Image by Kyle Oliver for prayr.cc (CC BY 2.0)
I woke up on Saturday morning wanting to do some designing. And, for reasons not entirely clear to me, thinking of Psalm 119. So here’s what I came up with.
In this quote image, the letters of the Hebrew alphabet frame what I see as one of the central verses of Psalm 119.
“Frame” because Psalm 119 is an acrostic poem, so the letters literally do frame the lyrical trajectory. “Central” because these verses get at what I see as the core message of the psalm without using the word “law.”
In some sense, it’s absurd to claim that any verse that omits this word can be an apt summary of the psalm. There’s some iteration of the idea that the law is our “delight” in 10 of the 176 verses.
The problem is, the history of Christian doctrine has made this love letter to one of God’s greatest gifts pretty opaque to Christians. We have a fraught relationship with the law because of theologians who have wanted to make a strong distinction or even opposition between law and gospel (barf).
But “law,” “commandments,” “statutes,” “teaching,” “path,” and “way” are all connected in the biblical imagination. The law is so much more than a list of rules that trip us up. It’s a “framework for freedom,” a comprehensive way of life that puts us in ever greater touch with our humanity.
If you want to see the acrostic in action, see immediately below for the eight verses (including the two in the image) that begin in Hebrew with the letter zayin (ז). If you like the image or are intrigued by this glimpse at the Hebrew alphabet, I have some book recommendations and an art card link at the bottom of the page.
Psalm 119:49-56 (ז)
(BCP, Public Domain)
49 Remember (זָכַר) your word to your servant, *
because you have given me hope.
50 This (זֹאת) is my comfort in my trouble, *
that your promise gives me life.
51 The proud (זֵדִים) have derided me cruelly, *
but I have not turned from your law.
52 When I remember (זָכַרְתִּי) your judgments of old, *
O LORD, I take great comfort.
53 I am filled with a burning rage (זַלְעָפָה), *
because of the wicked who forsake your law.
54 Your statutes have been like songs (זְמִרֹות) to me *
wherever I have lived as a stranger.
55 I remember (זָכַרְתִּי) your Name in the night, O LORD, *
and dwell upon your law.
56 This ( זֹאת) is how it has been with me, *
because I have kept your commandments.
You can support Creative Commons Prayer by buying this design as a card on Zazzle or by purchasing related media on Amazon.
This Holy Alphabet: Lyric Poems Adapted from Psalm 119 by Margaret Ingraham
The Book of Letters: A Mystical Hebrew Alphabet by Lawrence Kushner
