Who Wrote the Psalms?

The Know

It has long been asserted that much of the Hebrew Bible was transmitted orally before ever being written down.1 Some believe the oral components of the Bible must have been passed down by professional bards or people in the court of the king, and then professional scribes eventually wrote the material down.2 However, there are indications that men and women from many walks of life may have been involved in composing or transmitting some of this material, especially the Psalms.

When seeking to understand how people may have transmitted stories in ancient times, one can examine other cultures with oral traditions. Seeing how they do things today can help modern readers understand how people may have done things in the past. Some African societies can be helpful in this regard. Some societies in parts of Ethiopia, for example, have people who were not professional scribes transmitting material which is similar to the Hebrew Bible. People from across the community, including beggars, will often perform funeral dirges which are similar to Psalms of mourning, known as Lament Psalms, found in the Psalter.3 This opens the possibility that people from various walks of life in ancient Israel could possibly have been involved in creating or transmitting similar content.

This supposition is strengthened by other examples from the ancient world. Ancient Greek sources depict weavers who preserve stories through weaving cloths that tell the stories they wanted to pass down.4 Ancient Mesopotamian sources state that the earliest author whose name is recorded was a priestess named Enheduanna. It is difficult to know if she was a real person or not, but the mere existence of the tradition suggests that it was not outside the realm of possibility for an ancient Sumerian woman to be an author, in this case writing material similar to what one finds in the biblical Psalms.5

With these examples in mind, one can turn to the Old Testament for more concrete evidence for the creation and transmission of religious texts by a range of people in ancient Israel. One example of this comes from Judges 5. This chapter is a poetic rendering of the events recorded in Judges 4, in which the Israelites win a great victory over their enemies through the guidance of a leader named Deborah and the key assistance of another woman named Jael. Judges 5:1 states that two military leaders, Deborah and Barak, sing the song about God delivering Israel, very similar to what finds in the Book of Psalms.6 Thus, a story about God delivering the Israelites was transmitted by a man and woman who are military leaders, not scribes.

Exodus 15 is a song sung when God parted the Red Sea for the Israelites to let them cross on dry ground. Although the song is introduced in Exodus 15:1, the singing of the song is described in Exodus 20–21: “Then the prophetess Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a hand-drum and the women all went out behind her dancing with hand-drums. And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to Yahweh, for he has gloriously triumphed, the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.” ⁷ This suggests that Miriam and a group of regular Hebrew women were the people who composed and originally sang the song, a song which is similar to material one finds in the Book of Psalms.8

One sees something similar in 1 Samuel 18:6–7, when low-status people from across Israel’s cities came out to meet Saul, singing “Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” When read in light of other material noted above, these examples suggest that regular people from off the street in ancient Israel composed songs about God’s defeat of Israel’s enemies. 1 Samuel 2:1–10 records a song sung by Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel, celebrating his birth after being barren for many years.9

The Why

This evidence strongly suggests that regular people in ancient Israel were involved in the creation and transmission of material that was like the Psalms. Consequently, the same may be true for the material in the Book of Psalms.10 Although some of the Psalms are attributed to people like David, many of them may have been written by anonymous ancient Israelites from various walks of life.11 In some ways, this changes how one looks at the text. One might initially simply associate the Hebrew Bible with elite male scribes who were likely the ones who physically wrote the text down. However, when one realized that the portions of the text were written by both men and women from all walks of life, it makes it more relatable for all people reading the text today.

In this sense, the Book of Psalms, which is reminiscent of the ancient Israelite hymnal, is like the hymns used in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today. One finds hymns by men and women from all walks of life and from varying professions all collected into the hymnal of the church. Apostles (Bruce R McConkie, among others), general relief society presidents (Eliza R. Snow, for example), and members of the general board of the Primary (Naomi Harriet Ward Randall) have written hymns, but so have printers (W. W. Phelps) and organists (James Welch).

In ancient times, as now, men and women from across the church, regardless of their callings of places in society, contributed to the songs sung by the people in their community. This wide array backgrounds and life experience possessed by the people who wrote the hymns contribute to their richness for the people who have loved and sung these songs throughout history.