Psalmody Biography
The Book of Psalms (, US also ; Biblical Hebrew: תְּהִלִּים, romanized: Tehillīm, lit. 'praises'; Ancient Greek: Ψαλμός, romanized: Psalmós; Latin: Liber Psalmorum; Arabic: زَبُورُ, romanized: Zabūr), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called Ketuvim ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of Hebrew religious hymns. In the Jewish and Western Christian traditions, there are 150 psalms, and several more in the Eastern Christian churches. The book is divided into five sections, each ending with a doxology, a hymn of praise. There are several types of psalms, including hymns or songs of praise, communal and individual laments, royal psalms, imprecation, and individual thanksgivings. The book also includes psalms of communal thanksgiving, wisdom, pilgrimage and other categories. Many of the psalms contain attributions to the name of King David and other Biblical figures including Asaph, the sons of Korah, Moses and Solomon. Davidic authorship of the Psalms is not accepted as historical fact by modern scholars, who view it as a way to link biblical writings to well-known figures; while the dating of the Psalms is “notoriously difficult,” some are considered preexilic and others postexilic. The Dead Sea Scrolls suggest that the ordering of the later psalms (Psalms 90-150) was not fixed in the mid-1st century AD. Septuagint scholars, including Eugene Ulrich, have argued that the Hebrew Psalter was not closed until the first century CE. In English, the title of the book is derived from the Greek word ψαλμοί (psalmoi), meaning 'instrumental music' and, by extension, 'the words accompanying the music'. The Hebrew name of the book, Tehillim (תהילים), means 'praises', as it contains many praises and supplications to God.
