| Illustrations | vii |
| Preface | ix |
| Abbreviations and Symbols | xi |
| Introduction: A Poetics of the Psalmic Imagination | 1 |
| The Iconic Metaphor | 3 |
| The Poetic Imagination | 8 |
| Contemporary Context | 13 |
| Modus Operandi | 14 |
1. | "In the Shadow of Shaddai": The Metaphor of Refuge | 15 |
| Introduction | 16 |
| The Refuge Metaphor | 18 |
2. | "I Shall Walk in Freedom": The Metaphor of Pathway | 31 |
| The Way of Tora | 32 |
| Path of Peril and Salvation | 36 |
| Pathway and Refuge | 39 |
| The "Ritual" of Habitation | 51 |
3. | The Transplanted Tree: Psalm 1 and the Psalter's Threshold | 55 |
| Translation | 55 |
| Tree and Tora | 57 |
| True Tree: Positive Connotations | 58 |
| Knotty Tree: Negative Connotations | 71 |
| The Arbor in the Psalter's Landscape | 75 |
| Conclusion | 78 |
4. | The Sun of Righteousness: Psalm 19 and the Joy of Lex | 81 |
| Translation | 81 |
| Deus Praesens: The Background of Solar Imagery | 84 |
| Reading Psalm 19 | 89 |
| The Purification of the Individual | 97 |
| The Light of the Law | 99 |
| Image and Icon: The Synagogue Mosaics | 100 |
| Conclusion | 103 |
5. | The Voice of Many Waters: From Chaos to Community | 105 |
| Fear of Drowning | 106 |
| Affliction as Desiccation | 121 |
| Refreshment and Renewal | 122 |
| From Thirst to Inundation: Psalm 42:1-8 | 132 |
6. | The Song of Leviathan: God's Theater of Praise | 135 |
| Animals as Metaphors | 136 |
| From Metaphor to Creation | 153 |
| Call of the Wild: The Conclusion of the Psalter | 162 |
7. | "On You I Was Cast from My Birth": The Anatomy of a Personal God | 167 |
| The Distinctiveness of Divinity | 167 |
| Divine Anatomy | 169 |
| Roles of God | 187 |
8. | "As the Mountains Surround Jerusalem": Mapping the Divine | 197 |
| Light | 197 |
| Metaphors of Protection | 199 |
| Fountain | 203 |
| Possession: "Portion" and "Cup" | 204 |
| Conclusion: In Defense of Iconic Reflection: The Case of Psalm 139 | 207 |
| The Metaphorical Contours of Psalm 139 | 207 |
| Postscript: A Theology of Prayer and Poesis | 213 |
| Notes | 217 |
| Scripture and Ancient Source Index | 263 |
| Author/Subject Index | 271 |