Name of the Book

The Hebrew name for Psalms is Sepher Tehillim meaning “Book of Praises.” The word psalm is the Hebrew word mizmor meaning “melody” and derives from a word to mean “to sing, sing praise, make music.” The English word psalm derives from the Greek word psalmos meaning “a song sung to harp music.”

The Nature of the Book

The Book of Psalms is a collection of devotional materials including prayers, poems, and hymns, some of which were set to music. Worship and praise of Elohim through music is a unifying aspect of this book. The psalms include songs of thanksgiving, hymns of praise, psalms of repentance and confession, psalms that invoke curses upon one’s enemies, psalms sung by pilgrims en route to Jerusalem, and messianic psalms.

Authors of the Psalms

This book contains psalms by at least six authors. David wrote 73 psalms (according to the titles of the psalms) and two others are ascribed to him in the Testimony of Yeshua (Ps 2, see Acts 4:25 and Ps 95, see Heb 4:7). Asaph either wrote or was responsible for preserving 12 psalms (Pss 50 and 73 through 83). The sons of Korah wrote 11 psalms (Pss 42, 44 through 49). Solomon composed two psalms (Pss 72 and 127), while Etham wrote Psalms 89, Moses authored Psalm 90 (and possibly Ps 91), and Heman (Ps 88). Several Psalms have no designated author.

Categories of Psalms

The psalms can be group into four categories:

• Didactic Psalms that give instruction (e.g., Ps 119).
• The Messianic Psalms containing prophecies relating to the Messiah (e.g., Ps 22).
• The Imprecatory Psalms where the servant of Elohim pleads his case before the Almighty pleading for justice for the righteous and punishment upon the wicked (e.g., Ps 109).
• Penitential Psalms expressing the feelings of the repentant heart but also the desire for spiritual cleansing (Pss 32; 38; 51;102; 130; 143).

Other classifications of Psalms include:

• Psalms of degrees or ascent (i.e., Pss 120–134). These are psalms that were sung on special occasions as the priests were ascending the steps of the temple, or that were sung as the Israelites were going up to Jerusalem to celebrate the yearly biblical pilgrimage feasts (i.e. Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Tabernacles).
• The miktam (or michtam) psalms (Pss 16; 56–60). Though the meaning of the term michtam is unclear, it seems to refer to a psalm that is considered as precious as stamped gold.

The Five Books Within the Psalms

According to Jewish tradition, the Book of Psalms can be divided into five smaller books or sections. They are,

• Book One: Pss 1–41
• Book Two: Pss 42–72
• Book Three: Pss 73–89
• Book Four: Pss 90–106
• Book Five: Pss 107–150

Scholars aren’t sure why Psalms is so sub-divided. One theory is that the five sections correspond to the five books of the Torah (or Pentateuch). Or they may simply be individual collections of psalms that were eventually combined to form the larger book we now have.