How to Study the Psalms

To study the psalms, take one psalm at a time, read it slowly more than once, and ask what it says before you ask what it means. Most psalms are short. Psalm 117 has 2 verses and Psalm 23 has 6. Only Psalm 119 is very long, at 176 verses. Every psalm page on this site prints the full text, notes on its key verses, five study questions and a prayer, so you can read, study and pray from one page.

You do not need to start at Psalm 1 or read in order. You can begin with a psalm you already know, such as Psalm 23 or Psalm 91, then move to its neighbours. The steps below work for any of the 150, alone or in a group.

Read the psalm aloud if you can. The psalms are poems and songs, written to be heard as well as read. Start with the heading, if there is one, because it may name a writer, a tune or an occasion. Then ask two questions as you read: who is speaking, and to whom? Psalm 23 speaks about the LORD in verses 1 to 3 and then speaks to him directly in verses 4 and 5, "for you are with me." Psalm 13 opens by speaking straight to God: "How long, LORD?" Last, look for the turn. Many psalms change direction partway through, often from complaint to trust, and finding that verse is the key to the whole poem.

First, read the psalm twice, once in the World English Bible and once in the King James Version. Each psalm page prints both. Second, mark words and phrases that repeat. Psalm 42 asks its soul the same question in verses 5 and 11, and Psalm 136 repeats one line in every verse. Third, note the images: rock, shepherd, shield, water, light. Fourth, read the verse notes on the page, which explain what the key verses do in plain words. Fifth, work through the five study questions. They point back to the text, so a group can answer them without a commentary. If you want older writers on the same psalm, the free commentaries page lists where to read them.

Praying a psalm means using its words as your own words to God. Read a verse, then say it back as a prayer, changing he to you where the psalm speaks about God. Psalm 91 shows the move itself. Verse 1 describes the one who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, and verse 2 answers in the first person: "I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress." Each psalm page has a prayer written this way, from the words of that psalm. The prayer for Psalm 23 begins "LORD, you are my shepherd." Laments can be prayed too. Their complaints are part of the prayer, not a problem to skip.

There are 150 psalms, so one a day takes 150 days, or about five months. Psalm 119 is long enough to split over several days. A short daily routine could be: read the psalm, read one verse note, answer one study question, and pray the prayer. If you want a single verse rather than a whole psalm, the psalm verse of the day page shows one verse each day, taking the most searched verse of each psalm in order and repeating every 150 days. For a place to start, the most popular psalms page lists the psalms people look up most.