Psalms

Psalms is the Bible's great collection of prayers and songs, giving God's people language for worship in every season of life. It includes praise, lament, thanksgiving, confession, wisdom, royal hope, and cries for justice. No other book so fully teaches believers how to bring the whole heart before God. The collection is traditionally associated especially with David, though it includes psalms by Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon, Moses, and others. Arranged into five books, the Psalter moves from personal and national struggle toward a final crescendo of praise, teaching that faith does not deny sorrow but carries sorrow into the presence of the Lord. Psalms matters because it shapes the worship, prayer, and hope of God's people. Jesus and the New Testament writers quote it often, seeing in its songs the voice of the righteous sufferer, the promised King, and the worship of the Messiah's people.