Psalms

Book Information

Author

David plus others

Year

Around 1000-400 BC

Category

Wisdom Literature (Poetic Books)

Summary

Psalms is a collection of poetic hymns and prayers expressing a wide range of emotions, from deep despair to overflowing joy. It captures the human experience, offering solace in times of trouble and celebrating God's majesty and faithfulness. Through its verses, readers find encouragement to trust in God's protection, seek His guidance, and praise His enduring love. Psalms inspires reflection on the nature of worship, the power of prayer, and the importance of maintaining a steadfast faith amidst life's challenges.

Chapters

Psalms 1 - The Way of the Righteous and the End of the Wicked

1. Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. 2. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law does he meditate day and night. 3. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.

Psalms 2 - The Reign of the Lord's Anointed King

1. Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 2. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3. Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

Psalms 4 - A Prayer for Relief and Trust in God's Protection

1. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: you have enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy on me, and hear my prayer. 2. O you sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? how long will you love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah. 3. But know that the LORD has set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call to him.

Psalms 8 - The Majesty of God and the Dignity of Humanity

1. O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth! who have set your glory above the heavens. 2. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings have you ordained strength because of your enemies, that you might still the enemy and the avenger. 3. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained;

Psalms 14 - The Foolishness of Denying God and the Corruption of Humanity

1. The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good. 2. The LORD looked down from heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. 3. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that does good, no, not one.

Psalms 15 - The Character of Those Who Dwell with God

1. Lord, who shall abide in your tabernacle? who shall dwell in your holy hill? 2. He that walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart. 3. He that backbites not with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor.

Psalms 17 - A Prayer for Divine Protection and Justice Against Enemies

1. Hear the right, O LORD, attend to my cry, give ear to my prayer, that goes not out of feigned lips. 2. Let my sentence come forth from your presence; let your eyes behold the things that are equal. 3. You have proved my heart; you have visited me in the night; you have tried me, and shall find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.

Psalms 21 - A Song of Thanksgiving for Victory and God's Strength

1. The king shall joy in your strength, O LORD; and in your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! 2. You have given him his heart’s desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah. 3. For you prevent him with the blessings of goodness: you set a crown of pure gold on his head.

Psalms 23 - The Lord as Shepherd and Provider.

1. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2. He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters. 3. He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Psalms 24 - The King of Glory and His Kingdom

1. The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. 2. For he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the floods. 3. Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?

Psalms 27 - Confidence in God's Protection and a Heartfelt Desire for His Presence

1. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 2. When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came on me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. 3. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

Psalms 28 - A Plea for Mercy and Thanksgiving for Deliverance

1. To you will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if you be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. 2. Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry to you, when I lift up my hands toward your holy oracle. 3. Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts.

Psalms 31 - A Prayer for Deliverance and Trust in the Lord

1. In you, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in your righteousness. 2. Bow down your ear to me; deliver me speedily: be you my strong rock, for an house of defense to save me. 3. For you are my rock and my fortress; therefore for your name’s sake lead me, and guide me.

Psalms 39 - A Reflection on the Brevity and Fragility of Life

1. I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. 2. I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. 3. My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spoke I with my tongue,

Psalms 40 - A Song of Deliverance and Trust in God's Faithfulness

1. I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined to me, and heard my cry. 2. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet on a rock, and established my goings. 3. And he has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

Psalms 41 - A Prayer for Healing and Deliverance from Enemies

1. Blessed is he that considers the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble. 2. The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed on the earth: and you will not deliver him to the will of his enemies. 3. The LORD will strengthen him on the bed of languishing: you will make all his bed in his sickness.

Psalms 43 - A Plea for Vindication and Divine Guidance in Times of Distress

1. Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. 2. For you are the God of my strength: why do you cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? 3. O send out your light and your truth: let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill, and to your tabernacles.

Psalms 44 - A Plea for Deliverance and Reflection on Past Victories

1. We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work you did in their days, in the times of old. 2. How you did drive out the heathen with your hand, and planted them; how you did afflict the people, and cast them out. 3. For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but your right hand, and your arm, and the light of your countenance, because you had a favor to them.

Psalms 46 - God is Our Refuge and Strength, Present in Trouble

1. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the middle of the sea; 3. Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

Psalms 50 - God's Call to Righteousness and True Worship

1. The mighty God, even the LORD, has spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof. 2. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined. 3. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.

Psalms 53 - The Foolishness of Denying God

1. The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that does good. 2. God looked down from heaven on the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. 3. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that does good, no, not one.

Psalms 55 - A Cry for Deliverance from Treachery and Betrayal

1. Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not yourself from my supplication. 2. Attend to me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise; 3. Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity on me, and in wrath they hate me.

Psalms 57 - A Prayer for Mercy and Refuge in Times of Trouble

1. Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me: for my soul trusts in you: yes, in the shadow of your wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be over. 2. I will cry to God most high; to God that performs all things for me. 3. He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.

Psalms 62 - Trust in God Alone as Our Rock and Salvation

1. Truly my soul waits on God: from him comes my salvation. 2. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved. 3. How long will you imagine mischief against a man? you shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall you be, and as a tottering fence.

Psalms 68 - God's Majestic Power and Deliverance of His People

1. Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him. 2. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. 3. But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yes, let them exceedingly rejoice.

Psalms 70 - A Prayer for Deliverance and Help from Enemies

1. Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O LORD. 2. Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt. 3. Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha, aha.

Psalms 71 - A Prayer for Deliverance and Lifelong Trust in God

1. In you, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion. 2. Deliver me in your righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline your ear to me, and save me. 3. Be you my strong habitation, where I may continually resort: you have given commandment to save me; for you are my rock and my fortress.

Psalms 74 - A Plea for God's Intervention Against the Destruction of the Sanctuary.

1. O God, why have you cast us off for ever? why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? 2. Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old; the rod of your inheritance, which you have redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein you have dwelled. 3. Lift up your feet to the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary.

Psalms 79 - A Plea for God's Mercy in the Face of Devastation and Suffering.

1. O God, the heathen are come into your inheritance; your holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. 2. The dead bodies of your servants have they given to be meat to the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of your saints to the beasts of the earth. 3. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.

Psalms 80 - A Prayer for Restoration and Divine Favor

1. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you that lead Joseph like a flock; you that dwell between the cherubim, shine forth. 2. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up your strength, and come and save us. 3. Turn us again, O God, and cause your face to shine; and we shall be saved.

Psalms 84 - Longing for the Presence of God in His Blessed Dwelling Place

1. How amiable are your tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! 2. My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh cries out for the living God. 3. Yes, the sparrow has found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.

Psalms 85 - A Prayer for Restoration and God's Favor

1. Lord, you have been favorable to your land: you have brought back the captivity of Jacob. 2. You have forgiven the iniquity of your people, you have covered all their sin. Selah. 3. You have taken away all your wrath: you have turned yourself from the fierceness of your anger.

Psalms 93 - The Majesty and Sovereignty of the Lord Reigning Over Creation

1. The LORD reigns, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, with which he has girded himself: the world also is established, that it cannot be moved. 2. Your throne is established of old: you are from everlasting. 3. The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves.

Psalms 95 - A Call to Worship and Obedience to God.

1. O come, let us sing to the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. 2. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise to him with psalms. 3. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

Psalms 97 - The Majesty and Righteousness of God's Reign

1. The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. 2. Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. 3. A fire goes before him, and burns up his enemies round about.

Psalms 98 - A Joyful Song of Praise for God's Salvation and Righteousness.

1. O sing to the LORD a new song; for he has done marvelous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, has gotten him the victory. 2. The LORD has made known his salvation: his righteousness has he openly showed in the sight of the heathen. 3. He has remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Psalms 104 - Celebration of God's Majesty and Providence in Creation

1. Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, you are very great; you are clothed with honor and majesty. 2. Who cover yourself with light as with a garment: who stretch out the heavens like a curtain: 3. Who lays the beams of his chambers in the waters: who makes the clouds his chariot: who walks on the wings of the wind:

Psalms 110 - The Messiah's Eternal Priesthood and Victorious Reign

1. The LORD said to my Lord, Sit you at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool. 2. The LORD shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion: rule you in the middle of your enemies. 3. Your people shall be willing in the day of your power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: you have the dew of your youth.

Psalms 123 - A Prayer for Mercy and Deliverance from Oppression

1. To you lift I up my eyes, O you that dwell in the heavens. 2. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden to the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait on the LORD our God, until that he have mercy on us. 3. Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.

Psalms 125 - The Security and Peace of Those Who Trust in the Lord

1. They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but stays for ever. 2. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his people from now on even for ever. 3. For the rod of the wicked shall not rest on the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands to iniquity.

Psalms 131 - A Song of Humble Trust and Contentment in the Lord.

1. Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. 2. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. 3. Let Israel hope in the LORD from now on and for ever.

Psalms 133 - The Blessings of Unity Among God's People

1. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! 2. It is like the precious ointment on the head, that ran down on the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; 3. As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended on the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for ever more.

Psalms 137 - Lament of the Exiles in Babylon and a Cry for Justice

1. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion. 2. We hanged our harps on the willows in the middle thereof. 3. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

Psalms 142 - A Cry for Help and Refuge in Times of Trouble

1. I cried to the LORD with my voice; with my voice to the LORD did I make my supplication. 2. I poured out my complaint before him; I showed before him my trouble. 3. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then you knew my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privately laid a snare for me.

Psalms 143 - A Prayer for Deliverance and Guidance in Times of Trouble

1. Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in your faithfulness answer me, and in your righteousness. 2. And enter not into judgment with your servant: for in your sight shall no man living be justified. 3. For the enemy has persecuted my soul; he has smitten my life down to the ground; he has made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.

Psalms 144 - A Prayer for Deliverance and Blessing from the Lord.

1. Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to fight: 2. My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdues my people under me. 3. LORD, what is man, that you take knowledge of him! or the son of man, that you make account of him!