Category: Psalms

Book of Psalms — collections, classifications, superscriptions: for each psalm, columns on the chart address the thematic and formal collections, the classifications of Sabourin and of Gunkel, and the items found in the superscriptions and inserts, e.g.: terms, song of the day, muscial annotations, ‘selahs,’ proper names, choirmaster and historical references.

Psalms Classification including sections and notes identifying the five books of the Psalter and smaller sub-collections.

Many attempts to classify the psalms fail to consistently distinguish between categories related by form and categories related by content. These charts give each psalm both a preliminary classification “By Form” (e.g., L, IL, CL, IT, CT, H, A) and “By Content” (wisdom, confidence, repentance, imprecation, kingdom, royal coronation, etc.).

In the PDF, asterisks (*) indicate psalms that illustrate the typical elements of the type; plus symbols (+) indicate psalms of mixed types; question marks (?) indicate less-certain classifications. Grayed blocks indicate sub-collections. “Psalms of David” are in red.