Types of Psalms in the Bible

There is no single official list of psalm types. The psalms carry headings, but they do not sort themselves by kind. This page uses twelve types, read from the text of each psalm. The largest groups are Praise with 45 psalms, Lament with 43, Trust with 33 and Prayer with 31. The smallest is the Hallelujah group of 5. Every one of the 150 psalms has one or two types, and 92 of them have two, because many psalms do more than one thing, such as a lament that turns to trust.

Scholars sort the psalms in other ways, and their lists do not always match this one. The sections below set out the scheme of Hermann Gunkel, then look at the types people search for most: lament, imprecatory, royal and messianic, and wisdom. Each type in the table links to its psalms.

The Wikipedia article on the Psalms describes the scheme of Hermann Gunkel, who sorted the psalms by form. He named five main types: hymns, communal laments, royal psalms, individual laments, and individual thanksgiving psalms. He also named smaller groups: communal thanksgiving psalms, wisdom psalms, pilgrimage psalms sung on the way to Jerusalem, and entrance and prophetic liturgies. The twelve types on this site overlap with his. Praise matches his hymns. Lament covers both his communal and individual laments. This site adds groups that readers look for by name, such as the seven penitential psalms and the five Hallelujah psalms that close the book.

Lament is the second largest type here, with 43 psalms. A lament is a complaint brought to God: about enemies, illness, shame, or God seeming absent. Psalm 13:1 asks "How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?" and Psalm 22:1 asks "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Many laments turn toward trust before they end, which is why 12 of the 43 are also tagged Trust on this site. A few never turn. Psalm 88 ends with friends put "into darkness" in verse 18. Some laments speak for the whole people, like Psalm 137:1, where the exiles sat by the rivers of Babylon and wept when they remembered Zion.

An imprecatory psalm prays for harm to come on enemies. The Wikipedia article on the Imprecatory Psalms defines them as hymns that pray for enemies of God to suffer harm. The lines are blunt. Psalm 58:6 says "Break their teeth, God, in their mouth." Psalm 109:8 says "Let his days be few. Let another take his office." Psalm 137:9 blesses whoever dashes the enemy's little ones against the rock. This site tags six psalms Imprecatory: 35, 58, 69, 83, 109 and 137. Lists differ. The Wikipedia article says six are generally considered imprecatory, 55, 59, 69, 79, 109 and 137, and names many other psalms with imprecatory lines. The two lists share three psalms. Here 55 and 59 are tagged Lament and Trust, and 79 is tagged Lament.

Royal psalms are about the king. This site tags 11 of them. Psalm 72:1 prays "God, give the king your justice", Psalm 45 is addressed to the king at a royal wedding, and Psalm 2:7 has the LORD say to his king, "You are my son." Messianic is not a type on this site, because it describes how later readers applied a psalm, not its form. The New Testament does quote several psalms about Jesus, including royal and lament psalms. Acts 13:33 and Hebrews 1:5 quote Psalm 2:7. Matthew 22:44 quotes Psalm 110:1. Matthew 27:46 gives Jesus's cry from Psalm 22:1. Matthew 21:42 quotes Psalm 118:22 on the rejected stone.

Wisdom psalms teach. There are 19 here, including Psalm 1, which sets the way of the righteous against the way of the wicked, and Psalm 119, the longest psalm. Praise psalms call people to praise God for who he is, and there are 45. Thanksgiving psalms, 20 of them, give thanks for something God has done, often a rescue, as in Psalm 107. Trust psalms, 33 in all, express confidence in God, such as Psalm 23 and Psalm 121. Historical psalms, 7 of them, retell Israel's story, as Psalm 78 and Psalm 105 do. Prayer, with 31 psalms, marks psalms that are mostly direct requests.