Psalms of Solomon

Two psalms in the Book of Psalms have a heading that names Solomon: Psalm 72 and Psalm 127. Psalm 72 is a 20 verse prayer for the king. Psalm 127 is a 5 verse Song of Ascents about work, rest and children. The heading attributes them to Solomon, but a heading is not proof of authorship. There is also a separate collection called the Psalms of Solomon, which is not part of the 150.

This page covers both. The two psalms from the Book of Psalms are listed below. The sections explain what each one says, and how the separate Psalms of Solomon differ from them.

Only two headings in the book name Solomon, Psalm 72 and Psalm 127. No other psalm carries his name. The Bible does remember him as a writer of songs. 1 Kings 4:32 says he spoke three thousand proverbs and that his songs numbered one thousand five. Those songs are not named, and the Psalms do not say that any more of them are included. The Song of Songs, which opens "The Song of songs, which is Solomon's," is a separate book of love poems, not a psalm.

Psalm 72 opens "God, give the king your justice; your righteousness to the royal son." The rest describes the reign it hopes for. The king judges the poor with justice, saves the children of the needy and breaks the oppressor in pieces. He comes down like rain on mown grass. Kings of Tarshish, Sheba and Seba bring gifts, and all nations call him blessed. Verses 18 and 19 praise the LORD, the God of Israel. Verse 20 then closes with "This ends the prayers by David, the son of Jesse." So a psalm headed "By Solomon" ends with a line about David's prayers.

Psalm 127 is one of the Songs of Ascents, Psalms 120 to 134, and the only one of them whose heading names Solomon. In five verses it makes two points. Verse 1 says that unless the LORD builds the house and watches over the city, the builder and the watchman work in vain. Verse 2 says it is vain to rise early and stay up late eating the bread of toil, for he gives sleep to his loved ones. Verses 3 to 5 call children a heritage of the LORD and compare them to arrows in the hand of a mighty man.

The Psalms of Solomon is a different work: a group of 18 psalms that is not part of the Book of Psalms. It is classed with the Biblical apocrypha or the Old Testament pseudepigrapha. It appears in some copies of the Septuagint and of the Syriac Peshitta, but it was not admitted into later Bible canons and is not generally included in printed Bibles. Its name may come from its 17th psalm, which resembles Psalm 72. AllPsalms does not print its text. English translations have been published, including one by G. Buchanan Gray in 1913 and one by Kenneth Atkinson in 2009.