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Lenten Season · Third Sunday in Lent · Year B

Psalm 19

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God

February 28, 2027

The Starry Night, Vincent van Gogh
The Starry Night, Vincent van Gogh, 1889Museum of Modern Art, New York
Painted from a room in the asylum at Saint-Rémy, from memory and from a window, with a village added that was not there. Van Gogh thought it a failure.Psalm 19 begins with the heavens telling glory without using words, and this is the most looked-at painting of a sky that is doing something.Vincent van GoghVan Gogh (1853-1890) trained first for the ministry and preached in a Belgian mining district before taking up painting, which he did seriously for only the last decade of his life.Museum of Modern Art, New YorkFounded in 1929, ten days after the Wall Street crash, to collect the art the established museums would not.Museum of Modern Art, New York
Revised Common Lectionary
GospelJohn 2:13-22Jn 2:13-22
Epistle1 Cor. 1:18-251 Cor 1:18-25
Old TestamentExod. 20:1-17Ex 20:1-17
PsalterPs. 19Ps 19

Overview & Insights

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” (Psalm 19:1)

Mays has made a convincing case for the pairing of the Torah psalms (Pss. 1 and 2; 18 and 19; 118 and 119)[1] in order to present the eschatological kingdom of God, which will come in the context and through the instrumentality of Torah piety.[2] In the case of Psalm 18, David’s deliverance from Saul is a foreshadowing of future salvation. Psalms 18 and 19 both give a picture of God’s appearance, Psalm 18 in terms of the exodus and Sinai (18:7–15), and Psalm 19 in terms of the heavens’ declaration of God’s glory (19:1–6) and the Torah’s enlightenment (19:7–11).[3] When one should have expected the Lord to speak from his heavenly temple in 18:6b, David gave witness to the silent, yet powerful, voice of God that articulated God’s mighty acts in David’s time, akin to the mighty acts of God in the time of the exodus and Sinai (18:7–15). Again, in 19:1–4, rather than human speech, we hear God’s voice in the wonders of nature.

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Take it further: Psalm 19

Commentary

Psalm 19Ps 19 Working Preacher

A commentary on the heavens declaring God's glory and the perfect law.

Psalm 19Ps 19 Enduring Word · David Guzik

An evangelical verse-by-verse exposition of creation, law, and prayer in the psalm.

Classic commentaries on Psalm 19Classic commentaries on Ps 19 BibleHub

Aggregated classic commentaries assembled verse by verse.

Background & Word Study

Psalm 19 in Hebrew, with Jewish commentaryPs 19 in Hebrew, with Jewish commentary Sefaria

The Hebrew and English text with linked Jewish commentary on the psalm.

The Church Fathers

Psalm 19, patristic commentaryPs 19, patristic commentary Catena

Patristic commentary on the psalm gathered verse by verse.

Questions preachers ask

What are the two halves of Psalm 19?

The psalm praises God’s glory revealed two ways: in creation, where the heavens speak without words (19:1–6), and in the law of the Lord, which revives the soul and is sweeter than honey (19:7–14).

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