By Andrew Winter
1.
One hundred fifty psalms make up the Bible’s third-longest book. Most translators break up the psalms into five sections, each ending with a concluding doxology: 1-41, 42-72, 73-89, 90-106, and 107-150.
2.
The Book of Psalms attributes 73 psalms to David, one to Moses, two to Solomon, and several more to other authors, while 49 of the psalms have no known author. Whether or not David, Moses and Solomon actually wrote all the psalms attributed to them cannot be proven. These names could be merely pennames of other authors, but King David certainly wrote many of the psalms.
3.
Out of 150 psalms, 116 have superscriptions, which are short introductions to the poems themselves. Superscriptions often include the author’s name, the type of poem, musical instructions, or historical notes. These superscriptions imply that the Jewish people used these psalms as part of their liturgical worship. Here is Psalm 54’s superscription: “For the Leader. On stringed instruments. A maskil of David, when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, ‘David is hiding among us.’”
4.
Seemingly at random in between verses, some psalms will contain the Hebrew word selah. Selah appears 71 times in the Book of Psalms, but no one has discovered its meaning. It could be a note to the choir to take a pause, or to continue singing. It could also mean, “Lift up to the Lord” or, “Praise the Lord.” The ancient Greek psalters translate selah as “intermission.”
5.
It is impossible to perfectly categorize the psalms according to type or topic, but certainly the most common type is lamentation. There are approximately 65 psalms of lament. Other types include psalms of praise or thanksgiving, royal psalms, wisdom psalms, and imprecatory psalms (against enemies).
6.
Nine psalms are acrostic poems, meaning that the first letter of each line or stanza begins with a letter of the alphabet in order. So stanza one begins with aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, stanza two begins with beth, and so on. Psalm 119, the longest psalm, has eight-line stanzas, where every line of a given stanza begins with the same letter.
7.
Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd …” is the most famous psalm. Psalm 90 may be the oldest psalm, written by Moses before the Exodus. Psalm 117 is the shortest, with only two verses, making it also the shortest chapter in the Bible. Psalm 88 is the only psalm without a hopeful ending; its last verse runs: “Friend and neighbor you have taken away, my one companion is darkness.”
8.
Virtually all of the psalms appear in the prayers of the Catholic Church. At least part of a psalm is read at every Mass, and in the Liturgy of the Hours, the psalms form the central element. During the four-week cycle of the Liturgy of the Hours, a faithful Christian will pray 147 of the 150 psalms.
9.
In the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, there is a 151st psalm, supposedly written by David after he struck down Goliath. The Septuagint noted that it was not part of the true Scriptures, and the Catholic Church does not hold it to be in the canon of the Bible.
