A psalm is a poetic prayer or song. The biblical Book of Psalms, also called the Psalter, contains 150 psalms in the standard Hebrew collection and has shaped Jewish and Christian prayer for centuries.
What kinds of psalms are in the Bible?
The Psalms include many literary and religious forms. Laments speak from suffering and ask God for help. Hymns praise God. Thanksgiving psalms respond to deliverance. Royal psalms concern kingship, while wisdom and Torah psalms reflect on faithful living, instruction, and the law. Some psalms recall Israel’s history or are closely connected with public worship.
Who wrote the Psalms?
Many psalms have headings associated with David, while others are linked with Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon, Moses, or other names. These headings are part of the received text, but they do not provide a simple modern record of authorship for every poem. The Psalter developed as a collection over a long period.
How the Psalter is organized
The Book of Psalms is divided into five books. Individual psalms vary greatly in length and style, from short hymns to Psalm 119, an extended alphabetic poem centered on Torah. Hebrew and Greek traditions sometimes number particular psalms differently, which is why the same psalm can have two numbers in different Bibles or liturgical books.
Psalms in Judaism and Christianity
In Judaism, psalms are used in prayer, festivals, mourning, thanksgiving, and synagogue life. Christian communities inherited the Psalter and read many psalms in relation to Jesus, worship, suffering, and hope. Psalms remain central to Catholic and Orthodox liturgies, Anglican daily prayer, monastic offices, and many Protestant services.
Why the Psalms remain distinctive
The Psalms do not present only calm or praise. They include fear, anger, grief, trust, gratitude, doubt, confession, and joy. That range is one reason the collection has remained a major scriptural language of prayer across different religious communities.
Titles, superscriptions, and numbering
Many psalms begin with superscriptions that mention a person, musical direction, event, or liturgical setting. These headings are ancient parts of the textual tradition, but scholars do not treat every heading as a modern biographical statement. Differences between the Hebrew and Greek textual traditions also explain why some Catholic and Orthodox references use a psalm number one lower than many Protestant Bibles.
Use in daily prayer
The Psalter became a structured prayer book as well as a scriptural collection. Monastic communities developed cycles for reciting the psalms, and churches continue to use them in morning and evening prayer, funerals, feast days, and responses within the liturgy.
