Powers of the Psalms

Product Information

Six Psalms ( 16, 56– 60) have the title michtam ( מכתם, 'gold'). [66] Rashi suggests that michtam refers to an item that a person carries with him at all times, hence, these Psalms contain concepts or ideas that are pertinent at every stage and setting throughout life, deemed vital as part of day-to-day spiritual awareness. [67] d A slight revocalization of the Hebrew (see also LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate); literally may their prosperity be a trap ; cited in Romans 11:9

Doerr, Nan Lewis; Owens, Virginia Stem (28 August 2007). Praying with Beads: Daily Prayers for the Christian Year. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p.viii. ISBN 978-0-8028-2727-2.Zenner, Johannes Konrad (1896). Die Chorgesänge im Buche der Psalmen: ihre Existenz und ihre Form nachgewiesen. Herder. Psalms of lament express the author’s crying out to God in difficult circumstances. Psalms of praise, also called hymns, portray the author’s offering of direct admiration to God. Thanksgiving psalms usually reflect the author’s gratitude for a personal deliverance or provision from God. Pilgrim psalms include the title “a song of ascent” and were used on pilgrimages “going up” to Jerusalem for three annual festivals. Other types of psalms are referred to today as wisdom psalms, royal psalms (referring to Israel’s king or Israel’s Messiah), victory psalms, Law psalms, and songs of Zion. Wherry, Elwood Morris (1896). A Complete Index to Sale's Text, Preliminary Discourse, and Notes. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, and Co. The psalms include unique Hebrew terms. The word Selah, found seventy-one times, is most likely a musical notation added by worship leaders after the Israelites incorporated the psalm into public worship. Scholars do not know the meaning of maskil, found in thirteen psalms. The Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from approximately the third century B.C.E. is called the Septuagint. It contains 151 psalms, not 150. In addition, the Hebrew Psalms 9–10 and 114–115 are each combined in the Greek into single psalms, and the Hebrew Psalms 113 and 116 are divided in two in the Septuagint.

Berlin, Adele; Brettler, Marc Zvi (2004). "Psalms". In Berlin, Adele; Brettler, Marc Zvi; Fishbane, Michael A. (eds.). The Jewish Study Bible. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195297515.Psalms have often been set as part of a larger work. The psalms feature large in settings of Vespers, including those by Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Vivaldi, Marc-Antoine Charpentier (84 settings H.149 - H.232) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who wrote such settings as part of their responsibilities as church musicians. Psalms are inserted in Requiem compositions, such as Psalm 126 in A German Requiem of Johannes Brahms and Psalms 130 and 23 in John Rutter's Requiem.

The Psalms have always been an important part of Catholic liturgy. The Liturgy of the Hours is centered on chanting or recitation of the Psalms, using fixed melodic formulas known as psalm tones. Early Catholics employed the Psalms widely in their individual prayers also; however, as knowledge of Latin (the language of the Roman Rite) became uncommon, this practice ceased among the unlearned. However, until the end of the Middle Ages, it was not unknown for the laity to join in the singing of the Little Office of Our Lady, which was a shortened version of the Liturgy of the Hours providing a fixed daily cycle of twenty-five psalms to be recited, and nine other psalms divided across Matins. D.C. Mitchell, The Message of the Psalter: An Eschatological Programme in the Book of Psalms, JSOT Supplement 252 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997). I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.“ReadPsalms and find out – the psalms reveal a wide range of emotion from pure joy (Psalm 150) to utter despair (Psalm 88) with many points between. Other books set around this time The Book of Psalms ( / s ɑː( l) m z/ SAH(L)MZ or / s ɔː( l) m z/ SAW(L)MZ; [2] Hebrew: תְּהִלִּים, Tehillim, lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Hebrew Bible called Ketuvim ("Writings"), and a book of the Old Testament. [3] The psalms comprised the ancient hymnal of God’s people. The poetry was often set to music—but not always. The psalms express the emotion of the individual poet to God or about God. Different types of psalms were written to communicate different feelings and thoughts regarding a psalmist’s situation.