The Psalms are organized into five books. The general organization of the book of Psalms reflects the growth of the collection in several stages. The superscriptions of many psalms contain information relevant to their collection, as well as their performance.
Divisions within the Book of Psalms
The present book of Psalms is divided into five books, probably intended to correspond to the five books of the Pentateuch, or law of Moses. The divisions are: Book I, Psalms 1–41; Book II, Psalms 42–72; Book III, Psalms 73–89; Book IV, Psalms 90–106; and Book V, Psalms 107–150. Each of the first four books ends with a doxology, and Psalm 150 serves as the doxology to the entire collection. The first psalm, which describes the righteous worshiper who delights in the law of the Lord, serves as an introduction to the Psalms.
Several subgroups occur within the Psalms that may be remnants of earlier collections. Psalms 2–72 make up “the prayers of David son of Jesse” (Ps. 72:20); the two psalms that frame this collection are psalms for the coronation of the Davidic ruler. (Psalms of David also appear in other parts of the Psalter.) Within the “prayers of David” are another subgroup (Pss. 42–49) related to the sons of Korah. Other obvious subgroups include a collection of psalms of Asaph (Pss. 73–83), the “Songs of Ascents,” evidently for the use of pilgrims going up to Zion for the annual festivals (Pss. 120–134), and the “Egyptian Hallel” (Pss. 113–118), a group of psalms used during the Passover celebration, four of which end with “Hallelujah!”
The number of 150 psalms may be an imitation of the 153 pericopes (sections to be read in the synagogue) of the Torah. To make up this number, some psalms or sections of psalms are repeated. Psalm 53 repeats Psalm 14; Psalm 29:1–2 is found also in Psalm 96:7–9; Psalm 70:1–5 is a duplicate of Psalm 40:13–17. Psalm 108 consists of Psalms 57:7–11 and 60:5–12, while Psalm 135 is made up entirely of portions of several other psalms. Psalms 9, 10 and Psalms 42–43 are each one psalm, artificially divided. Many psalms like materialS are found in other parts of the Old Testament, especially in the prophetic books and in the New Testament (Luke 1–2).
Superscriptions
About half the Psalms have the introductory note or superscription. The superscription may indicate the collection to which the psalm belongs and often gives directions to the choirmaster for performance, such as the instrumentation to be used and possibly the names of well-known tunes or modes to which the psalm is to be sung. Fourteen of the superscriptions relate the psalm to events in the life of David. Most authorities hold that the superscriptions were prefixed to the Psalms only at a late stage in the organization of the collection, but it is impossible to be certain one way or the other. In printed Hebrew texts, the superscription is verse 1, so that in the case of many psalms the verse numbers in the Hebrew differ from those in the English translations. (This discussion cites the English verse numbers.)
Certain terms in the superscriptions refer to various types of psalms. Many are called a “song” (shir), or a “psalm” (mizmor), a term that probably indicates a song performed to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument. The title shir hamma‘lot in Psalms 120–134 means literally “song of the goings up,” often translated “Song of Ascents”; because the expression “go up” often means to go up to Jerusalem, this title probably indicates psalms used by pilgrims to the annual festivals. The designation maskil (Pss. 32; 42; 52; 78) may mean “skillful psalm” or “contemplative psalm,” while the term mikhtam (Pss. 56; 60) may indicate a psalm of expiation. A few psalms are called prayers (tfillah, Pss. 86; 90). Occasionally a psalm is designated by more than one of these terms (Pss. 75; 88; 92). Interestingly, only Psalm 145 is called thillah, “psalm of praise,” the Hebrew title of the book of Psalms.