One of the most read books of the Bible without a doubt is the book of Psalms. In general, all Christians daily in our devotionals We are used to reading one of the 150 psalms found in the Bible and which often represent the life of the readers, because these were written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit through various authors.
The Psalms are a great source of motivation and comfort because they narrate different stories and moments of the writers that encourage us to overcome difficult and adverse situations, and that through the Psalm, we generally see the Lord’s salvation on the writer. Therefore, in this article we will see who are the authors of the psalms of the Bible.
The book of Psalms was written by several different authors, including some Biblical characters like Moses, David, and Asaph. The best known author, who wrote most of the psalms, is King David, although there are also several psalms written by unknown authors, let’s see the authors below:
- Psalms 1-2; Unknown author.
- Psalms 3-9; Author: David.
- Psalms 10; Unknown author.
- Psalms 11-32; Author: David.
- Psalm 33; Unknown author.
- Psalms 34-39; Author: David.
- Psalms 40-41; Author: David.
- Psalms 42; Author: Sons of Korah.
- Psalms 43; Unknown author.
- Psalms 44-49; Author: Sons of Korah.
- Psalms 50; Author: Asaf.
- Psalms 51-61; Author: David.
- Psalms 62; Author: David and Jedutun.
- Psalms 63-65; Author: David.
- Psalms 66-67; Unknown author.
- Psalms 68-70; Author: David.
- Psalms 71; Unknown author
- Psalms 72; Author: Solomon.
- Psalms 73-76; Author: Asaf.
- Psalm 77; Author: Asaph
- Psalms 78-83; Author: Asaf.
- Psalms 84-85; Author: Sons of Korah.
- Psalm 86; Author: David.
- Psalm 87; Author: Sons of Korah.
- Psalms 88; Author: Heman the Ezraite.
- Psalms 89; Author: Ethan the Ezraite.
- Psalm 90; Author: Moses.
- Psalms 91-100; Unknown author
- Psalm 101; Author: David.
- Psalm 102; Unknown author
- Psalm 103; Author: David.
- Psalms 104-107; Unknown author
- Psalm 108-110; Author: David
- Psalms 111-121; Unknown author
- Psalm 122; Author: David.
- Psalm 123; Unknown author
- Psalm 124; Author: David.
- Psalms 125-126; Unknown author
- Psalm 127; Author: Solomon.
- Psalms 128-130; Unknown author.
- Psalms 131-133; Author: David.
- Psalms 134-137; Unknown author.
- Psalms 138-145; Author: David.
- Psalms 146-150; Unknown author.
Related: The Story of David in the Bible
the book of psalms
The Book of Psalms is a collection of various poetic texts written over several centuries. The oldest psalms date from the time of Moses, and the most recent were written in the period after the Jewish captivity in Babylon.
During this span of approximately 1,000 years, psalms were written and added to the collection, especially during the time of the monarchy in Israel, where most of the poetic texts were written.
See also: Why did Jesus say: “I am the lion of the tribe of Judah”?
Originally, the book of Psalms is subdivided into five books: Book 1 (Psalms 1-41); Book 2 (Psalms 42-72); Book 3 (Psalms 73-89); Book 4 (Psalms 90-106) and Book 5 (Psalms 107-150).
The word “Psalms” means “songs”, it comes from the Greek “Psalmoy«, name used for the translation of the Old Testament into Greek. This is also the same name used in the New Testament (Luke 20:42; 24:44; Acts 1:20). The title in Hebrew is Tehillimwhich means “songs of praise” or “praises.”
The titles present in the book of Psalms
The strongest evidence as to who wrote the book of Psalms is drawn from the titles that accompany the Psalms. Some people think that these titles are not part of the original text, but appear as part of the text in the Hebrew Old Testament.
Therefore, these titles were placed by the authors themselves or were marks used by a very old tradition. Regardless, they are certainly trustworthy.
In the book of Psalms there are five basic types of titles:
- Author titles: they usually indicate the author of the psalm or relate a particular psalm to someone. The difficulty with this type of title is that the Hebrew preposition used may indicate the theme of the psalm (for example, “about david” ), a dedication of the psalm (for example, “to David” ) or authorship itself (for example, “by David” ).
- Historical titles: These titles provide some clues as to when a particular psalm was written (for example, “A psalm of David when he fled from his son Absalom”; Psalm 3).
- Titles of the literary genre: in some cases they may indicate characteristics of a particular psalm, such as songs of praise, lamentations, songs of confidence, and others.
- musical titles: They are musical notations that contributed, in some way, to the execution of said psalms. Here we can even include the word “Selah” that appears in several psalms. In some cases, the titles that indicate the literary genre of the psalms are also essentially musical notations.
Related: What Does the Word Selah Mean in the Bible?
5. Instructional Titles for Use in Worship: are titles that indicate how a particular psalm should be used in formal worship, such as the “Songs of the pilgrims” (Psalms 120-134).
The authors of the book of Psalms
As explained above, some psalms provide enough information to be able to determine their author. It is true that many of the writers of the Psalms are unknown but among those that are identified we have:
- Moses: Moses composed Psalm 90, although it is not possible to know exactly at what point in his life he composed it. In addition to this psalm, Moses also wrote the Pentateuch, that is, the first five books of the Bible. As previously stated, of the psalm writers, he is the oldest.
Related: The Story of Moses in the Bible
- David: King David is the author who appears with the largest number of psalms attributed to him, at least 73 psalms. Some scholars have tried to dispute David’s authorship of the psalms, mainly claiming that the David mentioned in the psalm titles is not the same David who reigned in Israel. However, there is no basis for this theory, other than that the Bible itself is clear that King David was a musician and a poet (1 Samuel 16:14-23; 2 Samuel 1:17-27; 1 Chronicles 6:31 ). The tradition that unites David with music is so strong that even the prophet Amos, 300 years later, speaks of David as an inventor of musical instruments (Amos 6:5).
- Solomon: the wise King Solomon, son of David and his successor to the throne of Israel, also composed at least two psalms: Psalm 72 and Psalm 127.
Related: The Story of King Solomon in the Bible
- Sons of Korah: the descendants of Korah, from the tribe of Levi, also wrote some psalms, they are: Psalm 42-49; 84; 85; 87.
- The Ezraites: two descendants of Zera, from the tribe of Judah, Ethan and Heman, of whom the Bible says they were very wise (1 Kings 4:31). The composition of Psalm 88 was attributed to Heman and Psalm 89 to Ethan.
- Asaf: Asaph the Levite was a great worship leader in David’s day. Asaf or some of his descendants are credited with authoring the following psalms: Psalm 50; 73-83.
See here: The story of Asaph in the Bible
Apart from these known authors, it is not possible to determine who wrote the other psalms present in the Bible.However, most importantly, it is known that the inspiration for writing such psalms came from God himself, and that is enough.
See also: What does your rod and your staff give me breath?