Psalm 19 Poetic Structure

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Psalm 19

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Poetic Structure

  What is Poetic Structure?

In poetic structure, we analyse the structure of the psalm beginning at the most basic level of the structure: the line (also known as the “colon” or “hemistich”). Then, based on the perception of patterned similarities (and on the assumption that the whole psalm is structured hierarchically), we argue for the grouping of lines into verses, verses into strophes, strophes into stanzas, etc. Because patterned similarities might be of various kinds (syntactic, semantic, pragmatic, sonic) the analysis of poetic structure draws on all of the previous layers (especially the Discourse layer).

• Macrostructure
• Line Divisions

Poetic Macrostructure

At-a-Glance

  Legend

If an emendation or revocalization is preferred, that emendation or revocalization will be marked in the Hebrew text of all the visuals.

Emendations/Revocalizations legend
*Emended text*	Emended text, text in which the consonants differ from the consonants of the Masoretic text, is indicated by blue asterisks on either side of the emendation.
*Revocalized text*	Revocalized text, text in which only the vowels differ from the vowels of the Masoretic text, is indicated by purple asterisks on either side of the revocalization.

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!		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.

Many have argued that the Psalm is a composite of two originally individual psalms (Ps 19A: vv. 2-7; Ps 19B: vv. 8-15). But the evidence for this view is weak. See The Unity of Ps 19. The semantic and poetic correspondences between the two sections suggest a unified poem whose parts have always existed next to one another. Some of these correspondences include the repetition of נִסְתָּר (vv. 7c, 13b) and בָּהֶם (vv. 5c, 12a), the theme of speech which runs throughout the psalm, the solar imagery which pervades both halves (see Story Behind and The Unity of Ps 19), and the fact that both sections ends with pair of tricola (vv. 5c-7; vv. 14-15). Furthermore, the device of similar endings is used in both halves of the psalm to structure the sections (v. 4 // v. 7; v. 11 // v. 14).

Most interpreters of Psalm 19 agree that the psalm divides into two major sections: vv. 2-7 // vv. 8-15 (cf. Quinn 2023 who are argues for a tripartite division: vv. 2-7; vv. 8-11; vv. 12-15). Each section begins by announcing its theme (v. 2: "the heavens"; v. 8: "YHWH's instruction"), and each section closes with a pair of tricola (vv. 6-7; vv. 14-15).

• The first section (vv. 2-7) is about the glory of YHWH in the heavens. The first word of this section is, appropriately, הַשָּׁמַיִם (v. 2a). The only other use of the word הַשָּׁמַיִם is in the last verse of this section (v. 7). Thus, vv. 2-7 are bound by an inclusio. This first section is further subdivided into two smaller sections, each of which end with a negative statement using אין (vv. 4, 7c):
  • vv. 2-4 are about the speech of the heavens, which is heard all the time (v. 3) and by everyone (v. 4). This section is bound by the repetition of the word אֹמֶר (vv. 3a, 4a).
  • vv. 5-7 is bound by the repetition of the words יצא and קצה (cf. Quinn 2023, 44). This section is about the communication of the sky, and of the sun in particular, going out to the very ends of the world.
  • The two units are joined together by a chiasm at the seam: a. דְּבָרִים b. קוֹלָם b.' קַוָּם a.' מִלֵּיהֶם (so van der Lugt 2006, 221; cf. Quinn 2023, 43). The b-items sound similar to one another (both begin with ק and with ם), and the a-items are semantically related (מלים is the Aramaic equivalent of דברים).
  • An alternative possibility would be to group vv. 5c-7 together as a unit, with the topic of this unit as the sun (לַשֶּׁמֶשׁ as the first word) (cf. Fokkelman 2000; Weber 2016). According to this division, the previous unit, v. 2-5b, would be bound by a subtle chiasm: a. heavens (v. 2), b. אמר (v. 3), b.' אמר (v. 4) a.' earth (v. 5).
• The second section (vv. 8-15) is about the Torah of YHWH in the life of his servant. The first word of this section is, appropriately, תּוֹרַת יְהוָה. The root תמם ('complete', 'perfect') also occurs in the opening line of this section and is repeated near the end of the section (v. 14b). Van der Lugt rightly points out that "this root represents the key notion of vv. 8–15" (van der Lugt 2006, 224). The perfection of YHWH's instruction (v. 8) leads the psalmist to desire to be blameless/perfect (v. 14). The word לב (vv. 9, 15) and the divine name (vv. 8-10, 15) work together with the root תמם to form an inclusio around this section. The second section further divides into two or three smaller sections:
  • vv. 8-11 are bound by the similar theme of YHWH's instruction. The first three verses of this unit (vv. 8-10) are tightly bound together by the six-fold repetition of the divine name (once in each line), the virtually identical syntactic structure of each line (construct phrase, adjective, participle), the similar length of each line (5 words, an allusion to the Pentateuch? [cf. Rashi]). It may be that "the structural regularity (strict parallelism of nominal and participial clauses) is the linguistic counterpart to the order that the law is intended to establish" (TDOT 2006, 630). The Mesopotamian Shamash hymn, which focuses on the sun god as the god of law and order, shows a similar order itself, being "precisely 200 lines" (Foster, COS, 1.117). Verse 11 is bound syntactically to these verses by the anaphoric article (הַֽנֶּחֱמָדִ֗ים), and because it too is about YHWH's instruction. The whole is thus organized as an abc//c'b'a' + d structure, which (not coincidentally) is exactly how Genesis 1 is structured (cf. Quinn 2023, 44-45):
    • a//a' — feminine singular nouns (תּ֘וֹרַ֤ת // מִצְוַ֥ת); synonymous phrases (מְשִׁ֣יבַת נָ֑פֶשׁ // מְאִירַ֥ת עֵינָֽיִם)
    • b//b' — singular nouns ending in tav (עֵד֥וּת // יִרְאַ֤ת); description as "enduring" (נֶ֝אֱמָנָ֗ה // עוֹמֶ֪דֶת לָ֫עַ֥ד)
    • c//c' — masculine plural nouns (פִּקּ֘וּדֵ֤י // מִֽשְׁפְּטֵי); synonyms related to righteousness (יְ֭שָׁרִים // אֱמֶ֑ת צָֽדְק֥וּ)
    • d — v. 11.
    • 
  • vv. 12-14 are bound by the repetition of the words גם... עבדך (vv. 12a, 14a), the root נקה (vv. 13b, 14c), and the word רב (vv. 12, 14, also v. 11). The section is further bound by a similar theme: sin and warning (note the various words for "sin" in vv. 13-14 and the reference to "warning" in v. 12). Whereas the previous unit (vv. 8-11) extols the benefits of YHWH's instruction, this unit laments the human inability to keep YHWH's instruction perfectly. This unit ends similarly to the previous unit: the phrase מִפֶּ֥שַֽׁע רָֽב (v. 14c) echoes the phrase וּמִפַּ֣ז רָ֑ב (v. 11a). The similar endings in the second half of the psalm (vv. 11, 14) parallel the similar endings in the first half of the psalm (vv. 4, 7).
  • v. 15 concludes the second section and the entire psalm—notice the reference to 'words' אמר which echoes the beginning of the psalm. It is closely related to the previous verses with its first person language yet it also stands apart from them by not sharing in the features that bind vv. 11-14.

Line Divisions

  Legend

Line division divides the poem into lines and line groupings. We determine line divisions based on a combination of external evidence (Masoretic accents, pausal forms, manuscripts) and internal evidence (syntax, prosodic word counting and patterned relation to other lines). Moreover, we indicate line-groupings by using additional spacing.

When line divisions are uncertain, we consult some of the many psalms manuscripts which lay out the text in lines. Then, if a division attested in one of these manuscripts/versions influences our decision to divide the text at a certain point, we place a green symbol (G, DSS, or MT) to the left of the line in question.

Poetic line division legend
Pausal form	Pausal forms are highlighted in yellow.
Accent which typically corresponds to line division	Accents which typically correspond to line divisions are indicated by red text.
|	Clause boundaries are indicated by a light gray vertical line in between clauses.
G	Line divisions that follow Greek manuscripts are indicated by a bold green G.
DSS	Line divisions that follow the Dead Sea Scrolls are indicated by a bold green DSS.
M	Line divisions that follow Masoretic manuscripts are indicated by a bold green M.
Number of prosodic words	The number of prosodic words are indicated in blue text.
Prosodic words greater than 5	The number of prosodic words if greater than 5 is indicated by bold blue text.

If an emendation or revocalization is preferred, that emendation or revocalization will be marked in the Hebrew text of all the visuals.

Emendations/Revocalizations legend
*Emended text*	Emended text, text in which the consonants differ from the consonants of the Masoretic text, is indicated by blue asterisks on either side of the emendation.
*Revocalized text*	Revocalized text, text in which only the vowels differ from the vowels of the Masoretic text, is indicated by purple asterisks on either side of the revocalization.

Notes

• The above line division agrees completely with the LXX according to Rahlfs' 1931 edition. With the exception of v. 15a, it also agrees completely with the Masoretic accents (as interpreted by de Hoop and Sanders 2022; according to their system, pazer does not mark a line division, so v. 15 would be divided as a bicolon).
• It would be possible to further subdivide each of the lines of vv. 8-10 in half (so e.g., BHS, Fokkelman 2000, van der Lugt 2006), but it seems better to follow the traditions mentioned above (MT accents, LXX, see also the Sassoon codex).
• Most interpreters agree that v. 5c should be grouped with v. 6 (e.g., NLT, NIV, ESV, GNT; so van der Lugt 2006; Hossfeld and Zenger 1993; Fokkelman 2000; Waltke 2010; et al.). Normally, the Masoretic versification is a helpful guide to poetic structure. In this case, however, it is misleading.