Columba’s Last Verse - The One Year Book of Psalms

Psalm 34:11-22

11Come, my children, and listen to me,

and I will teach you to fear the LORD.

12Do any of you want to live

a life that is long and good?

13Then watch your tongue!

Keep your lips from telling lies!

14Turn away from evil and do good.

Work hard at living in peace with others.

15The eyes of the LORD watch over those who do right;

his ears are open to their cries for help.

16But the LORD turns his face against those who do evil;

he will erase their memory from the earth.

17The LORD hears his people when they call to him for help.

He rescues them from all their troubles.

18The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;

he rescues those who are crushed in spirit.

19The righteous face many troubles,

but the LORD rescues them from each and every one.

20For the LORD protects them from harm—

not one of their bones will be broken!

21Calamity will surely overtake the wicked,

and those who hate the righteous will be punished.

22But the LORD will redeem those who serve him.

Everyone who trusts in him will be freely pardoned.

The date was June 6, 597. Columba, the pioneer missionary to Scotland, was translating the Psalms into the local dialect. When he completed the tenth verse of Psalm 34, he said, “Here I must stop. Let Baithene [his successor] write what follows.” Early the next day the seventy-seven-year-old Columba died.

A controversial and sometimes irascible Irishman, Columba loved the Psalms, people, and animals (in that order). In fact, it may have been a controversy over a copy of the Psalms that caused him to leave his beloved Donegal in Ireland and establish a base on the little isle of Iona to evangelize Scotland and northern England. With a group of twelve monks, who copied Scripture and then brought it to the people, he confronted the druids and converted the kings.

The second half of Psalm 34, which seeks to teach “children” several lessons, was particularly appropriate for Columba’s successor, for he spent much of his energies instructing new converts in the Scriptures.

What were the lessons the “children” were to learn? (1) Fear the Lord; (2) watch your tongue; (3) turn from evil; and (4) work for peace. Which of those lessons has been the hardest for you to learn?

Teach me, my God and King,

In all things thee to see.

And what I do in anything

To do it as for thee.

GEORGE HERBERT

Fascinating Fact

This is another acrostic psalm, with each verse beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

Bible Networking

For more on controlling the tongue (verse 13), check out Proverbs 4:24; 13:3; and James 3:2-12.