Psalm 16

​I hit a milestone this week, of sorts. I finished my 15th psalm a few days ago, meaning I am a tenth of the way through the 150 psalms in Psalms.

​This is how I spent my last two weeks:

​Psalm 8
​O LORD, Jehovah, how majestic
is your name in all the earth!
Your glory's seen from east to west, it
fills the realms of heaven's girth.
— excerpt of Psalm 8

​I used to say — even as recent as two weeks ago — that I didn't read ahead before I wrote.  No more! If I hadn't read this psalm before I wrote it, I wouldn't have known that the last verse was the exact same as the first verse. So, a little planning needed to be implemented before starting this one.

​Psalm 9
I will thank you, Jehovah, with all of my heart;
I will tell of the wonders you do.
I'll be glad and exclaim and exult in your name;
O Most High, sing my praises to you.
— excerpt of Psalm 9

​This psalm, Psalm 9, was twenty verses long, which doubles the average length of the psalms to this point. The NIV says, To the tune of "The Death of the Son."  I'm not sure how that song goes, but hopefully, this is not too far off.

Psalm 10
LORD, why are you so far away in my crisis?
During my troubled times, why do you hide?
The wicked man hunts down the weak in his pride,
entraps them in schemes that he plots and devises.
— excerpt of Psalm 10

​As I was writing this one, I was thinking that I had written in this meter before. But it turns out that Psalm 1, Psalm 4 and Psalm 5 were all sort of in this same style, but not this exact meter.

​Psalm 11
In the LORD do I trust.  How can you say to me: 
Fly away like a bird to the mountains and flee!
Look, the wicked bend bows till their bowstrings are taut,
then fit arrows to fly from the shadows when shot,
— excerpt of Psalm 11

​This poem along with the next two were all finished on the same day, during a particularly productive writing day for me. Last Saturday, I finished with Psalm 10. On Sunday, I finished Psalm 11, then wrote Psalm 12 and Psalm 13.

​Psalm 12
Help, O LORD, for the godly are few, just a smatter!
And the faithful have vanished from earth!
Neighbors lie to each other with lips meant to flatter;
double-hearted, their words have no worth.
— excerpt of Psalm 12

I am writing these poems in Psalms much more quickly than I wrote the poems for Job, or so it seems. The reason for that, I think, are that there are generally so fewer verses in these early psalms. It was only in April of this year that I started recording the dates when poems were finished — wish I would have started that practice years ago!

Psalm 13
How long, LORD Jehovah?  How long will it be?
Forever will your face be turning from me?
How long must I wrestle each day with my soul?
How long will my enemies wield their control?
— excerpt of Psalm 13

​When I was writing from Job last year, I only had to rotate between six different metered lines, one for each of the six characters in the story. For this project, this is the 13th poem and the 13th different meter used.

Psalm 14
The foolish will say in their heart,
There is no God under the sun.
They're evil and vile, depraved in their guile;
there's none that are good, no not one.
— excerpt of Psalm 14

​Make that the 14th different meter used.

​Psalm 15
A psalm of David.

LORD, who may come into your tent and abide?
And who dwells and worships on your mountainside?

The one who walks blameless, who's righteous and kind,
the one who speaks truth from his heart and his mind,
the one who refuses to gossip on end,
harms neither his neighbor nor censures his friend,
despises the wicked and those cavalier,
but honors the faithful who show the LORD fear,
remembers his promise though all has been lost,
loans money to others with no further cost,
refuses the bribes to lay waste to the poor.

​Whoever does these will be ever secure.​

I really like the way this one turned out. I was a little miffed as to how to proceed when I initially encountered it in the Bible, but I gradually saw that it truly had a beginning (the questions), a middle (consisting of a single run-on sentence), and an ending (the answer).

This is where I celebrated (to myself) the fact that I was a tenth of the way through Psalms and was planning to end this post with this poem.  But, I finished the next one a few days later. Going to bed on Friday night, I hated it. Saturday morning, after a few changes, it wasn't so bad, after all. I've made a few more changes mid-post, and now I rather like it.

I would have preferred to have had lines of alternating 12 and 9 syllables instead 12 syllables throughout. But, nine beats per line would not have been enough room to complete some of the sentiment of David.

Only after I was nearly done, struggling with some the wording and reading some commentaries, did I stumble across this being The Golden Psalm. It was then, that I discovered that Paul quoted from this psalm a couple of times in Acts 2:25-31 and also in Acts 13:35.  You can read about it here and here.

Psalm 16

A Miktam of David.  The Golden Psalm.

Keep me safe, o my God, in your refuge, alone.
O my soul, you have said to the LORD, You're my LORD;
and apart from you there is no good on my own.
As for saints on this earth, they're my heroes, adored,

but their sorrows will grow with more gods that they seek;
I'll refuse their libations of warm blood that drips.
Of their objects of worship will I never speak,
nor will names of their gods ever pass through my lips.

​You alone are my portion and cup of my hand;
you maintain, LORD, and guard whatsoever is mine.
And the lines that have fallen in this pleasant land — 
I, indeed, have a wonderful heirloom, divine.

I will bless LORD Jehovah, my counsel and guide;
as my heart and my conscience instruct me at night.
I have set the LORD always before me, beside;
and I cannot be moved as he stands on my right.

Its no wonder my heart's glad and tongue's overjoyed;
as my body will also rest safely in bliss,
because you won't abandon my soul to the Void,
nor allow any faithful to see the Abyss. 

You have shown me the way of life, day after day;
just to know you’re beside me has made my heart soar;
in your presence there’s fullness of joy come what may;
​at your right hand are pleasures for me evermore.