AlefBetGimel
Jeremiah 33:14-16 (NRSV)
The Righteous Branch and the Covenant with David
14 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”
Psalm 25 Young's Literal Translation (YLT)
1 By David. Unto Thee, O Jehovah, my soul I lift up.
2 My God, in Thee I have trusted, Let me not be ashamed, Let not mine enemies exult over me.
3 Also let none waiting on Thee be ashamed, Let the treacherous dealers without cause be ashamed.
4 Thy ways, O Jehovah, cause me to know, Thy paths teach Thou me.
5 Cause me to tread in Thy truth, and teach me, For Thou [art] the God of my salvation, Near Thee I have waited all the day.
6 Remember Thy mercies, O Jehovah, And Thy kindnesses, for from the age [are] they.
7 Sins of my youth, and my transgressions, Do not Thou remember. According to Thy kindness be mindful of me, For Thy goodness' sake, O Jehovah.
8 Good and upright [is] Jehovah, Therefore He directeth sinners in the way.
9 He causeth the humble to tread in judgment, And teacheth the humble His way.
10 All the paths of Jehovah [are] kindness and truth, To those keeping His covenant, And His testimonies.
11 For Thy name's sake, O Jehovah, Thou hast pardoned mine iniquity, for it [is] great.
12 Who [is] this -- the man fearing Jehovah? He directeth him in the way He doth choose.
13 His soul in good doth remain, And his seed doth possess the land.
14 The secret of Jehovah [is] for those fearing Him, And His covenant -- to cause them to know.
15 Mine eyes [are] continually unto Jehovah, For He bringeth out from a net my feet.
16 Turn Thou unto me, and favour me, For lonely and afflicted [am] I.
17 The distresses of my heart have enlarged themselves, From my distresses bring me out.
18 See mine affliction and my misery, And bear with all my sins.
19 See my enemies, for they have been many, And with violent hatred they have hated me.
20 Keep my soul, and deliver me, Let me not be ashamed, for I trusted in Thee.
21 Integrity and uprightness do keep me, For I have waited [on] Thee.
22 Redeem Israel, O God, from all his distresses!
Advent Sunday is always troubling as it hints threateningly of the coming Day of the Lord. Our Jeremiah reading for tomorrow is in that vein. The prescribed lectionary response to the Jeremiah lesson is the first ten verses of Psalm 25, which is a lament. It’s attributed to David, as are many of the psalms. Psalm 25 is acrostic, sometimes called an “alphabet psalm,” because the first letter of the first word of each verse begins with the first and then next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. So, verse one begins with Alef, verse two begins with Bet, verse three begins with Gimel, then Dalet, He, Vav, Zayin, and so on through all 22 letters. This is not detectable in an English translation, and even in Hebrew the writer often struggles to get the poem to hold together and make sense, and the acrosticness of it may only be noticeable if you are singing it like ABCDEFG, or "Doe, a deer, a female deer, Ray a drop of golden sun."
Awkward in the Hebrew, an acrostic psalm can't be expected to flow smoothly in the English either, and this one doesn’t especially. Our lectionary’s use of just the first ten verses of a psalm that was intended to be a whole in a specific literary style therefore doesn’t matter much. It also doesn’t bother me much that except for its being a lament in response to Jeremiah and to kick off Advent, it isn’t particularly suitable as our response to the reading. Folks will be awake, but they will be oblivious to the intended connection, so WTH.
Alphabet psalms always remind me of singing the Alphabet Song in the car with my children and grandchildren when they were little.
Tom+