Psalm 119 Reading Plan: The Longest Chapter, by Hand

Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, with 176 verses. Many readers lose their way halfway through, because it has no storyline. It keeps returning to one subject: the word of God. Writing a few verses a day is an easier way through it.

Twenty-two stanzas of eight

In Hebrew, Psalm 119 is an acrostic. It has 22 stanzas, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and each stanza has eight verses that all begin with the same letter. Many English Bibles print the letter’s name above each stanza: Aleph, Beth, Gimel and so on.

The acrostic is lost in translation, but the eight-verse stanzas remain.

Words that keep coming back

Almost every verse refers to God’s word under a different name: law, testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, rules, word and promise. As you write, notice how the psalmist comes back to the same thing from very different circumstances.

About three verses a day for two months

At about three verses a day, you will finish the psalm in around two months, and each day’s writing takes about ten minutes. If you would like to move faster, a stanza a day takes 22 days.

Questions to ask as you write

• What is the psalmist going through in today’s verses: suffering, opposition, gratitude?
• What is he asking God for?
• Which line is for me today?

Follow along in Penned Grace

Penned Grace includes a Psalm 119 reading plan that gives you a few verses a day and records your progress when you finish. Change translation or switch to typing and your progress still counts.