THE BOOK OF PSALMS

It is a Book of Psalms, often called the Hymnal of the Second Temple, is part of God's inspired Word, and consists of 5 collections of sacred songs: 1) Psalms 1-41;  2) 42-72;  3) 73-89;  4) 90-106;  5) 107-150, each collection ending with a blessing pronounced on God. The Book is in complete harmony with the rest of the Scriptures.
Distinctive are the alphabetical Psalms: 9, 10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, and 145, in which the initial verse or verses of the 1st stanza begin with the Hebrew letter 'a'leph, the next verse(s) with -behth-, and so on through all or nearly all of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet that served as a memory aid.
The headings or super-inscriptions found at the beginning of many Psalms identify the writer, furnish the background material, provide musical instructions or indicate the use or purpose of the Psalm (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 30, 38, 60, 92, 102). The super-inscriptions also provide the needed information for locating other comparable thoughts in the Scriptures that illuminate a particular Psalm (Compare Psalm 51 with 2 Samuel 11:2-15; 12: 1-14). Psalms without the super-inscriptions can also have comparable thoughts found elsewhere in the Bible (Compare Psalm 1 with Jeremiah 17:5-8; Psalm 49:12 with Ecclesiastes 3:19 and 2 Peter 2:12; Psalm 49:17 with Luke 12:20, 21). Also, many verses are the quotations from the Psalms found in the Christian Greek Scriptures (Psalm 5:9 [Romans 3:13]; Psalm 8:6 [1 Corinthians 15:27], [Eph.1:22]; Psalm 10:7 [Romans 3:14]; Psalm 14:1-3, Psalm 53:1-3 [Romans 3:10-12]; Psalm 19:4 [Romans 10:18]; Psalm 24:1[1Cor.10:26]; Psalm 32:1,2 [Roman 4:7,8]; Psalm 36:1 [Romans 3:18]; Psalm 44:22 [Romans 8:36]; Psalm 50:14 [Matt.5:23]; Psalm 51:4 [Romans 3:4]; Psalm 56:4,11 and Psalm 118:6 [Hebrew 13:6]; Psalm 62:12 [Romans 2:6]; Psalm 69:22,23 [Romans 11:9,10]; Psalm 78:24 [John 6:31]; Psalm 94:11 [1 Cor.3:20]; Psalm 95:7-11 [Hebrew 3:7-11, 15; Hebrew 4:3-7]; Psalm 102:25-27 [Hebrew 1:10-12]; Psalm 104:4 [Hebrew 1:7]; Psalm 112:9 [2 Cor. 9:9]; Psalm 116:10 [2 Cor. 4:13]; Psalm 144:3 [Hebrew 2:6] and many others.
Since other poetic parts of the Bible are often introduced similarly, give us the idea that they originated either with the writers or the collectors of the Psalms (Exodus 15:1; Deuteronomy 31:30; 33:1; Judges 5:1; compare 2 Samuel 22:1 with the super-inscription of Psalm 18). Lending support to this is the fact that as far back as the writing of the Dead Sea Psalms Scroll (dated between 30 and 50 CE) the super-inscriptions were part of the main text.
Of the 150 Psalms, 73 are attributed to Davis, 11 to the sons of Korah (one of these [Ps.68]also mentioning Heman), 12 to Asaph (the house of Asaph), 1 to Moses, 1 to Solomon, and 1 to Ethan the Ezrahite. Additionally, Psalm 72 is "regarding Solomon." From Acts 4:25 and Hebrews 4:7, Psalms 2 and 95 were written by David. Psalms 10, 43, 71, 91, are continuations of Psalms 9, 42, 70, 90. Therefore, Psalms 10 and 71 are attributed to David, Psalm 43 to the sons of Korah, and Psalm 91 to Moses. This leaves over 40 Psalms without a specific composer named or indicated.
The individual Psalms were written over a period of about 1,000 years, from the time of Moses until after the return from Babylonian exile (Psalm 90 [super-inscription]; 126:1,2; 137:1,8).
The order and content of the Book of Psalms were fixed at an early date. The order and content of the book in the Greek Septuagint Version basically agree with the Hebrew text. Therefore, the Book of Psalms were completed in the 3rd century BC, when work on this translation began.
The Book of Psalms provides a window through which the next generation of believers may view and understand how ancient Israel responded to God's presence, or absence.
The Book of Psalms contains parallel thoughts or expressions that give voice to a panoply of human emotions, sometimes sublime but at other times embarrassingly vengeful.