118:174. I have longed for thy salvation, O Lord; and thy law is my meditation.
118:175. My soul shall live and shall praise thee: and thy judgments shall help me.
118:176. I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost: seek thy servant, because I have not forgotten thy commandments.
Psalms Chapter 119
Ad Dominum.
A prayer in tribulation.
A gradual canticle.
A gradual canticle… The following psalms, in number fifteen, are called gradual psalms, or canticles, from the word gradus, signifying steps, ascensions, or degrees: either because they were appointed to be sung on the fifteen steps, by which the people ascended to the temple: or, that in the singing of them the voice was to be raised by certain steps or ascensions: or, that they were to be sung by the people returning from their captivity and ascending to Jerusalem, which was seated amongst mountains. The holy fathers, in a mystical sense, understand these steps, or ascensions, of the degrees by which Christians spiritually ascend to virtue and perfection; and to the true temple of God in the heavenly Jerusalem.
119:1. In my trouble I cried to the Lord: and he heard me.
119:2. O Lord, deliver my soul from wicked lips, and a deceitful tongue.