Psalm 19 Overview
Nothing Is Hidden
Psalm 19
Welcome to the Overview of Psalm 19
This page will introduce and provide orientation to Psalm 19 as a whole. It includes the following sections:
Author
- David
Book
- Book 1 of the Psalter (Chapters 1–41)
Psalm 19: A Brief Summary
- The psalm begins with the words “The sky is declaring God’s honor”, and ends with a prayer that “the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable before YHWH”. Between these opening words about the sky and this closing prayer, we read that “YHWH’s instruction is perfect, restoring life”.
- These words show us the journey of Ps 19, which reveals that from the huge and distant sky to the close and secret human heart, nothing is hidden from God. The instruction of YHWH exposes the human heart like the sun exposes everything on earth. It could be cause for despair to have the true condition of the human heart revealed, but it is not, because YHWH is a rock and a redeemer. He forgives sins and makes the human heart acceptable.
“Nothing is Hidden” This title is a memorable phrase that helps remember the unique character and content of this psalm.
- The phrase “Nothing is hidden” (from v. 7) captures this core of the psalm and ties together all three sections. It begins with what people all over the earth see in the sky and ends with what each individual fears will be seen in his or her heart through the Lord’s instruction. It is wonderful—and terrifying—that nothing is hidden.
Purpose The Purpose was the psalmist's probable intent or reason for writing this psalm.
- To pray for blamelessness.
Content The Content is a concise summary of the whole psalm's content.
- YHWH, make me blameless (vv. 12-15)! Your glorious perfection, seen in the sky (vv. 2-7) and in your covenant instruction (vv. 8-11), exposes my sin and my need for blamelessness.
Message The Message is the main idea the psalmist probably wanted the audience to remember upon or after hearing the psalm.
- In order to be blameless and acceptable, YHWH's people need both his instruction and his redemption.
Psalm 19 At-a-Glance
These sections divide the content of the psalm into digestible pieces , and are determined based on information from many of our layers, including Semantics, Poetics, and Discourse. The columns, left to right, contain: the verse numbers; the main title of the section; a brief summary of the content of that section (quote marks indicate the text is taken directly from the English text of the psalm (as per our Close-but-Clear translation); and an icon to visually represent and remember the content.
| v. 1 For the director. A psalm. By David. | Superscription | |||
| v. 2 The sky is declaring God’s honor, and the firmament is telling about the workmanship of his hands. | The Words of the Sky | The sky declares God's honor. Not a word of the sky's speech goes unheard. |
 |
awe |
| v. 3 Day after day pours out speech, and night after night imparts knowledge. | ||||
| v. 4 There is no speech, and there are no words whose sound is not being heard. | ||||
| v. 5 Its verse line has gone forth throughout the whole earth, and its words [have gone forth] throughout the edge of the world. He has set up in it a home for the sun, | The most brilliant part of the sky is the sun. Nothing is hidden from its heat. |
 |
joy & vulnerability | |
| v. 6 and he is like a bridegroom coming out of his tent. He is glad, like a warrior, to run his course. | ||||
| v. 7 His starting point is from the edge of the sky, and his turning point is at its edges, and nothing is hidden from his heat. | ||||
| v. 8 YHWH’s instruction is perfect, restoring life. YHWH’s testimony is reliable, making simpletons wise. | The Words of YHWH | YHWH's perfect instruction is like the sun. |  |
joy & vulnerability |
| v. 9 YHWH’s commandments are just, causing the heart to rejoice. YHWH’s command is flawless, giving light to the eyes. | ||||
| v. 10 Fearing YHWH is pure, enduring forever. YHWH’s rules are true; they are altogether right; | ||||
| v. 11 those which are more desirable than gold, even much pure gold, and sweeter than honey, even virgin honey from the honeycomb. | ||||
| v. 12 Furthermore, your servant is warned by them. There is great reward in keeping them. | The Words of My Mouth | I, your servant, feel the effect of your perfect instruction (just as everything feels the heat of the sun). Make your servant blameless! |
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distress |
| v. 13 Who can discern mistakes? Clear me from the guilt of hidden sins! | ||||
| v. 14 Also, prevent your servant from committing presumptuous sins! Do not let them rule over me! Then I will be blameless and innocent of great crime. | ||||
| v. 15 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable before you, YHWH, my rock and my redeemer! | Let my words be acceptable, YHWH, my rock and my redeemer! |  |
hope | |
The Words of the Sky (vv. 2–7)
The poem begins with celebrating how the sky praises God the same way a poet would praise him, by declaring his honor. The message of the sky reaches everywhere – not a word of the sky’s poem is lost. The endless rhythm of day and night reminds us that the creator is honored always and everywhere. The sun has the lead role in the sky’s poem. The sun is responsible for traveling the full expanse of the sky every day, exposing everything. Nothing can hide from the sun’s heat.
The fool of Proverbs denies how much God knows. But David has the opposite, wise perspective: he rejoices that God’s honor is everywhere and that God’s knowledge and power are like the sun. The sun rejoices to do its role, and David stands in awe of the majesty and greatness of the sky and the sun. The vulnerability of everything on earth shows the power of the sun: nothing is hidden from its heat.
The Words of YHWH (vv. 8–11)
The sun reaches perfectly to everywhere on earth, bringing light and heat. In a similar way, the instruction of YHWH reaches to every human heart. It is perfect, bringing life, causing joy, and making people wise… This is good, desirable and sweet… like the warmth of the sun. But just like everything uncovered is vulnerable to the sun’s intense heat, the perfection of God’s instruction leaves the psalmist feeling his own vulnerability.
The Words of My Mouth (vv. 12–15)
In v. 12, the tone of the poem changes significantly to focus on the reason for this vulnerability. David feels the heat and the effect of YHWH’s instruction.
David can celebrate how much he desires the perfection of YHWH’s instruction, but at the same time he feels the effect on his uncovered and vulnerable heart: YHWH’s instruction exposes sin, mistakes and even crime. YHWH’s instruction is perfect, but he, David, is not. This leads to distress, because he is someone who tries to follow YHWH but recognizes he is not worthy. He desperately needs YHWH to take away his guilt and protect him from sin.
In v. 15, he feels hope that meets and goes beyond his distress. YHWH’s instruction reveals his own guilt, but his relationship with YHWH—that covenantal relationship we always see in a psalm by David—means he has hope of forgiveness and restoration. He can therefore end the poem praying with confidence: that his own words and the meditation of his own heart be acceptable to YHWH. He knows YHWH will accept them because he is his rock—his safe place from those who try to rule over him—and his redeemer—the one who restores him from his sinful condition into righteousness once again.
Background Orientation for Psalm 19
Following are the common-ground assumptionsCommon-ground assumptions include information shared by the speaker and hearers. In our analysis, we mainly use this category for Biblical/Ancient Near Eastern background. which are the most helpful for making sense of the psalm.
- The continuation of the created order, seen most clearly in the continuous succession of days and nights (cf. Gen 8:22), is a testimony to God's honor and skill.
- This rhythm of day and night is governed by the movements of the sun, moon, and stars, which God created and placed in the sky (Gen 1:16-18).
- The sun is closely associated with righteousness and law (cf. Mal 3:20; IQ27 I:6–7; see Sarna 1965).
- YHWH's instruction is like the sun.
- Coming into contact with YHWH's glory and perfection leads a person to recognize their own sinfulness (cf. Isa 6).
Background Situation for Psalm 19
The background situation is the series of events leading up to the time in which the psalm is spoken. These are taken from the story triangle – whatever lies to the left of the star icon.
Participant Set List
There are four participants/characters in Psalm 19:
| David |
| David (v. 1) |
| Your servant (vv. 12, 14) |
| YHWH |
| YHWH (vv. 8-10, 15) |
| God (v. 2) |
| My rock and my redeemer (v. 15) |
| YHWH's instruction |
| YHWH's instruction (v. 8a) |
| YHWH's testimony (v. 8b) |
| YHWH's commandments (v. 9a) |
| YHWH's command (v. 9b) |
| Fearing YHWH (v. 10a) |
| YHWH's rules (v. 10b) |
| Sky |
| sky (vv. 2a, 7) |
| firmament (v. 2b) |
| Sun |
| the sun (v. 5c) |
| Sins |
| Mistakes (v. 13a) |
| Hidden sins (v. 13b) |
| Presumptuous sins (v. 14a) |
Profile Notes
- David refers to himself twice as "your servant" (עבדך) (vv. 12a, 14a), which is a polite form of self-reference used when speaking to a superior (cf. HALOT). The term creates a connection to the superscription of the previous psalm, where David is called "YHWH's servant" (עבד יהוה) (for more on connections between Ps 18 and Ps 19, see Hossfeld and Zenger 1993, 130).
- YHWH is called by the more general term "God" (אל) in the first half of the psalm, which focuses on his role as the universal creator whose glory is revealed to all people (cf. אלהים in Gen 1), and by his name "YHWH" (יהוה) in the second half of the psalm (7 times), which focuses on the covenant instruction of YHWH as the God of Israel in particular (cf. Cassuto 1941, lectures 2-3).
- Sins are regarded as a participant here, because "presumptuous sins" are the subject of the verb "rule" in v. 14, i.e., they are personified as a volitional agent. On the meaning of each of these different words for sin, see Lexical Semantics.
- The sky (vv. 2a, 7a), also referred to by the more specific term, "the firmament" (v. 2b) (cf. Gen 1:8), probably includes "everything in the heavens (a metonymy of subject)—primarily the sun, moon, clouds, stars, and planets" (Ross 2011, 472). The sky is also referred to metonymically as "day after day" and "night after night" (v. 3), i.e., it is the movement of day-to-day as seen within the sky that pours out speech, declaring God’s honor.
- In v. 5c, the topic shifts to one particular part of "the sky", i.e., the sun, who is personified as a happy bridegroom and as a warrior (a warrior-poet, like David?) who runs each day from one edge of the sky to the other.