Gimel
17 Deal bountifully with your servant,
that I may live and keep your word.
18 Open my eyes, that I may behold
wondrous things out of your law.
19 I am a sojourner on the earth;
hide not your commandments from me!
20 My soul is consumed with longing
for your rules at all times.
21 You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones,
who wander from your commandments.
22 Take away from me scorn and contempt,
for I have kept your testimonies.
23 Even though princes sit plotting against me,
your servant will meditate on your statutes.
24 Your testimonies are my delight;
they are my counsellors.
Daleth
25 My soul clings to the dust;
give me life according to your word!
26 When I told of my ways, you answered me;
teach me your statutes!
27 Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous works.
28 My soul melts away for sorrow;
strengthen me according to your word!
29 Put false ways far from me
and graciously teach me your law!
30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness;
I set your rules before me.
31 I cling to your testimonies, O Lord;
let me not be put to shame!
32 I will run in the way of your commandments
when you enlarge my heart!
He
33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes;
and I will keep it to the end.
34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law
and observe it with my whole heart.
35 Lead me in the path of your commandments,
for I delight in it.
36 Incline my heart to your testimonies,
and not to selfish gain!
37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;
and give me life in your ways.
38 Confirm to your servant your promise,
that you may be feared.
39 Turn away the reproach that I dread,
for your rules are good.
40 Behold, I long for your precepts;
in your righteousness give me life!
The next three sections of this long Psalm can be usefully linked together in such a way as to see a clear message in them. Again, as throughout the Psalm, the emphasis is on the Word and its centrality in the believer's life. In 17-24, it is the word in relation to the insight it gives to life, and into the meaning of life. The well-known words in 18, 'Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold...' may be taken as the central half of the section. It is a prayer for illumination, for insight. In 17, we already see this insight at work, in the prayer with which the section opens. The Psalmist is expressing something he has discovered about real life, which is possible only in and through the mercy and grace of God. It is when a man is dealt bountifully with by God that he begins to live in the real sense of the term. This is life, he means, to live day by day in obedience to the Word of God. And this is a great discovery to make. 18 and 19 are linked together in their emphasis on subjective illumination and objective revelation respectively. Opened eyes are useless if the commandments are hidden, and the disclosure of the latter is in vain, unless there are eyes to see them. Scales cover our spiritual vision which only God can take away, and His revelation has in its depths truths and treasures which can only be discerned by His help. The phrase in 19, 'stranger on the earth' bears witness to the consciousness of being an exile on earth. And it is the word that brings us both the consciousness of what this feeling is, and how it can be assuaged. God has set eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11), and only God can meet the deep in us. In this consciousness, the Word is paramount, for in it God meets with us, and assuages the hunger and the longing and gives us solace in our 'cosmic' loneliness. Hence the longing expressed in 20. Doubtless, there are many (21-23) who are contemptuously impatient of such an attitude; but the Psalmist's heart is at peace, for he has access to hidden resources. And the section ends very beautifully with the expression of delight in God's Word, the hidden manna that makes all the difference to life.