NOTES ON PSALMS 1-65

Psalm 1:1-6 Pattern (v. 1,4), practice (v. 2), produce (v. 3,5-6). These are parallel with three parts of 

wisdom: knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do it), and virtue (doing it consistently).

Psalm 5:11 See I Thessalonians 5:16.

Psalms 9-10 Ps. 9 is an acrostic covering letters a-l, which Ps. 10 covers m-z. However, thematically,

Ps. 10 is a complaint and a cry for help while Ps. 9 is a song of thanksgiving. If they were originally 

one psalm then it is more logical to reverse their order. The problem with the acrostic structure can be 

solved with the observation that the Hebrew alphabet (and other ancient alphabets) was taught in two 

parts. The order of the two parts was apparently not fixed early in the history of the language since 

there is an ostracon at Qumran recently published that has this very same reversed order.

Psalm 11:1 Look for God's attributes in this psalm.

Psalm 16:10 This same verse used quite differently by Stephen (Acts 2) and Paul (Acts 13).

Psalm 19 praises the “Books of God,” i.e. Nature and Scripture.

Psalm 20:4 Put this together with Ps. 37:4.

Psalm22:1 This is the only place where the phrase is repeated. It points out that even in the midst of 

pain, there is no doubt as to relationship. (Luther)

Ps. 22:31 The last phrase is similar to Jesus' pronouncement "It is finished."

Psalm 23 Comments from Knut Heim, CT, Jan/Feb 2016 are below:

vv. 2 and 5. sheep are ruminants who generally graze in open fields, but then retire to safe places away 

from predators in order to chew the cud, a process which induces a sort of stupor in them, making them 

vulnerable.

4a. Often between the feeding and resting places, one must go through forced passageways in steep and 

dark valleys filled with rocks that can conceal predators.

4b. The staff is primarily used as a weapon, the crook for guiding sheep.

5. The metaphor shifts to that of host and guest. Our lives are filled with pain, loss and disease – our 

own dark valleys.

6b. Heim translates it more literally as “I shall return to the house of the Lord for many days to come.”

Ps. 23:1-3 The uncertain time indications of Hebrew verbs are shown in this more literal translation by 

Oxtoby:

    The Lord, the one shepherding me, I lacking nothing.

    He, the one making me to lie down in green pastures.

    He, the one leading me beside restful waters.

    He, the restorer of my person.

Ps. 23:5 Freedman interprets this psalm in terms of the Exodus and Wilderness wanderings, especially 

in view of this verse and Ps. 78:19.

Psalm 24:3-4 Jen Wilkins, CT, Nov. 2019: Who can ascend? “In other words, no one born of Adam. In 

other words, it is Christ who may ascend the mountain of the Lord, and Christ alone. The one who may 

ascend is the one who descended, the one who condescended to us.” The imagery is related to Genesis 

28:12 and John 1:51.

Psalm 25 There is an extra pe at the end (as in Ps. 34). Patrick Skehan suggests that this creates a 

pattern in which the first middle and last letters spell aleph (the first letter and also the Hebrew word 

for “teach”). See the note to Ps. 34:22 for an alternative explanation

Psalm 34 See note to Ps. 25.

Ps. 34:3 Discuss the difference between this kind of magnification and that accomplished by a 

magnifying glass.

Ps. 34:10 A lion's appetite is carnal, never satisfied.

Ps. 34:13 relates to the superscription of the psalm.

Ps. 34:16-18 If the original acrostic had the reversed ayin/pe found in the earliest Hebrew ABC's, then 

these verses make much better sense.

Ps. 34:22 This psalm is an acrostic that skips the sixth letter but ends with "a" In that manner, we start 

all over again. This technique was utilized much later by James Joyce in his novel Finnegans Wake.

Psalm 36:8-10 The Temple has now become the equivalent of the Garden of Eden.

Psalm 37:4 Put it together with Ps. 20:4.

Psalm 44:23 BAR Jan/Feb 2018, pp. 62-63: God needs to be roused from sleep. It fits in with the 

prescript to Ps. 45 if it is the postscript of Ps. 44 instead. It should read “according to the lotuses” 

referring to lotus-shaped trumpets. The same reasoning applies to calls for an apparently absent God to 

make his power known in Pss. 59, 68 and 79.

Psalm 46:1-11 This was the basis of Luther's “A Mighty Fortress.”

Ps. 46:4 This refers to the importance of a reliable water supply for cities under siege.

Psalm 47:7 See John 4:22-24.

Psalm 63:3 is remarkable since it was composed when David was fleeing from his son Absalom.

Psalm 64 has been analyzed as consisting of two parts, each marked by an inclusion (i.e. set of 

matching bookends).

    “hear” (2a) and “see” (6c)

    “heart” (7c and 11c)

Psalm 65:1 Ellen Davis translates, “To you, O Lord, silence is praise.”