Instead, the psalmists wrote with parallelism, following one thought by a "rhyming" thought or by its opposite. Fortunately, this kind of poetry can be translated into almost any language without loss.
Readers may be confused by the psalms' frequent change of voice. In a single poem the psalmist may talk to God, then talk about him, and then return to talking to him, all in rapid succession. This would be strange English prose, but was common in Hebrew poetry.
Because so many of the psalm titles refer to David, you may find it helpful to refer to his life story. It is found in 1 Samuel 16-31, the whole book of 2 Samuel, and the first two chapters of 1 Kings. However, most of the psalms can make perfect sense without reference to any outside information. They merely ask - and reward - time and close attention. Read and reread them. They grow richer with careful study. |
