Songbook of a Nation: Psalm 119:97-112

Psalm 119 is a complex acrostic poem because it devotes the eight lines of each section to each letter of the Hebrew alphabet giving us 22 sections in total.  We will consider this Psalm in full taking it a section at a time. As you read consider the 8 different terms referring to Scripture occurring throughout the psalm: 1) law, 2) testimonies, 3) precepts, 4) statutes, 5) commandments, 6) judgments, 7) word, and 8) ordinances.

Psalm 119:97-112

מ Mem (Mem)
⁹⁷ Oh, how I love Your law!
I meditate on it all day long.
⁹⁸ Your commands are always with me
and make me wiser than my enemies.
⁹⁹ I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on Your statutes.
¹⁰⁰ I have more understanding than the elders,
for I obey Your precepts.
¹⁰¹ I have kept my feet from every evil path
so that I might obey Your word.
¹⁰² I have not departed from Your laws,
for You Yourself have taught me.
¹⁰³ How sweet are Your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
¹⁰⁴ I gain understanding from Your precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path.

נ Nun (Nun)
¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp for my feet,
a light on my path.
¹⁰⁶ I have taken an oath and confirmed it,
that I will follow Your righteous laws.
¹⁰⁷ I have suffered much;
preserve my life, LORD, according to Your word.
¹⁰⁸ Accept, LORD, the willing praise of my mouth,
and teach me Your laws.
¹⁰⁹ Though I constantly take my life in my hands,
I will not forget Your law.
¹¹⁰ The wicked have set a snare for me,
but I have not strayed from Your precepts.
¹¹¹ Your statutes are my heritage forever;
they are the joy of my heart.
¹¹² My heart is set on keeping Your decrees
to the very end.