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TOM · The Owner's Manual · Old Testament

Psalm 1

Before you read Psalms: who, when, why

BOOK 19 OF 66 · OLD TESTAMENT · POETRY AND WISDOM

The Bible's Greatest Hits

AUTHOR
Many writers. David is named in 73 titles. Asaph has 12, the sons of Korah 11, Solomon 2, and Moses, Heman and Ethan 1 each. About 50 psalms name no writer.
DATE
Written over about 1,000 years, from Moses, about 1400 BC, to after the return from Babylon, about 500 BC. Put together in five books after the exile.
WRITTEN TO
God. These are songs and prayers, sung by God's people in the temple, at home and on the road.
KEY VERSE
Psalm 150:6. Let everything that has breath praise Yahweh! Hallelujah!
THE OLDEST COPIES OF PSALMS

The Oldest Copies of Psalms

A piece of 4QPs f, a Psalms scroll from Qumran Cave 4, copied about 50 BC. Its pieces hold parts of Psalms 22, 107 and 109, and three songs that are not in the Bible. God's name, YHWH, shows up again and again. Psalms is the book found most often among the Dead Sea Scrolls, about 40 copies. The oldest, 4QPs a, was copied about 150 BC. Photo Shai Halevi, Israel Antiquities Authority, Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library.

The Setting

Israel's songbook. Some psalms come from David's days on the run from Saul, some from the temple choirs, and some from the exiles crying by the rivers of Babylon. The Hebrew name is Tehillim, praises. Our word psalm comes from the Greek for a song played on strings.

What Was Going Wrong

  • Enemies All Around. David was hunted by Saul and chased out by his own son Absalom, Psalms 3, 57 and 59.
  • Sin On the Inside. David's adultery and murder, Psalm 51. Again and again Israel forgot God, Psalms 78 and 106.
  • Child Sacrifice. Israel sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons and poured out innocent blood to the idols of Canaan, 106:37 to 38.
  • A City in Ruins. Babylon burned the temple and took the people away, Psalms 74, 79 and 137.

Where to Find Jesus

  • Psalm 2:7 and 110:1. God calls the King My Son and seats Him at His right hand. The New Testament applies both to Jesus again and again, Acts 13:33, Hebrews 1:5 and 1:13.
  • Psalm 22:1. My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Jesus prayed it from the cross, Matthew 27:46.
  • Psalm 16:10. You will not let Your Holy One see decay. Peter preached it about the resurrection, Acts 2:27 to 31.
  • Psalm 118:22. The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, Matthew 21:42.

Cool Stuff Most People Miss

  • Five Books Like Moses. An old Jewish teaching says: Moses gave Israel five books of the law, and David gave Israel five books of Psalms.
  • The New Testament'S Favorite. Psalms is quoted in the New Testament more than almost any other Old Testament book. Jesus quoted it on the cross.
  • Luther'S Little Bible. Martin Luther called Psalms a little Bible, because it holds the whole Bible in a short form. He wrote A Mighty Fortress from Psalm 46.
  • Longest And Shortest. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, 176 verses. Psalm 117 is the shortest, 2 verses.
  • Psalm 151. The oldest complete Greek Bibles have one more psalm after 150. It is printed at the end in [brackets].

How Does It End?

With a party. The last five psalms all begin and end with Hallelujah, and Psalm 150 calls every instrument and everything that breathes to praise Yahweh.

Psalm 1 in 30 seconds

Two roads. Love God's word and you are a tree by the water. Ignore it and you are chaff in the wind.

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BOOK IPsalms 1 to 41

The Two Paths// Matthew 5:3–12; Luke 6:20–23

1Blessed is the man

who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,

or set foot on the path of sinners,

or sit in the seat of mockers.

  • PS 1:1[NOTABLE]The whole book opens with a choice. Who you walk with, stand with and sit with shapes who you become.
  • PS 1:1[NOTE]BLESSED means truly happy, the kind of happy God gives. The book of Psalms opens with it, and Jesus opened His Sermon on the Mount the same way, Matthew 5:3.
  • PS 1:1[NOTE]WALK, STAND, SIT. Watch the slide: first you walk by, then you stop and stand, then you sit down and stay.

2But his delight is in the Law of Yahweh,

and on His law he meditates day and night.

  • PS 1:2[NOTE]MEDITATES. The Hebrew word means to mutter or murmur, like reading out loud under your breath, over and over.

3He is like a tree planted by streams of water,

yielding its fruit in season,

whose leaf does not wither,

and who prospers in all he does.

4Not so the wicked!

For they are like chaff driven off by the wind.

5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

6For Yahweh guards the path of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

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