◀ All Reading Plans / M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan / Family: 2 Kings 5; 1 Timothy 2. Secret: Daniel 9; Psalms 117–118. (New Catholic Bible)

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M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The classic M'Cheyne plan--read the Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms or Gospels every day.

Duration: 365 days

2 Kings 5

Chapter 5

Cure of Naaman.^[a] ¹There was a certain Naaman, who was the commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was an honorable man, highly esteemed by his master, because it was through him that the Lord had delivered Aram. He was a brave soldier, but he had leprosy.

²Aramean raiders had gone out into the land of Israel and had taken a young girl captive who served Naaman’s wife. ³She said to her mistress, “If only my lord would present himself to the prophet who is in Samaria. He would cure him of his leprosy.”

⁴He went to his lord and said, “This is what the young girl from the land of Israel said.”

⁵The king of Aram said, “Go! I will send a letter to the king of Israel.”

He went on his way, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of clothing. ⁶He brought the letter to the king of Israel which said, “With this letter I am sending you my servant Naaman so that you might cure him of his leprosy.”

⁷When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, with the power to kill and give life, that he sends me a man to heal him of his leprosy? Think of it, see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”

⁸When Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me so that he might know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

⁹So Naaman went with his horses and his chariot, and he stood at the door to Elisha’s house. ¹⁰Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash seven times in the Jordan, and your skin will be restored, and you will be clean.”

¹¹But Naaman went away angry and said, “Behold, I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord, his God, and wave his hand over the place and heal the leprosy. ¹²Are not the Abana and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all of the rivers of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be made clean?”

So he turned away and left in a rage. ¹³His servants approached him and spoke to him saying, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more should you do it when he said, ‘Wash and be made clean.’ ”

¹⁴He went down and he bathed himself in the Jordan seven times as the man of God had instructed him to do. His skin became like the skin of a little child, and he was clean.

¹⁵He and all of his attendants returned to the man of God. He came and he stood before him and said, “Behold, I now know that there is no God upon the earth except in Israel. Please accept a gift from your servant.” ¹⁶He answered, “As the Lord lives before whom I stand, I will not accept it.” Even though he urged him to take it, he refused.^[b]

¹⁷^[c]Naaman said, “If not, then let your servant be given two donkey loads of dirt, for your servant will never again offer burnt offerings or sacrifices to any other god but the Lord. ¹⁸Only may the Lord forgive me this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand and I also bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant this thing.”

¹⁹He said to him, “Go in peace.” He left and traveled a little way. ²⁰But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, “Behold, my master has spared Naaman the Aramean by not accepting from his hands what he brought. As the Lord lives, I will run after him and take something from him.”

²¹So Gehazi followed Naaman. When Naaman saw him running after him, he got off the chariot to greet him and he said, “Is all well?” ²²He answered, “All is well. My master sent me, saying, ‘Two young men from among the sons of the prophets have now come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothing.’ ”

²³Naaman said, “Please take two talents.” He urged it on him, and he bound up two talents of silver in two bags along with two changes of clothing. He entrusted it to two of his servants who carried it before him. ²⁴When he came to the tower, he took it from their hands and he placed it in the house. He then dismissed the men and they left.

²⁵He went in and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, “Where are you coming from, Gehazi?” He answered, “Your servant has not gone anywhere.” ²⁶He said to him, “Was not my spirit with you when the man got off of his chariot to meet you? Is this now the time to receive money, or clothing, or olive orchards, or vineyards, or sheep, or oxen, or menservants, or maidservants? ²⁷On account of this, Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and your descendants forever.” He went out from his presence, and he was a leper, as white as snow.

1 Timothy 2

Qualities of Public Worship and Church Leaders^[a]

Chapter 2

Prayer for Those in Authority.^[b] ¹I urge then, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, ²for kings and for all those who hold positions of authority, so that we may be able to lead a tranquil and quiet life with all possible devotion and dignity. ³To do so is right and acceptable to God our Savior, ⁴who desires everyone to be saved and to come to full knowledge of the truth.

⁵^[c]For there is one God,
and there is one mediator between God and man,
Christ Jesus, himself a man,
⁶who gave himself as a ransom for all.

This was the testimony he offered at the appointed time. ⁷And I was made a herald and an apostle of it (I am telling the truth; I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Positions at Public Worship.^[d] ⁸I desire, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up their hands reverently in prayer without anger or argument. ⁹I also ask that the women should dress themselves modestly and decently in suitable clothing. They should be adorned not with braided hair or with gold or pearls or expensive clothes,^[e] ¹⁰but with good works, as is fitting for women who profess their reverence for God.

¹¹Women are to learn in silence with complete submission. ¹²I do not allow a woman to teach or to hold authority over a man. She should keep silent. ¹³For Adam was formed first, and Eve afterward. ¹⁴Furthermore, Adam was not deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and fell into sin. ¹⁵However, women will be saved through the bearing of children, provided that they continue to persevere in faith, love, and holiness, marked by modesty.

Footnotes

1 Timothy 2:1 This section instructs Timothy about the public worship of the community and lists some qualifications that bishops and deacons must possess. In the process, it bestows on the Church two time-hallowed titles: “the Church of the living God” and “the pillar and bulwark of the truth.”
It then concludes by stressing the universality of Jesus’ role in his Resurrection visitation to angels as well as humans and in his enthronement as Lord of the Church. Hence, the belief in Christ’s Paschal Mystery is shown to be one of the basic aspects of the faith of the Church.
1 Timothy 2:1 Nero was in power, and Paul perhaps had a presentiment of a dark future for Christians. He therefore urges them to include all human beings in their intercession. Liturgical prayer must be universal prayer, for it is carried along by a conviction: God has sent his Son to bear witness that the Father wills the salvation of the whole world. It is the mission of Paul and ultimately of the Church to make this truth well known.
1 Timothy 2:5 This text was probably part of a very early creed. Some scholars regard it as a Christian version of the Jewish shema: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord, our God, is Lord alone . . .” (Deut 6:4f). The Letter to the Hebrews gives a lengthy development of this central affirmation of the Christian faith.
1 Timothy 2:8 First of all, Paul describes the attitude of prayer, stressing that it must arise from a heart filled with love (see Mt 6:14; Mk 11:25). Then he issues recommendations for different groups and states of life. In keeping with the custom of the time, women were excluded from official roles in worship (see 1 Cor 14:34-35).
We see a teaching already in existence concerning style of dress, a teaching that has often been renewed in the Church: Christians should endeavor to be rather than to appear. The New Testament several times recognizes the value of virginity (see 1 Cor 7:8, 25); but here, in opposition to heretics who forbade marriage (1 Tim 4:3), Paul emphasizes the point that the vocation of women is to give life.
1 Timothy 2:9 This verse does not place a total ban on wearing jewelry or expensive clothes or braiding one’s hair. These things are singled out here because in the society of Paul’s day they were signs of unconscionable extravagance and self-importance.

Daniel 9

The Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks^[a]

Chapter 9

According to the Word Revealed to Jeremiah . . . ¹In the first year of Darius, son of Ahasuerus, a Mede by birth, who became ruler of the kingdom of the Chaldeans— ²in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, was studying the Scriptures and reflecting on the seventy years that, according to the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah, had to pass before the desolation of Jerusalem would come to an end.

³Then I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. ⁴I prayed to the Lord, my God, and made this confession, saying:

Lord, Have Mercy.^[b] “O Lord, great and awesome God, you who keep your covenant and show your steadfast love to those who love you and observe your commandments: ⁵we have sinned and done what is wrong, we have acted wickedly and rebelled, we have rejected your commandments and your laws. ⁶We have not listened to your servants the Prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

⁷“Righteousness is on your side, O Lord. As for us, we are filled with shame even to this day—we, the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the countries to which you have dispersed us because of the treachery that we have committed against you.

⁸“O Lord, we are filled with shame—our kings, our princes, and our fathers—for having sinned against you. ⁹But you, O Lord, our God, are always prepared to show compassion and forgiveness. Yet we rebelled against you ¹⁰and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, our God, by following your laws that you have given to us through your servants the Prophets.

¹¹“All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away from you, refusing to obey your commands. Therefore, the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured down upon us because we have sinned against you. ¹²You confirmed your threats, which you made against us and our rulers by bringing upon us in Jerusalem the greatest calamity that the world has ever experienced.

¹³“Just as it is written^[c] in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us. We failed to entreat the favor of the Lord, our God, by renouncing our wickedness and reflecting upon his fidelity. ¹⁴Therefore, the Lord has watched us carefully, and now he has brought this disaster upon us. The Lord is just in all of his dealings with us, but we have not listened to his voice.

¹⁵“And now, O Lord, our God, who led your people out of the land of Egypt with your mighty hand and caused your name to be renowned, even to this very day: we have sinned, we have acted wickedly. ¹⁶Lord, in keeping with your saving deeds, we beg you to allow your anger and wrath to turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. As a result of our sins and the crimes of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become an object of scorn to all those who surround us.

¹⁷“Now therefore, our God, listen to the prayers and supplications of your servant, and for your own sake, O Lord, let your face shine upon your desolate sanctuary. ¹⁸Incline your ear, O my God, and listen. Open your eyes and look upon our desolation and upon the city that bears your name. We present our petition to you, relying not upon our upright deeds but rather upon your great mercy.

¹⁹“Listen to us, O Lord! Forgive us, O Lord! Do not delay, O my God, for your own sake, because your city and your people bear your name.”

²⁰Seventy Weeks Are Decreed.^[d] While I was still speaking, still occupied with my prayer and confessing my sins and the sins of my people Israel and presenting my supplication to the Lord, my God, on behalf of his holy mountain— ²¹while I was still speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen previously in a vision, swooped down on me in rapid flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.

²²He then spoke these words to me: “Daniel, I have now come down to you to give you understanding. ²³As you began your supplications, an answer was given, and I have come to make it known to you, for you are greatly beloved. Therefore, consider carefully the answer and comprehend the vision.

²⁴“Seventy weeks are decreed
    for your people and your holy city:
for bringing an end to transgression,
    for putting an end to sin,
for expiating iniquity,
    for introducing everlasting righteousness,
for ratifying vision and prophecy,
    and for anointing the Holy of Holies.
²⁵“Know therefore, and understand this:
    From the time that the message was sent:
    ‘Return and rebuild Jerusalem,’
until the coming of an anointed prince,
    there shall be seven weeks.
During sixty-two weeks
    it shall be rebuilt and restored
with streets and trenches
    in a troubled time.
²⁶“After the sixty-two weeks
    an anointed one will be cut off
    and have nothing.
And the troops of a leader who is to come
    will destroy the city and the sanctuary.
Then the end will come like a torrent,
    and until the end there will be war,
    the devastation that has been decreed.
²⁷“During the space of one week
    he will make a firm alliance with many people,
and for the space of half a week
    he will put a stop to sacrifice and oblation.
And on the temple wing
    will be the terrible abomination
until the end that has been decreed
    is poured out upon the desolate city.”

Footnotes

Daniel 9:1 By means of this prediction, the author, who is writing for the contemporaries of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, seeks to shore up the courage of the persecuted until the end of the oppression, which will not be long in coming. But the deeper insight goes beyond the immediate circumstances of the passage, for it is a call to persevere in faith while awaiting the coming of the Lord.
Daniel 9:4 This prayer recalls the canticle of Azariah (included in the Septuagint as Dan 3:26-45) and the liturgies of repentance after the Exile (Ezr 9; Neh 9).
Daniel 9:13 Just as it is written: first usage of this formula of Scripture citation in the Bible.
Daniel 9:20 This prophecy is one of the best known and most difficult of the Old Testament. In this coded and therefore obscure passage some think they discover figures that correspond to the coming of the Messiah and provide a means of calculating the end of the world. But the author, who is a contemporary of Antiochus IV and caught up in the daily tragedy of persecution, has other concerns than to offer hidden calculations. His purpose is to proclaim the proximate end of the oppression. His counting, like that of Jeremiah, starts with the beginning of the Exile in 587 B.C.; but the years become weeks of years, that is, periods of seven years. Thus, what was originally thought of in relation to the return from exile and the rebuilding of the temple is now shifted to apply to the age of Antiochus IV. The first seven weeks, or forty-nine years, cover rather well the duration of the Exile, since it was in 538 B.C. that the priest Joshua presided over the reestablishment of the Jewish community in Palestine; but the rebuilding of the temple came in 515 B.C. (see Ezr 3–6) and the rebuilding of the city walls in 445 B.C. (Neh 1–7). And the following sixty-two weeks no longer correspond to history; in fact, from the edict of Cyrus in 538 B.C., to the assassination of Onias III the high priest in 170 B.C. (he is the anointed one of v. 26), sixty-seven years are lacking for the figures to match. Did the author perhaps make a mistake in counting? For the final week, however, and this is the one that interests the author (v. 27), the prediction turns out well. The alliance of the intriguers and apostates around the tyrant, and the disorders introduced into Jewish life by the complicity of the upper clergy after the death of Onias, lasted a week, or about seven years, from 171–164 B.C. In 167 B.C., the daily sacrifice in the temple was suppressed and replaced by the worship of Zeus; this was the abomination that causes desolation or supreme horror (1 Mac 1:54). Three and a half years, or a half-week, later, Jewish worship will be restored by Judas Maccabeus, while Antiochus dies.

Psalm 117-118

Psalm 117^[a]

Universal Praise of God

¹Glorify the Lord, all you nations;^[b]
praise him, all you peoples.
²For his kindness toward us is constant,
and the faithfulness of the Lord will endure forever.
Alleluia.^[c]

Psalm 118^[d]

Thanksgiving for Salvation

¹^[e]Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his kindness^[f] endures forever.
²Let Israel say,
    “His kindness endures forever.”
³Let the house of Aaron say,
    “His kindness endures forever.”
⁴Let those who fear the Lord^[g] say,
    “His kindness endures forever.”
⁵^[h]In my distress I called out to the Lord;
    he answered by setting me free.
⁶With the Lord to protect me I am not afraid.
    What can mortals do to me?
⁷The Lord is at my side to offer me help;
    I will look down upon my enemies.
⁸^[i]It is better to take refuge in the Lord
    than to place your trust in mortals.
⁹It is better to take refuge in the Lord
    than to place your trust in princes.
¹⁰^[j]All the nations surrounded me;
    in the name of the Lord I overcame them.
¹¹They surrounded me on every side;
    in the name of the Lord I overcame them.
¹²They swarmed around me like bees;
    they blazed like a fire in the midst of thorns;
    in the name of the Lord I overcame them.
¹³I was hard pressed and close to falling,
    but the Lord came to my aid.
¹⁴The Lord is my strength and my song,
    and he has become my salvation.^[k]
¹⁵Joyful shouts of triumph
    ring out in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the Lord has done wondrous deeds;
¹⁶    the right hand of the Lord is exalted;
    the right hand of the Lord has done wondrous deeds.”
¹⁷I shall not die; rather I shall live
    and recount^[l] the works of the Lord.
¹⁸Even though the Lord punished me harshly,
    he did not hand me over to death.
¹⁹^[m]Open to me the gates of righteousness
    so that I may enter them and praise the Lord.
²⁰This is the gate of the Lord
    through which the righteous enter.
²¹I thank you for having answered me;
    you have become my salvation.
²²^[n]The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone.
²³This is the Lord’s doing,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes.
²⁴This is the day that the Lord has made;^[o]
    let us exult and rejoice in it.
²⁵O Lord, grant us salvation.^[p]
    O Lord, grant us success.
²⁶Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.^[q]
    We bless you from the house of the Lord.
²⁷The Lord is God,
    and he has given us light.
Holding leafy branches, join in the festal procession
    up to the horns of the altar.^[r]
²⁸^[s]You are my God, and I will offer thanks to you;
    you are my God, and I will extol you.
²⁹Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his kindness endures forever.

Psalm 119^[t]

Praise of God’s Law

Aleph

Footnotes

Psalm 117:1 This psalm is a short invitatory earnestly exhorting all peoples to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, for the signal kindness and faithfulness that he manifests toward his people. His goodness toward Israel should inspire admiration and enthusiastic praise among foreigners, who are simply witnesses of his wonders (see Sir 36:1-4; Ezek 36).
Since God’s kindness and faithfulness are manifested much more forcefully in the life of the Church than in the history of Israel, all people should on that account give more enthusiastic praise to the heavenly Father. Enabling his Son to vanquish his enemies (the devil and death), the Father fills him with divine riches (eternal life in glory, joy, peace, beatitude, royalty). And he has done the same for the Church and her members. Praise of God is to be unanimous (see Rom 15:11).
Psalm 117:1 All nations and peoples are called to praise the Lord (see Pss 47:1; 67:4-6; 96:7; 98:4; 100:1-3; see also note on Ps 9:2). This verse is cited in Rom 15:11.
Psalm 117:2 Universal praise is owed to the Lord because of his fidelity to his people. He has shown them constant kindness and faithfulness, that is, faithful love. Indeed, his love is not only great in depth and height (see Rom 5:20; 1 Tim 1:14) but also lasting (see Ps 89:29); see also note on Ps 6:5. In Christ, the love of God has been even more powerfully shown both to Jews and to Gentiles so that all might praise him for it (see Rom 15:8ff). Alleluia: i.e., “Hallelujah” or “Bless [or praise] the Lord”; the Septuagint and Vulgate add this line to open Ps 118.
Psalm 118:1 This psalm brings to a close the Egyptian Hallel. As the procession of pilgrims goes up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles (vv. 15, 27; see Lev 23:39-43), the celebrants and the crowd conduct a dialogue, the rhythm of which is determined by the stages of the journey. The procession starts out with a familiar refrain (vv. 1-4) and proceeds while singing a hymn of thanksgiving (vv. 5-18); it arrives at the gates of the temple that has been rebuilt (v. 19) and has become the sign of Israel’s renewal after the Exile (vv. 22-24) where the priests respond to the acclamations of the people by blessing them (vv. 25-27). Finally, with palms in hand the procession reaches the sanctuary, whose courts are illumined, and the liturgy takes place with the most solemn thanksgiving (vv. 28-29).
Songs of thanksgiving such as this one called to mind the entire history of Israel, from past to present. Israel is ceaselessly put to the test, humbled, and then delivered, and in this very experience, it discovers its calling to be a people that bears witness to God in the midst of the nations and to be the capstone of the world (v. 22).
Jesus makes this calling his own (see Mt 21:42), and the apostles speak of it in their preaching (see Acts 4:11; 1 Pet 2:4-7). For them this psalm expresses in advance the mystery of Christ who is rejected and then exalted and who is the foundation stone of the new People of God (see 1 Cor 3:11; Eph 2:20). This festal song soon became popular; we find the crowd spontaneously singing it on Palm Sunday to greet Jesus as the envoy promised by God (v. 26; see Mt 21:9; Jn 12:13). We find this same acclamation in the Sanctus of the Mass; in all the liturgical families, the psalm has become an Easter song.
Psalm 118:1 The liturgical call to praise that begins the procession. All Israel had benefited from God’s goodness and kindness, i.e., the congregation of Israel, the priests (house of Aaron), and those who fear the Lord (see note on Ps 115:9-11). Now the people of God’s kingdom (Ps 114:1; Ex 19:5-6) and the priests, the descendants of Aaron, are called to profess that the Lord is King and that he is good and kind in standing behind his covenant.
Psalm 118:1 A conventional call to praise (see Pss 105–107). Kindness: see note on Ps 6:5.
Psalm 118:4 Israel . . . house of Aaron . . . those who fear the Lord: see note on Ps 115:9-11.
Psalm 118:5 A song of thanksgiving for deliverance of the whole nation voiced by a single individual. Some believe the speaker is a king, others opt for Israel as a corporate body, and still others for a priest/Levite. In any case, the worshiper does a good job in reciting the deeds God worked in response to the prayers of his people in affliction.
Psalm 118:8 All should be ever mindful of the motto learned through experience that it is better to have confidence in the Lord than to rely on flesh and blood (see Ps 33:16-19; see also Pss 62; 146).
Psalm 118:10 The fury of the assault recalls the attacks experienced by Jesus at his trial (see Lk 22:63—23:25) and even during his public ministry (see Lk 11:53f). Name: see note on Ps 5:12.
Psalm 118:14 This verse is an exact quotation from the song of victory at the Red Sea (see Ex 15:2) and is echoed in verses 15 (“right hand”) and 28 (“extol you”). Hence, God’s saving acts throughout history bear the stamp of the Exodus events (see 1 Cor 10:6) culminating in the work of Christ (see Lk 9:31: “his departure [literally, ‘exodus’], which would come to pass in Jerusalem”).
Psalm 118:17 Live and recount: see note on Ps 6:6.
Psalm 118:19 The procession has arrived at the gates of the rebuilt temple; all the righteous may enter and give thanks.
Psalm 118:22 The community of the righteous join in with thanksgiving. They praise the Lord because he has given prominence to his suffering servant Israel like a cornerstone. It was rejected by the worldly powers but has been made the cornerstone for God’s salvation of the world in the Messiah. These verses allude to Isa 8:14; 28:16; Jer 51:26; Zec 3:9; 4:7, passages that are interpreted in a Messianic sense. Israel is here a type of Christ, in whom these words have been most eminently fulfilled (see Mt 21:42 par; Acts 4:11; Rom 9:33; 1 Cor 3:11; Eph 2:20; 1 Pet 2:7).
Psalm 118:24 This is the day that the Lord has made: the day given by the Lord in which joy and jubilation are appropriate, the day of thanksgiving and rejoicing because of the wondrous deed of the Lord (vv. 22-23; see Ps 71:17; Jer 32:17, 27), the day of salvation. Used by the Liturgy as an antiphon for the Easter Season, this phrase identifies the “day” as that of Christ’s Resurrection.
Psalm 118:25 O Lord, grant us salvation: the Hebrew for this cry has come into English as “Hosanna.” The crowd takes it up on Palm Sunday (see Mt 21:9; 23:39; Mk 11:9; Jn 12:13). It has become part of the Sanctus at Mass.
Psalm 118:26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord: words used in the Gospels to welcome Jesus entering the temple on Palm Sunday (see Mk 11:9 par).
Psalm 118:27 The people respond to the blessing by confessing that the Lord alone is God. He has made his light shine upon them, protecting them from the darkness of great trials (e.g., famine, war, and exile; Ps 43:3). Accordingly, they are here renewing their commitment to the Lord in a formal liturgical celebration. The horns of the altar: the four corners of the altar of burnt offerings (see Ex 27:2; 38:2; Lev 4:25, 30, 34).
Psalm 118:28 The psalm concludes with the community’s affirmation that the Lord alone is God, similar to the confession of Moses (see Ex 15:2). Kindness: see note on Ps 6:5.
Psalm 118:29 This longest of the psalms is a monumental literary piece consisting of twenty-two strophes, each containing eight verses (sixteen lines) and each beginning with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet that is repeated at the beginning of each pair of verses. Each strophe is a unit, but does not have a close connection with the strophe that precedes or follows. The whole is a free-flowing meditation, now sad, now joyous, now peaceful, now passionate. It is a reflection and a prayer in which the author, a sage and a mystic who draws his inspiration from the Prophets and Deuteronomy, converses with God and voices his deepest feelings: love of true wisdom, attachment and fidelity to the word of God in spite of weakness and obstacles; desire to better understand and live the truth; joy of outdoing oneself to follow the will of God manifested in the law.
In practically every verse, there is the word “law” or some equivalent. We can point to eight such terms—four with a more juridic nuance (statutes, precepts, decrees, commands or commandments) and four with a more religious nuance (law, promise, word, laws, or judgments). These terms introduce us into the heart of the psalm, for they signify less an ensemble of laws to observe than the word of God, which sometimes ordains and judges and sometimes reveals and promises. It is a psalm of spiritual intimacy, of love for God (which means doing his will). In meditating on the law, believers contemplate above all the visage of God and let themselves be transformed in the very depths of their hearts. Such observance becomes liberty. Understood in this fashion, the law proclaims to us Jesus Christ, the living revelation of God, given to human beings to lead them to the Father: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6).

New Catholic Bible (NCB)

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M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Chapter 5

Footnotes

Qualities of Public Worship and Church Leaders[a]

Chapter 2

Footnotes

The Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks[a]

Chapter 9

Footnotes

Psalm 117[a]

Universal Praise of God

Psalm 118[d]

Thanksgiving for Salvation

Psalm 119[t]

Praise of God’s Law

Footnotes

Qualities of Public Worship and Church Leaders^[a]

The Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks^[a]

Psalm 117^[a]

Psalm 118^[d]

Psalm 119^[t]