Short Psalms

Psalm 131 Domine, non est

1 O LORD, I am not proud; *
I have no haughty looks.
2 I do not occupy myself with great matters, *
or with things that are too hard for me.
3 But I still my soul and make it quiet,
like a child upon its mother’s breast; *
my soul is quieted within me.
4 O Israel, wait upon the LORD, *
from this time forth for evermore.

Toward the end of the Psalms in the Hebrew Scriptures are a number of short psalms, just a few verses each in length.  It seems like you are reading lots of the Bible when you are knocking off  4-5 “chapters” at the time.  Psalms 131 is an example of one of those.  

I taught Disciple Bible Study for years and one of the exercises they suggest is to paraphrase a passage of scripture, to put it into your own words.  I was always amazed to hear the paraphrases of Japanese participants when we did this in Kobe.

Not only were they dealing with a smaller English vocabulary, but with a different view of grammar and sentence construction.  Sometimes these very simple paraphrases were quite profound and opened us up to the depth of the scripture in ways never expected.

Consider this paraphrase of Psalm 131:

I have no pride and no scorn for others.
I am quite simple, and deal with simple things.
I quieten my spirit and center my soul like a breast feeding child.
God’s people, wait on the Lord, forever and ever.