The Book of Psalms

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  • Psalm 54

    (director: with strings, instructive, David: when the Ziphites went to Saul and said, David is hiding with us) * * * Even a relatively straightforward text like Psalm 54, which is frankly unremarkable in English, can hide surprises. First, there are compelling links between this psalm and Psalm 52. In 54:1, the root word for Read more

  • Psalm 53

    (director: on machalat, instructive, of David) * * * See Psalm 14 for an introduction to this psalm, which is nearly identical until verse 5. 53:1 on machalat  The root word might indicate sickness or appeasement, two very different readings. 53:1 made the vile worse  One difference from Psalm 14 is the inclusion of `avel Read more

  • Psalm 52

    (director: skilled, of David, when Doeg the Edomite went to announce to Saul that David had come to the house of Ahimelech) * * * Psalm 52 contrasts the politics of strength with an ethic of care. It opposes the “strong man” of verse 1 with the “just” of verse 6, with the “yours who Read more

  • Psalm 51

    (director: lyric, of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him after he came to Bathsheba) * * * These readings of each psalm hope to peel open some of the ways each psalm means, not to pin down the only possible interpretation. Some accord better with the text and are inductively arrived at. Other Read more

  • Psalm 50

    (lyric, of Asaph) * * * Maybe nowhere in the Bible is the idea of a covenant as simply put as in Psalm 50:14-15:    Offer God | gratitude pay back the Highest | your vows and call me | on a day of distress     I get you out | and you honor me.   That’s the deal, Read more

  • Psalm 49

    (director: of the Qorachites, a lyric) * * * In announcing that her music is “sense… insight… a parable… my puzzle” (3-4), the speaker of the powerful Psalm 49 challenges, even taunts. In a deepening from what the mouth speaks (sense) to what the heart murmurs (insight) to what the ear has to widen to Read more