10 Things You Should Know About the Psalms...

The word “Psalm” comes from the Greek word for a “song” (psalmos), which is itself a translation of the Hebrew word for a song or melody. In Jewish tradition, however, the book of Psalms is known simply as the “Praises.” Here we’ll explore ten different facets of this extraordinary collection of hymns and prayers.



1) The Psalms are split into five books. In their book A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament, Scripture scholars John Bergsma and Brant Pitre offer the following breakdown:

• Book 1: Introduction and Laments of David (Ps 1-41)
• Book 2: The Rise of the Davidic Kingdom (Ps 42-72)
• Book 3: Fall of the Davidic Kingdom (Ps 73-89)
• Book 4: Reflections on the Fall of the Kingdom and Exile(Ps 90-106)
• Book 5: Rejoicing and Restoration of the Temple (Ps 107-150)

2) The Psalms have multiple authors. While King David wrote the largest number of psalms, many were written by other authors such as King Solomon, a figure named Asaph, or a group known as the Sons of Korah. Even Moses is credited with having written one of the Psalms (Psalm 90).



3) The Psalms frequently use parallelisms. The Psalms are works of Hebrew poetry, but they don’t rhyme in the way that English poetry does. The metrical patterns in the Psalms are also unclear to modern scholars. But what we do find repeatedly in the Psalms is the literary technique of parallelism. Very frequently the Psalms are organized so that two or more verses are supposed to be read either as complements or as contrasts.

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