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!
In 33-40 we have a prayer for understanding and guidance, and it may be that this has something to do with the expression of depression and darkness in the previous verses. For, in such an experience, there is so much that we do not understand and cannot seem to grasp, and we ask all the deep questions - Why? Why? Why? We want light, hence the prayer here. But, of course, the words are true in a more general sense also, without reference to the earlier stanza, for here there is the consciousness that there are hidden depths in the divine revelation that cannot be searched out except by God's help. One thing that it is important to note here is the emphasis on the mind and the understanding. This is not merely an intellectual matter, but something basic in spiritual life. For it is through the mind that all truth comes to men, and it is thus that it influences and shapes the will to obedience (33b, 34b). The Psalmist is conscious, 36, 37, of the things that militate against obedience - worldly gain, temptation via the eyes - and his prayer is therefore to be delivered from such temptation, in the consciousness (wrought in him by the Word itself) that the only real life for man is union with God and obedience to His commandments. The reproach referred to in 39 may be a reference to his consciousness of failure in this regard in the past. Whether or not this is so, he expresses in 40 his real and truest self, in his desire to be revived by God. As Maclaren puts it 'The necessary precursor of deeper draughts from the Fountain of Life is thirst for it, which faithfully turns aside from earth's sparkling but drugged potions'.