A Visit with the
Book of Psalms

May 17 2025

"The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth"
— Ps. 145:18 
Open: Hymn 235 "Praise my Soul, the King of Heaven"
Close: Hymn 238 "Praise to Him by whose Kind Favor"

The Book of Psalms at a Glance

  • 150 Psalms — Different authors.
  • 5 Books — each said to have a different character
  • Davidic psalms — the heartbeat of the collection
  • Insights Dashboard - timeline, language, authors, film reel, and assistants - confident, apologetic, supportive and often correct. Artistically skilled.
  • Let the weak say I am strong - Joel 3:10

~1,000+ years of composition history  ·  166 New Testament references — the most-cited Old Testament book in the NT

A Vast Compilation of Authors, Subjects and Times

Variety of Topics, Groupings and Aspects

  • Praises and Common Prayers
  • Good to use for public services
  • Psalms of Degrees 120-134
  • ImPREcatory prayers
  • Messianic Psalms and Expressions (22, 69, 110,118, 2)
The Bible Project — Book of Psalms (overview)

Insights Dashboard

  • Explorer
  • Timeline
  • Film Reel with generated images
  • New Testament References
  • Truth Gems
  • Vocabulary
  • Detail Psalms to check and read.

A Closeness of God
and an open space

The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
— Psalm 145:18

You have set my feet in a broad place. ... He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me

  • Psalm, 31:8 18:19

Psalm 23
— The Shepherd Psalm

"The LORD is my... "

The most beloved psalm. David's mature meditation on trust, written in old age.

  • Voice: deeply personal — I, my, me
  • the valley and the table - danger and abundance together
  • Wisdom of our "memorized scripts"

Our Experiences with Psalms

  • Ubiguitous in Christian and Practice
  • For Bible Students they hold a lot of affirmations of Biblical teaching and truth. Truth Gems: Truth Gems from Psalms
  • Stories of how our Song books were assembled




Psalm 116 by S Gomolka

positioned-image
positioned-image2

Fanny Crosby

Fanny Crosby

8,000+ hymns

  • "Blessed Assurance"
  • "To God Be the Glory"

Most prolific female hymn writer in history — blind from infancy.

Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley

~6,500 hymns

  • "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"
  • "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing"

Co-founder of Methodism — theology as sung poetry.

Isaac Watts

Isaac Watts

750+ hymns

  • "Joy to the World"
  • "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross"

"Father of English Hymnody" — freed worship from strict metrical psalmody.

King David — The Sweet Singer

Key Statistics

  • 73 Psalms explicitly attributed in the Masoretic Text
  • Jewish Talmudic tradition credits 4,000 songs and hymns

Musical & Spiritual Legacy

  • The Maestro: Organised the Levitical Temple choir — Asaph, Heman Talented Families and others (1 Chron. 25, 288 participants, 24 shifts)
  • Innovator: Credited with inventing new instruments for praise
  • Temple Context: Stone Temple unbuilt; musicians serve at David's Jerusalem tent, blueprinting future operations.

"David, the son of Jesse… the sweet psalmist of Israel."
— 2 Samuel 23:1

King David Playing the Harp — Gerard van Honthorst

positioned-image

Emotions
in Psalms

Emotion Psalm Quote Emotion Psalm Quote
Loneliness I am lonely and afflicted Gladness I will be glad and exalt in You
Love I love You, O Lord Fear Serve the Lord with fear
Awe Let all the inhabitants of the earth stand in awe of Him Anger Be angry and do not sin
Sorrow For my life is spent with sorrow Peace In peace I will both lie down and sleep
Regret I am sorry for my sin Grief My eye wastes away because of grief
Contrition A broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise Desire O Lord, You hear the desire of the afflicted
Discouragement Why are you downcast, O my soul? Hope Let Your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in You
Shame Shame has covered my face Brokenheartedness The Lord is near the brokenhearted
Exaltation In Your salvation how greatly He exalts Gratitude I will thank You in the great congregation
Marvel This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes Zeal For zeal for Your house has consumed me
Delight His delight is in the law of the Lord Pain I am afflicted and in pain
Joy You have put more joy in my heart Confidence Though war arise against me, yet I will be confident
Based on: John Piper - How Should You Read the Psalms? (YouTube)

Imprecatory Psalms (Examples)

  • Psalm 137:8–9: Retribution against Babylon; blessing those who dash infants against rocks.
  • Psalm 109:6–10: Derogatory wishes on accusers; praying for shortened life, orphaned children, and perpetual begging.
  • Psalm 58:6–8: Judgment on unjust rulers; asking God to break their teeth and dissolve them like snails.
  • Psalm 69:22–24: Ruin on persecutors; praying their tables become snares and eyes be darkened.
  • Psalm 35:4–6: Defeat of adversaries; requesting public shame and dark, slippery paths.

Understanding Imprecatory Psalms (General Sources)

  • Earlier Stage of Religion — pre-Christian era of national religion; vengeance belonged to the community, not yet surrendered to God.
  • Tribal Solidarity — duty of revenge was inherited; total elimination of an enemy line seen as the only safety.
  • Severe National Crises — not petty disputes; responses to Edom's cruelty, Sanballat's treachery, Antiochus's persecution.
  • Valid at Their Core — directed at traitors and bloodthirsty enemies of God's kingdom; Jesus Himself pronounced similar judgments.

Understanding Imprecatory Psalms (Bible Student Sources)

  • "Hell" = Sheol (the Grave) — not eternal torment; a proper desire for justice and cessation of wickedness (E364).
  • "Ressurrection" - goes beyond annihilation, and implied by Abraham, Job and the Psalmist
  • "Perfect Hatred" = Alignment with God — hatred of iniquity and corrupt systems, not personal malice (Q321:3, R1191:4, Q783:T).
  • Righteous Indignation ≠ Bitterness — denouncing sin and calling for divine justice, not personal vendetta (R5603:1, R5417:5, R5780:2).
  • Willful Enemies Only — those who knowingly oppose God's Kingdom; distinct from ignorant enemies Jesus said to love (R1415:1, R1176:1).

Musical instruments in Psalms

Psalm 103 — God Knows We Are Dust

"For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust." — v.14

The Hebrew yetzer (frame) echoes yatzar from Genesis 2:7 — the same word used when God formed us.

God's compassion is rooted in His Creator's knowledge:
He shaped this dust-creature Himself.

He remembers what He made.

Psalm 117 — The Shortest Psalm

17 words in Hebrew. Though it'sthe shortest psalm, yet it carries every theme of the Psalter.

  • God's name: YHWH
  • ḥesed חַסְדּוֹ — steadfast love
  • ʾemet אֱמֶת — truth and faithfulness
  • ʿolam עוֹלָם — enduring forever
  • kol כֹּל — all nations, all peoples

positioned-image

Psalm 119
— The Longest Psalm

176 verses. 1,064 Hebrew words. 62× longer than Psalm 117.

An acrostic of 22 sections — one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

The great Torah meditation:

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." — v.105

Drawing Near in the Psalms

The Psalms express closeness to God through seven vocabularies:

  • Direct nearness — qarov / qarav / qirvah
  • Dwelling — yashav / shakan / gur ("to sojourn")
  • Seeking the face — panim of God
  • Taking refuge — chasah / machseh / misgav
  • Shadow of the wings — tzel kenafekha
  • Seeking and thirsting — baqash / darash / tzama
  • Calling out — qara / shava / tzaaq

positioned-image

Psalm 69 About David, Jesus Or Us?

69:1 “Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck!
69:3  I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched; My eyes fail while I wait for my God. 
69:4  Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; Those who would destroy me are powerful, being wrongfully my enemies; What I did not steal, I then have to restore. 
69:6 Let not those who wait for me be ashamed through me, O Lord GOD of hosts; Let not those who seek you be confounded because of me, O God of Israel.
69:9  For zeal for your house has consumed me, And the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. 
20: I looked for relief, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.
21: They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.
positioned-image

Psalm 77 Asaph's solution to his worry?

I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah. Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

Will the Lord cast off for ever? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.

Final Considerations

  • Study and see what treasures you find.
  • Questions:
    • 150 a good number or is it forced?
    • Not all of the psalms are references in the New Testament. What does this mean?
    • Could you tell an inspired psalm or scripture from a non-inspired one? How? What is the difference?
    • Connecting with our emotions, acknolwedging them as we go through experiences. We may find that Psalms help us express our emotions in the presence of God.

Hallelujah.

"Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!"
— Psalm 150:6

This is a speaker note. It will be hidden during the presentation.

Helping me were a few brilliant and skilled assistants with selective memory, very intereted in helping me, confident that they are right, apologizing when they were not named Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT. They even convinced me not to use powerpoint for this presentation (chuckle)

when they become personal, it's easy for us to distance ourselves.. a little

22- Why have you forsaken me? - 69 They hated me without a cause - 110 The Lord says to my Lord - 118 The stone the builders rejected - 2 Nations rage against the LORD and his annointed

From the good people of the Bible project, Copyright is granted for use in sermons. discuss: Book division with amen and amen, visions of future reign, authors like Asaph

The Hebrew word **qarov** (near) appears alongside **merhav** (broad place, wide space)

← Dashboard