shelter in you. 2 I say to the Lord, “You are the Lord, my only source of well-being.” 3 As for God’s chosen people who are in the land, and the leading officials I admired so much— 4 their troubles multiply; they desire other gods. I will not pour out drink offerings of blood to their gods, nor will I make vows in the name of their gods.⁠ 5 The Lord is the portion of my possession and my cup⁹;⁠ you make my future secure. 6 It is as if I have been given fertile fields or received a beautiful tract of land. 7 I will praise the Lord who guides me; yes, during the night my kidneys instruct me¹⁵.⁠ 8 I set the Lord before me continually¹⁶;⁠ because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 9 So my heart rejoices and I am happy; my life is safe. 10 You will not abandon me to Sheol; you will not allow your faithful follower to see the Pit. 11 You lead me in the path of life. I experience absolute joy in your presence; you always give me sheer delight.

Texts in conversation

Compare Psalm 16:8 and Psalm 119:30

Hebrew Bible

Summary

Psalm 119 uses language from Psalm 16 that expresses trust in God but now directs that devotion toward the Torah. This change highlights the tradition where language once used for God becomes applied to the Torah.

Passages

Psalm 16:8

Hebrew Bible

6 It is as if I have been given fertile fields or received a beautiful tract of land. 7 I will praise the Lord who guides me; yes, during the night my kidneys instruct me¹⁵. 8 I set the Lord before me continually¹⁶; because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 9 So my heart rejoices and I am happy; my life is safe.

600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

Psalm 119:30

Hebrew Bible

28 I collapse from grief. Sustain me by your word. 29 Remove me from the path of deceit. Graciously give me your law. 30 I choose the path of faithfulness; I have set your rules before me.⁴⁷ 31 I cling to your rules.⁴⁸ O Lord, do not let me be ashamed. 32 I run along the path of your commands, for you enable me to do so.

600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

"... The proliferation of form with respect to the Torah in the Second Temple period reflects the increasing role of Torah in mediating the divine presence to the people. In the Torah, God’s people not only find divine instruction, but also divine presence. This increasing importance affects a shift towards veneration of the Torah that can already be seen in the biblical texts themselves. In Nehemiah 8 we find a most interesting scene. Nehemiah describes a gathering of all the people before Ezra the scribe so that he may read the Torah in their presence (verses 1-2). When Ezra opens the scroll, significantly, all the people stand (verse 5). Ezra then blesses God and the people respond by saying “amen” while lifting their hands before bowing and worshipping God with the faces pressed to the ground (verse 6). Yehezkel Kaufmann describes the scene as follows; The Law is read daily during the festival (Tabernacles); it is as though the light of the Shekinah breaks forth with the reading. Herewith, a significant cultic development: the Torah as the embodiment of the word of God, of His spirit, the symbol of sanctity and the sublime, the source of all that is holy on earth, the book of the Torah as a cultic object. What is important here is not a straightforward identification of Torah with God, no such identification exists, but there is a functional overlap in the orientation/stance of the people towards Torah and towards God. The most dramatic example of this overlap can be found in Psalm 119 where the psalmist repeatedly uses expressions that are ordinarily reserved for God to express a devotion to Torah. Consider the following ... (Psalm 119:19 with Psalm 27:9; Psalm 119:30 with Psalm 16:8; Psalm 119:31 with Psalm 63:8-9 and Deuteronomy 10:20; Psalm 119:48 with Psalm 63:5 and Lamentations 2:19) ..."

Roy Allan Fisher, “Locating Matthew in Israel” (PhD diss., University of California, Berkeley, 2018), 162–163.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Psalms150 psalms

Compare Psalm 16:8 and Psalm 119:30

Summary

Passages

Psalm 16:8

Psalm 119:30

References

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