Old Testament book

Psalms

The Psalms are the songbook and prayer book of God's people: 150 inspired poems giving voice to praise and lament, trust and thanksgiving, confession and hope. Quoted more than any other book in the New Testament, they are saturated with Christ, the King and the LORD they praise.

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Book
19 of 66
Testament
Old Testament
Section
Wisdom & Poetry
Chapters
150
Author
David and others (Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon, Moses, Heman, Ethan, and anonymous)
Written
Approximately 1400-400 BC

Purpose & theme

The Psalms are the songbook and prayer book of God’s people, a collection of 150 inspired poems that give voice to the whole range of human experience before God. Here are soaring praises and desperate laments, confident trust and anguished questions, joyful thanksgiving and heartbroken confession. Where most of Scripture is God’s word to us, the Psalms are largely our words to God, and by inspiring them the Spirit teaches us how to pray and worship in every season: in the heights of joy and the depths of despair, in victory and in guilt, in the presence of enemies and in the shelter of God’s wings.

The Psalter is bound together by a few great themes: the greatness and steadfast love of God, the refuge He is to those who trust Him, the kingship of the LORD, the beauty of His Word, and the hope of His anointed King, the Messiah. No book of the Old Testament is quoted more often in the New, for the Psalms are saturated with Christ: He prayed them, fulfilled them, and stands at their center as the true King, the righteous Sufferer, and the object of the Psalter’s deepest hope. The book opens with a call to delight in God’s Law and builds, through every kind of prayer, to an unbroken crescendo of praise: “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!”

Chapter guide

All 150 chapters. Open any one for the full study.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
  79. 79
  80. 80
  81. 81
  82. 82
  83. 83
  84. 84
  85. 85
  86. 86
  87. 87
  88. 88
  89. 89
  90. 90
  91. 91
  92. 92
  93. 93
  94. 94
  95. 95
  96. 96
  97. 97
  98. 98
  99. 99
  100. 100
  101. 101
  102. 102
  103. 103
  104. 104
  105. 105
  106. 106
  107. 107
  108. 108
  109. 109
  110. 110
  111. 111
  112. 112
  113. 113
  114. 114
  115. 115
  116. 116
  117. 117
  118. 118
  119. 119
  120. 120
  121. 121
  122. 122
  123. 123
  124. 124
  125. 125
  126. 126
  127. 127
  128. 128
  129. 129
  130. 130
  131. 131
  132. 132
  133. 133
  134. 134
  135. 135
  136. 136
  137. 137
  138. 138
  139. 139
  140. 140
  141. 141
  142. 142
  143. 143
  144. 144
  145. 145
  146. 146
  147. 147
  148. 148
  149. 149
  150. 150

Study sections

OverviewRead the book’s purpose, its five books, and how it is full of Christ.Chapter summariesBrowse a one-line summary for all 150 psalms.Key peopleMeet the psalmists who shaped Israel’s worship.ThemesExplore the theological themes that shape the book.Word studiesDig into the key Hebrew words that carry the book’s meaning.Key versesRead the seven verses that capture the heart of the Psalms.Structure & datesSee the fivefold shape of the Psalter and the span of its composition.Study notesReview key concepts, application, and questions for reflection.Related passagesTrace the connections from the Psalms across the whole Bible.

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