A Brief Book Notice from Books At a Glance
Too often Christians read the Psalms merely with an eye to finding isolated devotional gems. Profitable as that may be, that kind of reading tends to miss the message of a given psalm itself.
This book is designed to equip the reader to grasp the message and theme of each individual psalm as intended by the psalmists. We suspect that it will revolutionize your appreciation of this already most beloved biblical book!
Table of Contents
1 Introduction to the Psalms
Psalm 1
2 Hermeneutics: Interpreting the Psalms as Believers
3 The Historical Setting of the Psalms
Psalm 3
Psalm 4
4 The Royal Orientation of the Psalms
5 The Liturgical Setting of the Psalms
Songs of Ascents
Psalm 2
Psalm 110
6 Hebrew Poetry
Psalm 133
Psalm 121
Psalm 23
7 Form Criticism and Psalm Forms
8 Praise Psalms
Psalm 117
Psalm 98
Psalm 96
Psalm 103
Psalm 150
Psalm 33
Psalm 100
Psalm 8
Psalm 81
Psalm 95
9 Petition-Lament Psalms
Psalm 54
Psalm 5
Psalm 13
Psalm 38
Psalm 58
Psalm 102
Psalm 142
Psalm 27
Psalms 42–43
Psalm 69
Psalm 6
Psalm 44
Psalm 51
Psalm 22
Psalms 90
Final Reflections on Lament Psalms
Imprecatory Psalms
10 Individual Songs of Grateful Praise
Psalm 66:13–20
Psalm 30
Psalm 34:1–11
Jonah 2
Psalm 116
Psalm 32
Psalm 40
Psalm 92
11 Songs of Trust
Psalm 131
Psalm 62
Psalm 91
Psalm 139
12 Messianic Psalms
Psalm 72
Psalm 110
Psalm 2
Psalm 16
Psalm 45
Psalm 22
Psalm 34
Psalm 8
Psalm 40
Psalm 69
Psalm 118
Enthronement Psalms
Psalm 16
13 Didactic Psalms
Psalm 37
Psalm 15
Psalm 19
Psalm 73
14 Rhetorical Devices and Structures
Psalm 2
Psalm 110
Psalm 100
Psalm 92
Psalm 25
Psalm 32
Psalm 51
Psalm 24
Psalm 58
Psalm 49
15 The Final Arrangement of the Psalter
Psalms 1–41
Psalms 42–72
Psalms 73–89
Psalms 90–106
Psalms 107–150
Appendix 1: Superscripts, Postscripts, or Both
Appendix 2: A Canonical Process Approach to the Psalms
Appendix 3: Summary of Psalm Forms
Endorsements
- Derek W. H. Thomas
As has often been said, the Psalms reflect every aspect of the human soul. Without them, our worship would be impoverished and less honest, lacking the elements of righteous anger, confusion, and dejection that so often permeate the Psalms. Bruce Waltke and Fred Zaspel have provided us with a gem of a book that opens up fresh insights into the structure, meaning, and purpose of the Psalms. This book crystallizes the fruit of long careers of devoted scholarship with clarity, insight, and skill. Hopefully this book will drive the church back to the Psalms to gain much-needed courage and nourishment. What a wonderful gift to the church.
- Leland Ryken
The most obvious virtue of How to Read and Understand the Psalms is its scope. An appropriate subtitle for the book might be What You Always Wanted to Know about the Psalms. As part of this admirable scope, detailed explications of specific psalms balance the chapters that explore the topics important to scholarship on the Psalms.
- Iain M. Duguid
This work by Waltke and Zaspel is a milestone achievement, encapsulating a lifetime of study in an accessible form that will serve students, pastors, and anyone else who wants to deepen and enrich their understanding of the book of Psalms.
- Mark Futato
Bruce Waltke and Fred Zaspel have provided the academy and the church with a rich and comprehensive book on how to read and understand the Psalms. Years of scholarship and devotion come to fruition in this masterpiece. It is an essential read for those studying the Psalms.
- David M. Howard, Jr.
What better way to encounter the book of Psalms―a book with such a wide range of topics, emotions, and types of psalms―than through the eyes of a skilled interpreter like Bruce Waltke, assisted by experienced pastor and writer Fred Zaspel. Waltke has spent the better part of a lifetime pondering the Psalms and wisdom literature, and it shows in this eminently readable introduction. It is at once engaging, insightful, and uplifting. I heartily recommend it.
- Mark Buchanan
A few years ago, I visited the Jeita Grotto in Lebanon. Hidden beneath a nondescript hillside of rock and scrub lies a vast underground cavern, a gallery of dizzying vistas, towering earth sculptures, and precarious chasms―all of it stunningly beautiful. This book feels like that. Waltke and Zaspel take us into and under the Psalter and show a huge, dazzling world teeming there. I’m stumped to know what else could have gone into this monumental book. It is scholarly, highly readable, instantly useful, spilling with insight, and massively comprehensive. The material on David alone is worth the price of the book. Every serious reader, teacher, and preacher of the Psalms needs a copy.