Christina Braden

I’m so excited to be studying the book of Psalms. When I was in Israel in 2023, we visited En Gedi.  It was one of my most favorite places. It is said that this was the place that David wrote some of the Psalms.  This beautiful place lives in my heart and when I read a Psalm I feel alive, I feel fiercely connected to Israel and to the Holy Land.  

Psalms is a very comforting book found in the Old Testament. It is a great book of prophecy.  David wrote many of the Psalms, but not all of the Psalms, he was not just a king, he was a prophet. This is noted in Acts chapter 2:29-31.  

The Hebrews didn’t know what to call this book, this collection of praises. So they ended up calling it, Book of Praises, and then just shortening it to Praises which in Hebrew it is “tehillim”. The Greek translation “Psalmos”, translates to the definition of a striking of a stringed instrument and then the most recent translation in the Greek is “Psalmoi” which means songs. In English it’s translated to Psalms.  

No matter what season of life you’re in, Psalms will bring comfort to you. If you are in a challenging time in your life, I recommend living that season in the book in Psalms. And the reason why is, Psalms will bring you back to a God-centered focus. Heaven will open up to you in the Psalms and it will allow you to look up and focus on God instead of whatever you’re going through at the time. Psalms are basically grouped together in categories and here are the categories. 

Wisdom Psalms -guidance for living a godly life 

Royal Psalms– also known as the Messianic Psalms they foretell of Messiah 

Lament Psalms – these are full of emotion and record the heart of the writer for a Deliverance of some sort 

Imprecatory Psalms – these call upon God to pour out his wrath his judgment 

Thanksgiving Psalms – Express gratitude 

Pilgrimage Psalms – these were songs that were to be sung when the Jewish people made their pilgrimages to Jerusalem. 

Enthronement Psalms– describing God’s rule and Majesty

We will not study all 150 Psalms, but we will cover many of them in this study.  As always, please read all of them.  I encourage you to read as many translations as possible of the scriptures.  The bible app is very helpful as they have many different translations.  Each translation might help you understand the content a little better using different words, more contemporary language.  This study will use the NIV and the AMP translations taken from Bible Gateway and You Version Bible found online.  http://www.biblegateway.com I also am not a theologian or have any earthy credentials to write this study.  I am a child of God, a believer in Jesus Christ, and a forever student of the Living Word.  I will not get everything right; I won’t even pretend too.  My faith leads me to believe that Jesus will not be mad at me if I don’t get it all the way right like the Bible Scholars do or your Pastors do, as I am neither of these things.  I am a person that wants to share my stories and studies in effort that the word of God will be opened up to you in a way that makes you understand the Bible a little better and ultimately fall in love with this amazing guide to life.  This amazing love story.