📖 Biblical Definition
The longest book of the Bible, comprising one hundred fifty inspired prayers, songs, laments, and praises arranged in five books (1-41, 42-72, 73-89, 90-106, 107-150). Roughly half are attributed to David; others to Moses, Asaph, the sons of Korah, Heman, Ethan, and Solomon. The Psalter has been the prayer book of Jew and Christian for three thousand years; Christ Himself prayed Psalm 22 from the cross and Psalm 31 at His death.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
PSALMS, n.
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A scriptural proper name; the longest book of the Bible.
📖 Key Scripture
Psalm 1:2 — "But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night."
Psalm 22:1 — "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
Psalm 23:1 — "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want."
Psalm 150:6 — "Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern Christianity prays its own thoughts; the Psalter would teach the saint to pray with the Spirit's words.
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The Psalter is the inspired prayer book of the church. Modern Christianity often prays its own spontaneous thoughts and rarely uses the Psalms as the very form of prayer. Athanasius said the Psalms have a peculiar virtue, namely, that they teach us to feel. The full range of human emotion before God — lament, complaint, joy, awe, repentance, vengeance, exultation — is mapped in the Psalter and offered as words for the saint to use.
Pray a psalm a day. Read all 150 over five months. Use Psalm 22 in suffering, Psalm 23 in fear, Psalm 51 in repentance, Psalm 103 in gratitude, Psalm 139 in self-examination, Psalm 150 in praise. The Spirit who inspired them will animate them as you pray. The Psalms have outlasted three thousand years of fashion; they will outlast modern preferences too.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew/Greek roots below.
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G5568 — psalmos — psalm; song
H8416 — tehillah — praise
Usage
"Modern Christianity prays its own thoughts; the Psalter would teach the saint to pray with the Spirit's words."
"The full range of human emotion before God is mapped in the Psalter."
"Pray a psalm a day; the Spirit who inspired them animates them as you pray."