A Very Rough Guide to the Psalms

The psalms, known as a whole as the psalter, is a huge collection of 150 short pieces variously understood as songs, hymns, prayers, and poems.

“Psalm” is from the ancient Greek word, psalmos, “a song sung to harp [or lyre] music” (as in, King David, singing and playing his lyre), which comes from the Greek word root, psallein, “to pluck” (as in, plucking a lyre, which is like a little handheld harp).

There are 7 or so types or genres of psalm. Very roughly, they are:

1. penitential
2. hymnic
3. thanksgiving
4. wisdom
5. praise
6. lament

The most prominent literary type or genre found in the psalms is what is known as the individual lament. There are many types of individual laments, but they are generally characterized by a single person’s personal plea or petition, followed by praise, to and for God. These psalms articulate a person’s deepest needs and usually reflect the harsh realities of lived life. The psalms considered to be individual laments are: 3-7, 13, 17, 22, 25-28, 31, 35, 38, 39, 41-43, 51, 54-57, 59, 61, 63, 64, 69-71, 77, 86, 88, 102, 109, 120, 130, 140-143.

The psalter is divided into four main books or collections:

1. Psalms 1 – 41 (with many addressed to “the leader,” designed to instruct in proper rule.)
2. Psalms 42 – 74:

1. known as the “Elohistic” collection, b/c the usual term “Yahweh” (Lord) is replaced with the less formal “God” (‘elohim)
2. Psalms 42-49 are known as the “Korah” psalms; the Korah were temple singers in Jerusalem during the period of the Second Temple (after the return from Babylonian exile, when Cyrus of Persia rebuilt Solomon’s first temple, ca. 583 BCE) (see: 1Chronicles 9:19; 2Chronicles 20:19).

3. Psalms 73-89, which include the so-called “Asaph” psalms (73-83), for the term appearing in their opening lines. The meaning of the term is not known.
4. Psalms 90-106, which has no agreed upon origin or unifying theme (although there’re plenty of opinions on the matter)
5. Psalms 107-150, about which there is also much uncertainty; generally thought of as predominately hymnic; roughly divided:

1. “Of David” (108-110)
2. “Hallelujah” (111-118) (b/c each contains that exclamation / invocation)
3. “Songs of Ascent” (120-134)
4. “Of David” (again, 138-145)
5. “Hallelujah” (again, 1460-150)

The last psalm in each of the 5 books (41, 74, 89, 106, 150) is a doxology, which is a formal, liturgical praise of god, e.g., “blessed be the Lord,” etc.

There are a number of psalms that are labeled with the term “Maskil” in the opening line. The word is thought to mean something like a “skillful” or “didactic” psalm.

Several psalms (9, 10, 25, 34, 111, 112, 119, 145) are formally structured as acrostics, where the first letter of each line or every other line if read in succession spells out a name or phrase or the Hebrew alphabet.