The Psalms: Praises to the Lord Jesus Christ

The book of Psalms is a collection of hymns and songs that were expressed by the ancient Israelites on occasions of worship, reflection, and devotion. Significantly, the psalms are a collection of praises about the lord and His majesty, omnipotence, love, and mercy. For this reason, the Hebrew word for the book of Psalms is Tehillim, which means “praises.”

Although the book of Psalms contains 150 psalms, the evidence of the Dead Sea Scrolls psalter indicates that anciently there existed many more psalms.

The Levitical choir (2 Chr. 5:12–13) or a congregation of worshippers sung many of the psalms. At times the singing was accompanied by musical instruments of three types (see Ps. 150): winds (i.e., horn, trumpet, flute), percussion (i.e., tambourine or hand drum, cymbals), and strings (i.e., two types of lyre).

More than seventy of the psalms are attributed to or affiliated with David. Other psalms are associated with additional characters, including Moses (Ps. 90), Solomon (Ps. 72, 127), Asaph (Ps. 50, 73–83), and Ethan (Ps. 89). Many psalms are anonymous. Many have historical titles or introductions. Psalm 3 is titled “A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.” See also Ps. 7, 18, 34, 51, 52, 54, 56, 57, 60, 63, 142.

Following the findings of biblical scholars, this chart attempts to categorize most of the psalms according to their genre. It is often difficult to categorize certain psalms, and scholars rarely agree on their genre. Additionally, many psalms belong to two or more categories; for example, Psalm 99 has elements that make it a Psalm of Praise and other elements that categorize it as a Royal Psalm.