The Heavens Declare the Glory of God, Psalm 19:1 Print

The night sky, painted

Most of the picture is sky. The artist has washed in a deep indigo and then flicked it with countless tiny white specks, with the pale band of the Milky Way sweeping diagonally from the upper right toward the horizon. One brighter point near the top, drawn with four fine rays, catches the eye first.

Below, a man in a cream robe, slate-blue wrap and rust mantle sits on a boulder with his back to us, arms around his knees, looking up. His shepherd's crook leans against the rock beside a small tree. Beyond him the valley falls away to purple hills, dark cypresses and the faint pale shapes of a sleeping village. The figure's long hair and beard echo the way this series paints Jesus, and the crook makes him a shepherd, so each viewer can read him either way. Above: “The heavens declare the glory of God”, Psalm 19:1.

What does Psalm 19:1 mean?

The King James Version completes the verse: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” The “firmament” is the vault of the sky as ancient people saw it, stretched above the earth like a canopy. The next verses say that day after day and night after night this sky pours out speech, although it uses no words, and its message goes out to the ends of the earth.

The psalm is headed as one of David's, and it is easy to picture why a former shepherd would write it: long nights in the fields around Bethlehem left plenty of time to look up. Halfway through, the psalm turns from the sun to the law of the LORD, which it calls perfect and sweeter than honey. Two books, nature and Scripture, speak of the same God.

Paul picks up the same idea in Romans 1, arguing that God's power can be seen in the things he has made. Astronomers who were also believers have loved the verse for centuries, and it is often quoted in discussions of faith and science.

For a pastor, a stargazing child or a guest room

The deep blue sky reads well from across a room, which makes this print a strong choice for a pastor's study or a church office. It is also given to anyone who loves astronomy, camping or the outdoors, and to children whose bedroom ceilings are already covered in glow-in-the-dark shapes.