The Book of Psalms includes 150 individual hymns selected by the authors for worship. However, the entire psalter is further divided into five distinct collections. Though David wrote many of these there were a variety of known and unknown authors. We know these five collections because each begins with an “invocation” (call to worship) and ends with a benediction and the word "Amen." These collections can be understood as worship responses to the covenant themes in Genesis through Deuteronomy.

 

​​​Notice that in the ancient covenant structure, the Book of Exodus, like the second section, told the history of God’s covenant dealings with his people. I think, the entire Book of Psalms could be said to fulfill a similar purpose: telling the stories of God with his people, especially as expressed in their worship. 

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Another important theme connecting all the psalms is the Hebrew word, CHESED. CHESED is literally translated “covenant faithfulness” and in the larger scope of God’s covenant of grace signifies his promise to remain faithful to them always. An example is the final verse of Psalm 23: “surely goodness and mercy (CHESED) shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” God’s covenant faithfulness is a central reason for our worship of him. He keeps his promises not because of our faithfulness to him but because of his immutable character. 

 

Book One: The Transcendent God (Psalms 1–41)

 

Theme: Like Genesis, this book introduces God in his transcendent glory as the Creator.

 

Invocation (Read Psalm 1) 

 

Contrasts two ways of life: the righteous who delight in God’s law (likened to a blessed tree in a garden, recalling Eden) and the wicked (likened to fleeting chaff). This sets the stage for a transcendent God by affirming his ultimate triumph over chaos and sin.

 

Liturgy (Read Psalm 2) 

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Emphasizes God's transcendence by showing his triumph over nations and kings who rebel against him and his Anointed (a foretelling of the Messiah, Jesus).

 

Benediction (Read Psalm 41:13)

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Concludes by affirming the strength and assurance found in God's covenant faithfulness during times of distress.

 

Book One Summary: 

 

Book One begins with the promise of God’s blessing on those who are faithful to walk in his way. However, most of the psalms in the collection describe our failures to do so. Even so, it ends with Psalm 41 and a benediction summarizing the major theme of God’s covenant faithfulness.  Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel,  from everlasting and to everlasting! Amen and amen (41:13).

 

The entire hymn gives praise to God because of his transcendence. Because of this we have strength and assurance even in suffering:  

 

Blessed is he who considers the poor.
    Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil.
2 Yahweh will preserve him, and keep him alive.
    He shall be blessed on the earth,
    and he will not surrender him to the will of his enemies.
3 Yahweh will sustain him on his sickbed,
    and restore him from his bed of illness.

 

It is not enough for God’s people to hear it said that God is transcendent. Theological information is important but must be applied to the circumstances of our lives. In the opening words, the psalmist finds comfort in Yahweh’s covenant faithfulness (CHESED): “Delivering us in the day of evil, preserving us, keeping us alive, sustaining us when we are sick.”  

 

Book Two: God’s Covenant Mediators (Psalms 42–72)

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Theme: Like Exodus, Book Two focuses on the story of God’s salvation, delivering his people through chosen representatives. Written after the days of Moses, the focus in the psalms is on David as the covenant mediator.

 

Invocation (Read Psalm 42): The first in the collection is written from a place of "wilderness.”  Like Israel’s experience after the Exodus, it tells the story of longing and despair in times of suffering. 

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Benediction (Read Psalm 72): A prayer (possibly by David for Solomon) that looks forward to the king's righteous and universal reign. While immediately concerning the earthly king, its language of an everlasting kingdom ultimately points to the coming Messiah. The book ends by acknowledging that only God "alone does marvelous deeds."

 

Book Two Summary

 

Reflecting on the stories of God’s deliverance through covenant mediators like David and Solomon was meant to give God’s people hope in their own suffering and adversity. As in Book One, the covenant faithfulness of God (CHESED) is a repeated theme intended to give hope and assurance that, even as God is faithful to his covenant with David, so he will be to us. For example, Psalm 42 says, 

 

Yahwe  will command his loving kindness (CHESED) in the daytime.
    In the night his song shall be with me: a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I will ask God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me?
    Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me,
    while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”
11 Why are you in despair, my soul?  Why are you disturbed within me?
Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my God. (42:8-11).

 

Book Three: Temple Worship (Psalms 73–89)

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Theme: Like Leviticus, this collection focuses on the requirements of the covenant and the importance of the sanctuary (the place of worship) in resolving life’s struggles. In ancient Israel, the temple was the dwelling place of Yahweh. Obedience to the temple requirements—the sacrifices and feasts—was, therefore, the way to find peace. 

 

Invocation (Read Psalm 73): Addresses the age-old problem of the wicked prospering while the righteous suffer. The turning point comes when the psalmist enters God’s sanctuary and realizes that the wicked's prosperity is only temporary, affirming that God is the eternal "strength of my heart."

 

Benediction (Read Psalm 89): Focuses on God’s CHESED (covenant faithfulness or loving-kindness), specifically honoring the covenant made with David—a promise God is legally bound to fulfill despite the failures of David’s descendants.

As in the third section of ancient covenant structure, this collection emphasizes God's covenant requirements particularly in the context of the prosperity of the wicked.  For example, Psalm 73 wonders what is the use of obedience to God’s law since the wicked seem to thrive even in their disobedience 

 

Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence,
14 For all day long I have been plagued, and punished every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus”,
    behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
16 When I tried to understand this, it was too painful for me—
17 until I entered God’s sanctuary, and considered their latter end (Psalm 73:13-17).

 

Again, in 89, the psalmist rejoices in that God’s covenant faithfulness to David was the inspiration that God would also be faithful to him. 

 

I will sing of the loving kindness (CHESED) of Yahweh forever.
    With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
2 I indeed declare, “Love stands firm forever.
    You established the heavens. Your faithfulness is in them.”

3 “I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David, my servant,
4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build up your throne to all generations (89:1-4)

Book Three  Summary

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Book Four: Consequences (Psalms 90–106)

​Theme: Like Numbers, this book deals with the sanctions (consequences) for obedience and transgression, often recounting Israel's history of rebellion in the wilderness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Invocation (Read Psalm 90): The oldest psalm was written by Moses. It contrasts God’s eternal nature with man's fleeting existence ("a thousand years in your sight are just like yesterday"). In light of human sinfulness, it begs not for what humans deserve, but for God's compassion and mercy (CHESED). The fourth section of the ancient covenant structure (sanctions) is evident in the theme of God’s mercy in the midst of our continuing failure. 

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Benediction (Read Psalm 106): Recounts Israel’s repeated failures (from the Red Sea to the wilderness), proving they cannot "do what is right at all times." The hope lies not in human obedience, but in the repeated plea to God to remember his covenant and show his great "loving kindness." A close analysis of the last psalm in the collection reveals a significant effort to reference key events in the Book of Numbers: 

 

Book Four Summary​​​

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 Earlier we saw the importance of the “self-maledictory oath” in the covenant with Abraham: the LORD takes upon himself alone the sanctions and penalties for the covenant, including human failure to obey it. This is also a repeated theme in Book Four of the Psalms, evident in God’s CHESED with Israel during their wilderness wandering. 

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Book Five: The Everlasting Kingdom (Psalms 107–150)

 

Theme: Like Deuteronomy, this final collection points to the future and continuity of the covenant, focusing on God’s everlasting kingdom. This includes the "Pilgrimage Psalms" (Psalms of Ascent, 120–134) used by travelers going "up to Jerusalem." These psalms were celebrations of God’s faithfulness to keep his eternal promises. Three times a year, the faithful of Israel were to go to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the high feasts. These feasts were reminders of God’s promises for the future. 

 

Invocation (Read Psalm 107): A central theme is the four-times repeated phrase: "Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble, and he delivered them." This highlights God's historical faithfulness and is the assurance that his kingdom is everlasting. Here again is the CHESED of Yahweh—his loyalty to his promises that assures worshippers of an everlasting kingdom for all generations to come: 

 

Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness (CHESED) endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed by Yahweh say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the adversary,
and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. (107:1,2).

 

Benediction (Read Psalm 150): The final three psalms are dominated by the word "Praise!" Psalm 150 is the ultimate call to praise God for his "mighty acts" and "excellent greatness," not just with voices, but with an entire orchestra. The book ends with the command: "Let everything that has breath praise Yah!"

 

In covenant terms, the everlasting kingdom featured through all the psalms in this collection is marked by one feature: praise. In the particular lines of this benedictory hymn, the praise is ‘in his sanctuary”—the sign of God’s everlasting kingdom in Jerusalem. The content of the praise “his mighty acts” and “excellent greatness” which have been recounted for the past 149 psalms. A distinctive feature of his psalm is the mention of an entire orchestra of musical instruments, not just voices: trumpets, harps, lyres, tambourines, stringed instruments, cymbals. Why is that of such significance to the poet? The abundance of instruments suggests an abundance of noise and even exuberance. It can remind us of the moment in David’s life when he “danced with all his might” before the Lord. So shameless was he in his praise in front of the people that it embarrassed his wife (2 Samuel 6:14). 

 

Final Thoughts on Psalms 

 

A careful study of the psalms suggests that the writers were telling stories. Though the individual narratives often began with the poet’s personal story of suffering or even confusion, through the course of the story their own stories were transformed by God’s story—what I call His Story. The very telling of that story were useful in the corporate worship but also in the inner transformation of the individual. For example, David’s extraordinary love for God was evident in the holistic processing of his experience: loving God with all his heart, mind and strength as God had commanded in the law (Deuteronomy 6:4,5). 

 

You may have realized that another term for this process is “biblical confession.”  Confession is evident in all 150 psalms and goes hand in hand with worship. The Hebrew word for “confess” in passages like Psalm 30:4 is YADA. It is no coincidence that the word can be translated either “confess” or “praise.” Nor is it coincidental that both praise and confession are essential parts of our worship.