An Introduction to Psalms

The Book of Psalms in the Old Testament of the Bible are sacred poems meant to be sung as hymnals, dealing with various subjects, imparting worship, and lessons that remain equally powerful today.

An introduction to Psalms

The Book of Psalms, simply referred to as Psalms, is a book of poetry created to be sung as hymnals. Similar to the book of Proverbs, these lines of poetry are highly inspirational, thought-provoking, soul-touching, and resonant.

However, the difference between Proverbs and Psalms is that the latter is poetic and filled with more imagery.

Keep in mind, that Psalms was originally written in Hebrew. And although these are poetry and songs, don’t expect to see rhyming lines when you read them in English, the way we see modern songs.

The subjects in Psalms

The book of Psalms has 150 individual Psalms with various numbers of verses in each. The subject matter in Psalms deals with God, worship, faith, trust, hope, fearlessness, creation, wisdom, justice, evil, sin, judgment, war and the coming of the Messiah, and more.

The 5 most well-known Psalms

Here are five of the most well-known Psalms. People often recite them as prayers or daily affirmations.

Psalm 23:4

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Psalm 62:1-2

“For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.”

Psalm 46:1

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

Psalm 91:1-2

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.'”

Psalm 27:1-2

“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

Who wrote Psalms and when were they written?

Psalms is one of the more lengthy books of the Bible, possibly written over 2,000 years by several different authors.

In 73 instances, King David is listed as the author, who was a harpist, according to GotQuestions.org. Two Psalms are attributed to David’s son, King Solomon, and one to Moses. The rest are attributed to a variety of authors. According to Wikipedia, modern scholarship rejects David’s authorship, but many other theological sources disagree with this assessment.

Depending on your source, Psalms is estimated to have been written between 1440 BC and 450 BC. Wikipedia puts the date between the 9th and 5th centuries BC. Still, this author has found that, in general, Wikipedia’s dating of the Bible tends to be quite different on all books than that of other recognized theological sources, so do your research.