Psalm 119 is one of the Bible's many acrostic compositions. Its 176 lyrics are arranged into 22 stanzas, one for each of the 22 Hebrew alphabet symbols. Each of the 22 portions of 8 verses is subtitled with the name of a Hebrew alphabet letter. These subtitle lines serve as headings for the sections of the poem. The Bible is full of poetic compositions in which each verse begins with the same word or phrase. The term "acrostic" comes from the Greek akros meaning highest and stele meaning pillar. Thus, an acrostic is a poem that ends with the highest note on the pillar (or stone) - Mary Ann Feldman in her book Women Writing the Bible: An Anthology of Ancient Sources Acrostics were popular in ancient Greece and Rome. Many government documents from this era were also composed in acrostics. In addition, some early Christian poems were also written in acrostics (such as 1 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude). In Psalm 119, the first verse of every other line begins with the same three-letter sequence: yad, ney, tav. This provides a running commentary on God's perfections throughout the poem. Even though the entire poem is a prayer, it is not asking for anything specific. Rather, it is a collection of biblical truths expressed in poetry form.