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Old Testament

Psalms

150 chapters

Start reading: Psalms 1

About this book

The Psalms are Israel's prayer book: one hundred fifty songs and poems that give voice to nearly every human moment. There are hymns of praise, cries of lament, confessions of sin, thanksgivings after rescue, wisdom meditations, royal songs and pilgrim songs sung on the road to Jerusalem. What is striking is their honesty. The psalmists bring fear, anger, doubt and grief to God rather than hiding them, and most laments turn, sometimes slowly, toward trust. The collection is arranged in five books, each ending with a short note of praise, and it begins by inviting the reader into a life rooted in God's teaching. Many psalms look to a coming anointed king, and the New Testament writers repeatedly read them as pointing to Jesus. Christians have prayed the Psalms for centuries, in worship and in private, because they teach us how to speak to God when words fail. They are best read slowly, aloud, and more than once.

Author
Traditionally David, who wrote about half; others include Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon and Moses, and some are anonymous.
Date
Composed over roughly a thousand years, from the time of Moses and David through the exile; the collection reached its final form after the return.
Audience
Israel at worship and in private prayer; the church has adopted them as its own songbook.

Themes

Praise and thanksgivingHonest lamentTrust in God's faithful loveThe anointed kingGod's teaching as a path of life

Outline

  1. 1:1–41:13Book One: David's prayers
  2. 42:1–72:20Book Two: songs of Korah and David
  3. 73:1–89:52Book Three: Asaph and the crisis of the kingdom
  4. 90:1–106:48Book Four: the Lord reigns
  5. 107:1–150:6Book Five: return, pilgrimage and praise

Key verses

Psalms 1:1-3Psalms 23:1-6Psalms 119:105

Chapters of Psalms

  1. 1Psalms 1The psalm sets two ways of life side by side.
  2. 2Psalms 2Nations and rulers plot against the Lord and his anointed king, but God laughs at their scheming from heaven and declares that he has installed his king on Zion.
  3. 3Psalms 3David prays while fleeing from his son Absalom, surrounded by many who say God will not rescue him.
  4. 4Psalms 4An evening prayer of David.
  5. 5Psalms 5A morning prayer in which David lays his requests before God and waits expectantly.
  6. 6Psalms 6David, worn down by illness and sorrow, pleads with God not to rebuke him in anger and asks for mercy and healing.
  7. 7Psalms 7Falsely accused by a man named Cush, David takes refuge in God and asks to be judged according to his integrity.
  8. 8Psalms 8A hymn of wonder.
  9. 9Psalms 9David thanks God with all his heart for the righteous judgments that have overturned his enemies.
  10. 10Psalms 10The psalmist asks why God seems far away when the wicked hunt the poor.
  11. 11Psalms 11When friends urge David to flee like a bird to the mountains because the wicked are aiming their arrows, he answers that he takes refuge in the Lord.
  12. 12Psalms 12David cries out for help because the faithful have vanished and people speak with flattering lips and a double heart.
  13. 13Psalms 13David asks four times how long: will God forget him forever, hide his face, leave him wrestling with thoughts and sorrow, and let his enemy triumph?
  14. 14Psalms 14The psalm says that the fool concludes there is no God, and that corruption is widespread: God looks down from heaven and finds no one who does what is good.
  15. 15Psalms 15Who may dwell in God's tent and live on his holy hill?
  16. 16Psalms 16David asks God to keep him safe because he takes refuge in him and declares that apart from the Lord he has no good thing.
  17. 17Psalms 17David asks God to hear a just cause from lips that are honest and to vindicate him.
  18. 18Psalms 18David sings of God's deliverance on the day the Lord rescued him from all his enemies and from Saul.
  19. 19Psalms 19Creation and the written word of God both speak of him.
  20. 20Psalms 20A prayer of blessing for the king before he goes to battle, likely sung by the people.
  21. 21Psalms 21A thanksgiving for the king, a companion to the previous psalm.
  22. 22Psalms 22David begins in desperate abandonment, asking why God seems far away, while enemies mock and surround him like animals.
  23. 23Psalms 23The best-loved psalm pictures the Lord as a shepherd who provides everything needed: rest, quiet water, restored strength and right paths.
  24. 24Psalms 24The earth and everything in it belong to the Lord, who founded it upon the seas.
  25. 25Psalms 25David prays with his eyes on the Lord, asking not to be put to shame and to be taught God's ways.
  26. 26Psalms 26David asks God to vindicate him because he has lived with integrity and trusted the Lord without wavering.
  27. 27Psalms 27David declares that the Lord is his light and salvation, so he has no reason to fear, even if armies surround him.
  28. 28Psalms 28David cries to the Lord, his rock, pleading to be heard and not treated like those who go down to the pit.
  29. 29Psalms 29A hymn about the power of God's voice.
  30. 30Psalms 30A song of thanks for being brought back from the brink of death.
  31. 31Psalms 31David takes refuge in the Lord and asks to be delivered, calling him a rock and fortress.
  32. 32Psalms 32David describes the happiness of the person whose wrongdoing is forgiven and whose sin is covered.
  33. 33Psalms 33A call for the righteous to sing a new song with skill and joy.
  34. 34Psalms 34David praises the Lord after escaping danger, likely when he pretended madness before a foreign king.
  35. 35Psalms 35David asks God to take up his cause against people who attack him without reason, people he once helped and prayed for.
  36. 36Psalms 36David contrasts two ways of living.
  37. 37Psalms 37Written in old age, this psalm counsels patience when evildoers seem to prosper.
  38. 38Psalms 38A penitential prayer from someone weighed down by sin and suffering.
  39. 39Psalms 39David resolves to keep quiet in front of the wicked, but his silence only makes his pain grow until he speaks to God.
  40. 40Psalms 40David recalls waiting patiently for the Lord, who lifted him from a pit of mud, set his feet on a rock and put a new song in his mouth.
  41. 41Psalms 41The psalm opens by blessing the one who cares for the poor, promising that God will protect and sustain such a person.
  42. 42Psalms 42This opens the second book of Psalms, sung by the sons of Korah.
  43. 43Psalms 43Often read as a continuation of Psalm 42, it repeats the same refrain.
  44. 44Psalms 44The community recalls how God gave their ancestors the land, not by their swords but by his favor.
  45. 45Psalms 45A wedding song for a king.
  46. 46Psalms 46A song of confidence in God when everything shakes.
  47. 47Psalms 47A joyful call for all peoples to clap and shout to God, the awesome great king over all the earth.
  48. 48Psalms 48A hymn celebrating Zion, the city of God, great and beautiful, set on a holy mountain.
  49. 49Psalms 49A wisdom psalm addressed to all people, rich and poor.
  50. 50Psalms 50God himself speaks as judge, summoning heaven and earth.
  51. 51Psalms 51Traditionally linked to David after his sin with Bathsheba, this is the great prayer of repentance.
  52. 52Psalms 52David confronts a powerful man who boasts of his evil, loves lies more than truth and uses his tongue to destroy.
  53. 53Psalms 53Nearly identical to Psalm 14.
  54. 54Psalms 54A short prayer said to be from the time the Ziphites told Saul where David was hiding.
  55. 55Psalms 55David pours out anguish over betrayal.
  56. 56Psalms 56David wrote this when Philistines seized him in Gath.
  57. 57Psalms 57David prays from a cave while fleeing Saul.
  58. 58Psalms 58David sharply rebukes unjust rulers who do not judge fairly, whose hands deal out violence and who are wicked from the womb, like a deaf snake refusing the charmer.
  59. 59Psalms 59David prays as Saul sends men to watch his house and kill him.
  60. 60Psalms 60After a military defeat, the nation laments that God has rejected them and broken the land open like an earthquake.
  61. 61Psalms 61David calls to God from the ends of the earth, his heart faint.
  62. 62Psalms 62David says his soul waits in silence for God alone, who is his rock, salvation and fortress, so he will not be greatly shaken.
  63. 63Psalms 63David prays in the dry wilderness of Judah with a soul thirsting for God like parched land.
  64. 64Psalms 64David asks God to guard his life from enemies who plot in secret.
  65. 65Psalms 65A harvest psalm of praise to God in Zion.
  66. 66Psalms 66The whole earth is called to praise God for his awesome deeds, especially turning the sea into dry ground so his people could cross.
  67. 67Psalms 67A brief, beautiful prayer for blessing with a purpose beyond the one who prays.
  68. 68Psalms 68A triumphant, sometimes difficult hymn.
  69. 69Psalms 69David cries out from deep water, sinking in mud with no footing, worn out from calling for help.
  70. 70Psalms 70One of the shortest cries for help in the Psalms, almost identical to the closing verses of Psalm 40.
  71. 71Psalms 71The prayer of someone growing old, who has trusted God since youth and been sustained since birth.
  72. 72Psalms 72A prayer for Israel's king, attributed to Solomon, asking that God give him justice to rule with.
  73. 73Psalms 73Asaph confesses he almost lost his footing.
  74. 74Psalms 74A community lament written after enemies wrecked the sanctuary, burned meeting places, and mocked God's name.
  75. 75Psalms 75A song of thanks that answers the previous lament with God's own voice.
  76. 76Psalms 76A victory song celebrating God as known in Judah, with his dwelling in Salem, that is, Jerusalem, on Zion.
  77. 77Psalms 77Asaph cries out in a night of distress when he cannot sleep or even speak.
  78. 78Psalms 78A long teaching poem that retells Israel's history so each generation will trust God and not repeat their ancestors' failures.
  79. 79Psalms 79A lament after foreign armies invaded, defiled the temple, left Jerusalem in ruins, and left the dead unburied.
  80. 80Psalms 80Israel calls on the Shepherd who leads Joseph like a flock, asking him to shine on them and come to save.
  81. 81Psalms 81A festival song calling Israel to sing, play tambourine and harp, and blow the trumpet at the appointed feast.
  82. 82Psalms 82God stands in the divine council and judges those called gods, or rulers.
  83. 83Psalms 83A prayer for help as a coalition of neighboring nations plots to wipe Israel off the map.
  84. 84Psalms 84A pilgrim's love song for God's dwelling place.
  85. 85Psalms 85The people remember how God once forgave their sin and restored the land, and they ask him to do it again and turn away his anger.
  86. 86Psalms 86David prays as one poor and needy, asking God to listen, preserve his life, and bring joy to his soul.
  87. 87Psalms 87A brief hymn in praise of Zion, the city God himself founded on the holy mountain and loves more than any other dwelling of Jacob.
  88. 88Psalms 88The bleakest psalm in the book, and unusual because it never turns to hope.
  89. 89Psalms 89Ethan the Ezrahite begins by singing of God's steadfast love and faithfulness forever.
  90. 90Psalms 90The only psalm attributed to Moses.
  91. 91Psalms 91A psalm of protection for anyone who lives in the shelter of the Most High.
  92. 92Psalms 92A song for the Sabbath day.
  93. 93Psalms 93A short hymn declaring that the Lord reigns, robed in majesty and armed with strength.
  94. 94Psalms 94The psalmist calls on the God of vengeance to rise and repay the proud.
  95. 95Psalms 95An invitation to worship in two halves.
  96. 96Psalms 96A call to sing a new song to the Lord, all the earth, and to tell of his salvation day after day among the nations.
  97. 97Psalms 97The Lord reigns, so let the earth and even distant coastlands rejoice.
  98. 98Psalms 98Another call to sing a new song, this time because the Lord has done marvelous things and his right hand has won the victory.
  99. 99Psalms 99The Lord reigns and the peoples tremble.
  100. 100Psalms 100A short, well-loved song of thanksgiving.
  101. 101Psalms 101David's pledge about how he will rule, sung to the Lord.
  102. 102Psalms 102The prayer of someone afflicted, faint and pouring out his complaint.
  103. 103Psalms 103David tells his own soul to bless the Lord and not forget his benefits.
  104. 104Psalms 104A hymn to God the Creator that follows the pattern of Genesis 1.
  105. 105Psalms 105A hymn that retells Israel's story to show that God keeps his word.
  106. 106Psalms 106A companion to Psalm 105, telling the same history from the side of Israel's failures.
  107. 107Psalms 107The redeemed are told to say so, gathered from east, west, north, and south.
  108. 108Psalms 108David sings with a steadfast heart, wanting to wake the dawn with music and praise God among the nations.
  109. 109Psalms 109David cries out to a God he praises, because wicked and deceitful people are attacking him with lies and hatred despite his kindness and prayers for them.
  110. 110Psalms 110A short royal psalm of David in which the Lord speaks to David's own lord, inviting him to sit at God's right hand until his enemies are made a footstool.
  111. 111Psalms 111An acrostic psalm of praise in which each line begins with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
  112. 112Psalms 112Another acrostic psalm, a companion to Psalm 111, describing the person who fears the Lord and delights in his commands.
  113. 113Psalms 113The first of the Hallel psalms (113–118), sung at Jewish festivals such as Passover.
  114. 114Psalms 114A poetic retelling of the exodus in which nature itself reacts to God's presence.
  115. 115Psalms 115The psalm asks that glory go to God's name, not to his people, because of his love and faithfulness.
  116. 116Psalms 116A personal thanksgiving from someone who cried out to God in near-death distress and was heard.
  117. 117Psalms 117The shortest chapter in the Bible, just two verses, calling all nations and all peoples to praise the Lord.
  118. 118Psalms 118The last of the Hallel psalms, a festival song of thanksgiving for God's steadfast love.
  119. 119Psalms 119The longest chapter in the Bible, an acrostic in 22 stanzas of eight lines each, one stanza for every Hebrew letter.
  120. 120Psalms 120The first of the fifteen Songs of Ascents (120–134), likely sung by pilgrims traveling up to Jerusalem for the festivals.
  121. 121Psalms 121A pilgrim looks up at the hills and asks where help comes from, then answers that it comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth.
  122. 122Psalms 122David's song of joy as pilgrims arrive at Jerusalem.
  123. 123Psalms 123A short prayer from people who lift their eyes to the Lord enthroned in heaven.
  124. 124Psalms 124David asks what would have happened if the Lord had not been on Israel's side when people rose up against them.
  125. 125Psalms 125Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved and stands forever.
  126. 126Psalms 126The people remember when the Lord restored Zion's fortunes and it felt like a dream: laughter and songs of joy filled their mouths, and even the nations said God had done great things for them.
  127. 127Psalms 127A wisdom psalm attributed to Solomon about the limits of human effort.
  128. 128Psalms 128A blessing for everyone who fears the Lord and walks in his ways.
  129. 129Psalms 129Israel looks back and says that since its youth it has been greatly afflicted, yet its enemies have not prevailed.
  130. 130Psalms 130One of the church's classic penitential psalms.
  131. 131Psalms 131A very short psalm of David about humility.
  132. 132Psalms 132The psalm recalls David's determination to find a dwelling place for the Lord, refusing to rest until the ark had a home.
  133. 133Psalms 133A three-verse psalm of David on how good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity.
  134. 134Psalms 134The last of the Songs of Ascents, a brief exchange between pilgrims and the priests who serve at night in the temple.
  135. 135Psalms 135A call for the servants of the Lord to praise him because he is good, and because he chose Jacob and Israel as his treasured possession.
  136. 136Psalms 136A litany of thanksgiving in which every verse ends with the same refrain about God's steadfast love enduring forever.
  137. 137Psalms 137An exile's lament by the rivers of Babylon.
  138. 138Psalms 138David gives thanks with his whole heart, singing to the Lord even before the so-called gods.
  139. 139Psalms 139David marvels that God searches and knows him completely: when he sits or rises, his thoughts, his paths, and every word before it is spoken.
  140. 140Psalms 140David prays for rescue from violent and evil people who plot trouble, sharpen their tongues like a serpent's, and set hidden traps.
  141. 141Psalms 141David calls on the Lord to hurry to him and asks that his prayer rise like incense and the lifting of his hands like the evening sacrifice.
  142. 142Psalms 142A prayer of David when he was in a cave, probably hiding from Saul.
  143. 143Psalms 143One of the traditional penitential psalms.
  144. 144Psalms 144David blesses the Lord, his rock, who trains his hands for war and is his fortress, shield, and refuge.
  145. 145Psalms 145An acrostic psalm of praise attributed to David, and the only one in the book labeled simply a psalm of praise.
  146. 146Psalms 146The first of five closing psalms of praise, each beginning and ending with Hallelujah.
  147. 147Psalms 147A psalm calling for praise because it is good, pleasant, and fitting to sing to God.
  148. 148Psalms 148A call for the whole creation to praise the Lord.
  149. 149Psalms 149A call to sing a new song to the Lord in the assembly of the faithful, and for Israel to rejoice in their Maker and the children of Zion in their King.
  150. 150Psalms 150The grand finale of the book of Psalms, a burst of praise in six short verses.
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