Scripture Saturdays

I’m sorry it’s been so long since I posted in this category. My time got away from me this summer and I have just now found it. Since Easter, I’ve been reading the Psalms and Proverbs.  I like the structure of the Psalms. The verses are usually a kind of couplet in which the same thing is described two different ways.

Psalm 37:1-2:

“Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon whither, like green plants they will soon die.”

I’m not sure where I read it, but a writer pointed out that because of this structure, the Psalms translate into any language. Its poetry isn’t dependent on rhyme.

Proverbs also uses this dual structure. Sometimes it does it the same way as the Psalms, such as in Chapter 17:17:

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.”

But many of the Proverbs are couplets that demonstrate an opposite.

Proverbs 14:23-24:

“All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.”

“The wealth of the wise is their crown, but the folly of fools yield folly.”

My favorite chapter in Proverbs is Chapter 30, “the Sayings of Agur”. It uses a structure only found in this chapter.

Proverbs 30:15-16:

“There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, ‘Enough!’: the grave, the barren womb, land, which is never satisfied with water, and fire, which never says, ‘Enough!'”

Proverbs 30:24:

“There are three thing that are stately in their stride, four that move with stately bearing: a lion, mighty among beasts, who retreats from nothing,; a strutting rooster, a he-goat, and king secure against revolt.”

I like how these list are constructed and would love to be able to write some with modern meanings. Now that I’ve found my time, maybe I will do that.

Here are some of my favorite verses from the Psalms:

Psalm 24:1:

“The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.

Psalm 24:7

“Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, your ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.”  I like this verse because it is the first line of a hymn I grew up with.

Psalm 133:1, 3:

“How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!” “It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion, for there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.”

Psalm 121:1:

“I lift my eyes to the hill — where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” I like this verse because I love mountains.