Twenty-two alphabetic stanzas delight in Torah: Yodh stanza

Yodh starts from being handmade, then asks for understanding

Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments. They that fear thee will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in thy word. I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

Creatureliness is the ground of the request: fashioned hands ask for a mind that can learn. The God-fearers' gladness is social hope, not celebrity. In faithfulness hast afflicted me is this speaker's confession about his own bruises. It is not a key to every hospital bed.

Mercy, shame for the proud, and a sound heart

Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant. Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law is my delight. Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts. Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have known thy testimonies. Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed.

Comfort and life are requested as incoming mercies. Shame is asked for the causeless proud, not as a private vendetta but as a righting of perversity. A sound heart—integrity, wholeness—is the last petition, so that shame not stick to the fashioned servant.