Psalm 151: The Extra Psalm of David

Psalm 151 is a short extra psalm about David and Goliath. It has 7 verses and sits outside the 150 psalms found in most Bibles. It is found in most copies of the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation, but not in the standard Hebrew text. The Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches accept it as scripture, while Protestants and most forms of Judaism do not. The full text is printed below from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain.

Its heading calls it a genuine psalm of David, "though extra," composed when he fought Goliath in single combat. The seven verses tell the story in David's own voice, from tending his father's sheep to taking the giant's sword.

1 I was small among my brothers, and youngest in my father’s house. I tended my father’s sheep.

2 My hands formed a musical instrument, and my fingers tuned a lyre.

3 Who shall tell my Lord? The Lord himself, he himself hears.

4 He sent forth his angel and took me from my father’s sheep, and he anointed me with his anointing oil.

5 My brothers were handsome and tall; but the Lord didn’t take pleasure in them.

6 I went out to meet the Philistine, and he cursed me by his idols.

7 But I drew his own sword and beheaded him, and removed reproach from the children of Israel.

The psalm is a short retelling of David's rise, spoken in the first person. In verse 1 he is the youngest of his brothers and tends his father's sheep. In verse 2 his hands make a musical instrument and his fingers tune a lyre. Verse 4 says the Lord sent his angel, took him from the sheep and anointed him with oil. Verse 5 notes that his brothers were handsome and tall, but the Lord did not take pleasure in them. The last two verses turn to the fight. The Philistine curses him by his idols, and David draws the giant's own sword, beheads him, and removes reproach from the children of Israel. The same events are told in 1 Samuel 16 and 17, where Samuel anoints David in 16:13 and David cuts off the Philistine's head with his sword in 17:51.

Psalm 151 is found in most copies of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, but not in the Masoretic Text, the standard Hebrew text. The Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches accept it as canonical. Protestants and most forms of Judaism consider it apocryphal. It also appears in some editions of the Latin Vulgate, although the Catholic Church does not treat it as canonical. Some ecumenical translations also include it. That is why a search for it in an ordinary Protestant Bible finds nothing after Psalm 150.

Yes, in a longer form. The Great Psalms Scroll from Qumran, known as 11Q5, holds two short Hebrew compositions that scholars now agree lie behind the Greek Psalm 151. They are called Psalm 151A and Psalm 151B. Psalm 151A supplies the material for verses 1 to 5 of the Greek psalm, and the remaining verses come from Psalm 151B. So the psalm is known from a Hebrew source as well as from the Greek.

Searches for Psalms 152, 153, 154 and 155 point to five extra psalms known as the Five Syriac Psalms or the Five Apocryphal Psalms of David, a group that includes Psalm 151. They survive in two Syriac biblical manuscripts and in several copies of a book by Elijah of Anbar. Psalms 152 and 153 survive only in Syriac. In them David speaks while fighting a lion and a wolf that took a sheep, and then gives thanks after killing both. Hebrew copies of Psalms 154 and 155 also turned up among the Dead Sea Scrolls, in the scroll known as 11QPs(a). Psalm 155 is a prayer of repentance. The numbering in this group stops at 155.