I will periodically post specific stories with signs for you to use in telling or learning a story. In this first telling, I am using three verses from Psalm 51. As I share in the video, I don't recommend a sign for every word. It's equally hard to match the correct ASL order with telling the story. If you were to sign the story in ASL form, it might look something like this:
"Heart clean give-me, God/ Spirit strong put-in-me. Reject-me not/ your Holy spirit take-out-of-me-not. Give me happy, save me / a spirit willing give-me. Lord, give-me sing/ praise you will I."
Another option for verse 10 would be: "God, please heart clean give-me/ spirit strong inspire me. Please reject-me not/ your Holy Spirit take-out-of-me not. Give-me happy, save me, / a spirit willing give me." Both of these interpretations are from Signing the Scriptures, Year C, by Joan Blake (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 2003, p. 26,74). Signing is an art more than a science. There are multiple ways to convey a thought. For the purposes of learning a story, I have included a more-or-less exact translation. One of my favorite parts of the verses through the lens of signing is the connection between create (make), new, and restore (make new). While simply speaking the words doesn't connect verses 10 and 12, the sign for restore picks up two parts of verse 10. As you can see above, an ASL interpretation may use clean, spirit strong, and give-me happy. Here, elements of signing and oral biblical storytelling pair well to deepen meaning.