Psalms is the Book of Praises. The worship hymnal for the Scriptures contains 150 songs of praise and worship for the glory of the Lord. This worship is grounded in the character of God, and the greatness of His work. The doctrinal content of Psalms demonstrates the reality of the Old Testament Christian Way of Life on a very practical level. Old Testament believers weren’t simply followers of an external ritual, but partakers of an internal relationship with the Lord their God. The psalms were written over nearly a 1000 year period of time. During that time, groups of psalms were recognized as inspired Scripture, and collected together. Ultimately, 5 Books of Psalms were united in their present form.
The English word “psalm” comes from the Greek psalmos: a striking, or twanging, of a stringed instrument, and Psalmoi is the title in the Septuagint. The Hebrew title is Tehilliym: praises.
David is the author of at least half (75) of the Psalms. He is attributed in the prescripts to 73 psalms (Ps. 3-9, 11-32, 34-41, 51-65, 68-70, 86, 101, 103, 108-110, 122, 124, 131, 133, & 138-145). Additionally, Acts 4:25 credits David with the un-attributed Psalm 2, and Heb. 4:7 credits David with the un-attributed Psalm 95. Twelve psalms were written by David’s musician-priest, Asaph (Ps. 50, 73-83). Ten psalms were written by the Levitical choir, the sons of Korah (Ps. 42, 44-49, 84, 85, 87). Solomon wrote two psalms (Ps. 72, 127). Heman (Ps. 88), Ethan (Ps. 89), and Moses (Ps. 90) wrote one psalm each. Of the 50 un-attributed Psalms, at least two were David’s (see above), and perhaps a number of others were as well. Also, the scribe-priest Ezra is traditionally accepted as the author of the later, post-exilic psalms, and the final compiler of the entire collection.