I have a plugin that will make Bible passages function as popups when you mouse over them, no need to click. However, it only works if there is a verse as well as a chapter number. So in many of the references below, where I intended the whole Psalm, I’ve had to add a “:1” to the reference make the popup work.
Psalms is one of the most-often quoted books in the New Testament. Psalm 110:4, in fact, is the most alluded-to passage in the New Testament. (The other two books quoted most often are Deuteronomy and Isaiah.)
For Latter-day Saints, Psalms is one of those many books we have a strong tradition… of ignoring. Yet, said President Benson,
The psalms in the Old Testament have a special food for the soul of one in distress.
How so? Well, Psalms are often prayers, songs, or both. They praise, ask, censure, worship, question, plead, and express frustration. Are you angry at God? So are some of the Psalms. Are you frustrated at how the wicked seem to prosper, while your own efforts at “living right” seem fruitlessly? There are Psalms expressing this frustration to God; I particularly like Psalm 73:1. Are you depressed? There are Psalms for that.
I think Psalms is a vastly underused pastoral resource, because we don’t know them. And that’s a shame. Among others, my favorites are Psalm 51 (that’s an entire post) because of the beautiful music and moving lyrics, and Psalm 73:1.
If I were a Bishop, during the OT year, I think I’d assign “talks” that included reading one or two thematic Psalms over the pulpit every Sunday, probably in a modern translation that was sensitive to literary aspects like Robert Alter’s (here piecemeal or here with the whole megillah .) And that’s because, the Psalms are highly literary poetry.
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(Reposted but not updated, so many of the links may not work.)
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