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Bible Delight
- GenresChristianChristianity
208 pages, Paperback
First published July 28, 2008
About the author
Christopher Ash
62 books90 followersChristopher Ash works for the Proclamation Trust in London as director of the Cornhill Training Course. He is also writer in residence at Tyndale House in Cambridge, and is the author of several books, including Out of the Storm: Grappling with God in the Book of Job and Teaching Romans. He is married to Carolyn and they have three sons and one daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
July 30, 2025
Used this for sermon prep through Psalm 119. Great resource.
This year I purposed to study Psalm 119 in my morning quiet time. I got several commentaries and books on Psalm 119 to read as I took notes in my Bible. During the school year it was hard to find time (and a quiet place) to work on this study, but I got through it before the year was half over (just barely). This little book was probably the best book I read on the Psalm. Clear, concise and very readable. The final chapter was so good. I enjoyed this book and it added immensely to my study of this incredible Psalm. Recommended
This year I purposed to study Psalm 119 in my morning quiet time. I got several commentaries and books on Psalm 119 to read as I took notes in my Bible. During the school year it was hard to find time (and a quiet place) to work on this study, but I got through it before the year was half over (just barely). This little book was probably the best book I read on the Psalm. Clear, concise and very readable. The final chapter was so good. I enjoyed this book and it added immensely to my study of this incredible Psalm. Recommended
July 19, 2018
2nd time reading this, it is a great way to tackle the behemoth of the Psalms, breaking it down into the 22, 8 verse sections
February 3, 2024
O carte care merita recitita.
September 15, 2024
A wonderful side route when I got up to Psalm 119 to do this book alongside it. Recommend!
Love his translation that helps appreciate the poetry of it. E.g. "the soul that clings to the dust of death (v25) now clings also to the testimonies of God (v31)"
And his balance of triumphant praise and desperate prayer, all shown to be under grace.
As he says in conclusion: "grim grim grim ... Or great great great great ... Is not an authentic Christian response. The authentic response is to say I really don't know. I am held by the word of God from a painful present to a glorious future. And that word brings into the present a foretaste of joy, hope, peace and praise. And the praise is all muddled up with the prayer. I don't know whether to laugh or cry; and I do both at the same time. That is authentic Christian experience.
Love his translation that helps appreciate the poetry of it. E.g. "the soul that clings to the dust of death (v25) now clings also to the testimonies of God (v31)"
And his balance of triumphant praise and desperate prayer, all shown to be under grace.
As he says in conclusion: "grim grim grim ... Or great great great great ... Is not an authentic Christian response. The authentic response is to say I really don't know. I am held by the word of God from a painful present to a glorious future. And that word brings into the present a foretaste of joy, hope, peace and praise. And the praise is all muddled up with the prayer. I don't know whether to laugh or cry; and I do both at the same time. That is authentic Christian experience.
June 27, 2026
Really enjoyed this foray into Psalm 119, which is both bitesize and pastoral. Each chapter takes a different stanza, elucidates and applies it, and ends with some questions for reflection. I found the format super flexible and used it for both my quiet times and a 1-2-1 with a student.
I wasn't always convinced by the breakdown of the various mini 'structures' within each stanza - these sometimes felt forced, and I think there's something going on genre-wise about cycles/repetition which mean the psalmist is actually embroidering the same point over and over. But this was wonderfully warm and clear, drawing out a whole gospel of the Christian life from the Psalm and helping us move from 'Bible duty' to 'Bible delight.'
I wasn't always convinced by the breakdown of the various mini 'structures' within each stanza - these sometimes felt forced, and I think there's something going on genre-wise about cycles/repetition which mean the psalmist is actually embroidering the same point over and over. But this was wonderfully warm and clear, drawing out a whole gospel of the Christian life from the Psalm and helping us move from 'Bible duty' to 'Bible delight.'
November 12, 2025
Christopher Ash has been the most delightful companion and mentor over the last nine months as I've taught through Psalm 119. I've deeply appreciated his careful translation that preserves the repetition in the Hebrew, and I've benefited in so many ways from his wise and winsome commentary. It is rich and thoughtful yet extremely down-to-earth and practical. The concluding chapter was the best of all and such a satisfying ending!
I highly recommend this as a tremendously helpful and enjoyable guide for digging into and meditating on this underrated and overlooked psalm--it's SO much more than just a lo-o-o-ong chapter about "read the Bible" over and over!
I highly recommend this as a tremendously helpful and enjoyable guide for digging into and meditating on this underrated and overlooked psalm--it's SO much more than just a lo-o-o-ong chapter about "read the Bible" over and over!
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April 18, 2023“The people of God delight in the word of God, because this word alone ties us to the pain of the present to the glory of the future. May God help us sing it.”
July 29, 2026
(6 stars!!) - If there was one book I could read again for the first time, this would be the book.
I have only read the first three chapters of this excellent, concise book on Psalm 119, but I can tell that it is going to be my book of the year (maybe decade). I bought a physical copy of the book (which I do not normally do) suspecting that it was going to be important and something I could return to, and boy, does Christopher Ash deliver the goods. So far every page is highlighted multiple times. The book is that good.
"Why?" asks Christopher Ash, "does this unknown psalmist (who he refers to as "the singer") write again and again about how he delights! in God's laws, commandments, precepts, etc." Mr. Ash puts it this way: "When the singer says he keeps them (the commandments, etc.), it sounds to us impossibly priggish and self-righteous," also "we cannot make head nor tail of all the times that he says he delights in them."
His answer to this misreading of the motives of the psalmist: "This is to misunderstand the words, which are two-way words whose first direction is grace. They are words that create and sustain relationship."
Wow! So good. So very, very good.
Some other random highlight quotes from the first few chapters. Commenting on Ps 119.4 which he translates as: "You have commanded your precepts to be kept deeply," he writes: "We need first to understand the truth of verse 4, that only deep holiness of heart will bring blessing. And we then need to avoid the shallow response of cheap grace, which says, 'This is a very high standard. And frankly, it's a bit too tough. And so I shall just thank God that Jesus kept the standard for me, so that I no longer need to.' This is not true. We need to sing verse 5 in a fuzzy world and complacent church: 'Oh, that they may be firmly fixed, my ways in keeping your statutes!' 'Lord, make me like that.'
And this: "But in all this, we must take care to put on and keep 0n the music of grace. The word in which the singer delights is the Covenant word of God's grace. At no point is the singer self-righteous. Always he casts himself on the mercy and grace of the Covenant God."
Commenting on vv 1-2 he writes: "Here at the start is a great billboard: Come this way for blessing!...the man or woman who is blessed is not the one who rests in a status, but the one who walks in a way."
So far my favorite chapter is 9: The Adversity Gospel (as opposed to that perversion of the gospel, "The Prosperity Gospel"). Mr. Ash writes (p. 123): "'If your instruction had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.' Plenty do perish in affliction. There is nothing automatically good about affliction. Affliction destroys some, in a descending cycle of bitterness and anger. Only if affliction drives us to delight in the word (vv 67,71) does it do us good."
I have only read the first three chapters of this excellent, concise book on Psalm 119, but I can tell that it is going to be my book of the year (maybe decade). I bought a physical copy of the book (which I do not normally do) suspecting that it was going to be important and something I could return to, and boy, does Christopher Ash deliver the goods. So far every page is highlighted multiple times. The book is that good.
"Why?" asks Christopher Ash, "does this unknown psalmist (who he refers to as "the singer") write again and again about how he delights! in God's laws, commandments, precepts, etc." Mr. Ash puts it this way: "When the singer says he keeps them (the commandments, etc.), it sounds to us impossibly priggish and self-righteous," also "we cannot make head nor tail of all the times that he says he delights in them."
His answer to this misreading of the motives of the psalmist: "This is to misunderstand the words, which are two-way words whose first direction is grace. They are words that create and sustain relationship."
Wow! So good. So very, very good.
Some other random highlight quotes from the first few chapters. Commenting on Ps 119.4 which he translates as: "You have commanded your precepts to be kept deeply," he writes: "We need first to understand the truth of verse 4, that only deep holiness of heart will bring blessing. And we then need to avoid the shallow response of cheap grace, which says, 'This is a very high standard. And frankly, it's a bit too tough. And so I shall just thank God that Jesus kept the standard for me, so that I no longer need to.' This is not true. We need to sing verse 5 in a fuzzy world and complacent church: 'Oh, that they may be firmly fixed, my ways in keeping your statutes!' 'Lord, make me like that.'
And this: "But in all this, we must take care to put on and keep 0n the music of grace. The word in which the singer delights is the Covenant word of God's grace. At no point is the singer self-righteous. Always he casts himself on the mercy and grace of the Covenant God."
Commenting on vv 1-2 he writes: "Here at the start is a great billboard: Come this way for blessing!...the man or woman who is blessed is not the one who rests in a status, but the one who walks in a way."
So far my favorite chapter is 9: The Adversity Gospel (as opposed to that perversion of the gospel, "The Prosperity Gospel"). Mr. Ash writes (p. 123): "'If your instruction had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.' Plenty do perish in affliction. There is nothing automatically good about affliction. Affliction destroys some, in a descending cycle of bitterness and anger. Only if affliction drives us to delight in the word (vv 67,71) does it do us good."
September 25, 2020
This commentary on Psalm 119 is broken down into twenty two sections, making it ideal as a devotional daily reader. The writer identifies eight ‘word’ words in the psalm, although different translations may record variations on these: Instruction, Testimonies, Precepts, Statutes, Commandments, Judgements, Word, and Promise. These are covenant words: “and covenant is the wallpaper of the psalm; it lies behind every verse.” He refers to these words as two-way words with the first direction being grace – that these are words that create and sustain relationship. There are two questions for personal response at the end of each section, this is a great devotional for developing a love for God’s word and the psalms in particular.
July 29, 2024
3.5 Every time I have tried to read the longest Psalm in the Bible, I lose focus long before the end. Knowing it was structured as an acrostic but not knowing Hebrew, I felt I was missing something and wanted to dig deeper. I picked up this book as it was one of the few I found that tackled it section by section.
This book did meet all my expectations. It broke down the Psalm into manageable chucks and exposed some of the original structure and language that I didn't know before. The author did a good job of looking for deeper meaning and application. However, just like the psalm itself, the book suffers from much repetition that makes the second half a tough slog.
This book did meet all my expectations. It broke down the Psalm into manageable chucks and exposed some of the original structure and language that I didn't know before. The author did a good job of looking for deeper meaning and application. However, just like the psalm itself, the book suffers from much repetition that makes the second half a tough slog.
October 1, 2025
Christopher Ash does a wonderful job capturing the main idea of each stanza and communicating the tune as this lengthy psalm is sung. He even sees some connections between stanzas as well. I only wish he saw more of a macro structure, but this is a great read. I profited from it.
December 3, 2017
Insightful and helpful, though possibly a little long for a daily devotional.
April 20, 2020
A ripper of a book! The short chapters work perfectly as a reading companion for your devotions. One stanza of Ps 119 and a quick read of Bible Delight and you can't go wrong!
June 10, 2021
Excellent devotional journey through psalm 119
August 31, 2021
This was a fantastic devotional commentary on Psalm 119. It both informed my mind and refreshed my soul.
August 29, 2018
OK I’ve read the book. Now I’m going to read it again. And again. And then again. Why? Because the writer of Psalm 119 points me to my choirmaster and lets me pour out my heart to my God.
If that doesn’t make sense to you, then you need to read Psalm 119 and this book.
Thank you Chris.
If that doesn’t make sense to you, then you need to read Psalm 119 and this book.
Thank you Chris.
January 3, 2019
This book definitely gives one pause and makes you wrestle. Christopher Ash provides a better understanding to Psalm 119 and makes his commentary accessible and easy to read. I struggled at times with what I perceived to be a "doom and gloom" approach - for a book called Bible Delight, there are often Eeyore passages. But I realized that often the Christian experience is this tug between pain and joy, between prayer and praise. While I still think Christians can be a little more joyful than what Ash describes at times, this book helped me better understand what it means to delight in God's Word.
May 26, 2015
Psalm 119 is the longest Psalm in the Bible, with 176 verses separated into sections based on the Hebrew alphabet. I also read it in its entirety last summer, and when a friend heard that I'd done this, she lent me this book which analyses and interprets the whole psalm.
I enjoyed it a lot, though. The writer takes one section of the psalm at a time and points out the recurring themes, including rescue from enemies (not surprising, as many of the psalms were written by the exiled King David), and remembering God's word and continually studying the Gospel.
The writer does a good job of pointing out repeated phrases in the psalm, and explaining what everything means to him. I would recommend this to anyone else with an interest in reading the Bible and understanding it more.
I enjoyed it a lot, though. The writer takes one section of the psalm at a time and points out the recurring themes, including rescue from enemies (not surprising, as many of the psalms were written by the exiled King David), and remembering God's word and continually studying the Gospel.
The writer does a good job of pointing out repeated phrases in the psalm, and explaining what everything means to him. I would recommend this to anyone else with an interest in reading the Bible and understanding it more.
December 22, 2012
"Whatever we may say in theory about the Bible in our doctrinal statements, until we rejoice in it we are practical liberals. Our joy in the word is the litmus test of the value we actually place on that word."
I'm not a Bible teacher, but I've been dipping in & out of "Bible Delight" over the last year, and it's a real gem of a book. At first glance Ps 119 appears to be a fairly long, repetitive & dry psalm, but this book has really helped me understand it more, & to see what real joy in God's word looks like.
I'm not a Bible teacher, but I've been dipping in & out of "Bible Delight" over the last year, and it's a real gem of a book. At first glance Ps 119 appears to be a fairly long, repetitive & dry psalm, but this book has really helped me understand it more, & to see what real joy in God's word looks like.
January 19, 2016
A wonderful devotional commentary on Psalm 119 that is broken up into 22 chapters covering each section of the Psalm. The author gives his own translation, which I always enjoy. The book is full of wisdom and practical application. Perhaps the most striking thing is the author does not become boring despite many of the themes repeated throughout the psalm. It would be helpful for anyone preaching on Psalm 119 or just for regular devotional study.
The more I read Christopher Ash, the more I like him.
The more I read Christopher Ash, the more I like him.
October 25, 2013
As a book to read cover to cover it's really good, especially in stirring up love for the word of God and reliance upon it.
As a commentary on Psalm 119 it has to be worth a full 5 stars. Theologically deep and full of practical application. Also a helpful model of how to interpret and teach from the Psalms.
As a commentary on Psalm 119 it has to be worth a full 5 stars. Theologically deep and full of practical application. Also a helpful model of how to interpret and teach from the Psalms.
May 1, 2013
A great read.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews