Psalms by Category

These Psalms articulate deep sorrow, suffering, and distress, serving as vehicles for the 'shout of No' against hardship. They are used when contemplating physical or spiritual vexation, persecution, and asking God how long His wrath will last. They often shift abruptly from complaint to trust, and genuine lament is the Christian form that shapes the affective eruption engendered by suffering. Psalm 22 is considered the premier psalm of lament.

To the choirmaster: according to Do Not Destroy. A Miktam of David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave.
¹ Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.
² I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
³ He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!
⁴ My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts— the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.
⁵ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!
⁶ They set a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my way, but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah
⁷ My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody!
⁸ Awake, my glory! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn!
⁹ I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.
¹⁰ For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.
¹¹ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! (ESV)

Prayer

Almighty and everlasting God, the Consolation of the sorrowful and the Strength of the weak, may the prayers of them that in any tribulation or distress cry to You, graciously come before You, so that in all their necessities they may mark and receive Your manifold help and comfort; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord.

These psalms, particularly the Penitential Psalms (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143), deal with the knowledge of sin and the need for forgiveness and absolution. Repentance requires faith in the remission of sins, urging one to hear what God wishes to say rather than focusing on self-justification. Confession of sins before God is inclusive, acknowledging its totality and admitting no righteousness before Him.

A Psalm of David.
¹ Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
² Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.
³ For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
⁴ Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled.
⁵ I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.
⁶ I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah
⁷ Answer me quickly, O LORD! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
⁸ Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
⁹ Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD! I have fled to you for refuge.
¹⁰ Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!
¹¹ For your name’s sake, O LORD, preserve my life! In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
¹² And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies, and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul, for I am your servant. (ESV)

Prayer

O God, merciful Father, who does not despise the groaning of the contrite and does not scorn the emotion of the sorrowful: Be present to our prayers which mid afflictions that so heavily overwhelm us we pour out before You, and graciously hear them, so that that which is laid against us as snares, the deceits of the devil and of man, may be reduced to nothing and scattered according to the counsel of Your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

These are Doxological Psalms, comprising the language of joy, used to recount God's wonderful deeds, proclaim salvation, and exhort the congregation to praise the Lord with instruments and gladness. Thanksgiving often accompanies confession of God's goodness and mercy. Doxology is the point where the lost meet God, as it cries for and dares to enter God's presence.

¹ Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright.
² Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
³ Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
⁴ For the word of the LORD is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness.
⁵ He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.
⁶ By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
⁷ He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses.
⁸ Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
⁹ For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
¹⁰ The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
¹¹ The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.
¹² Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
¹³ The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man;
¹⁴ from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth,
¹⁵ he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.
¹⁶ The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
¹⁷ The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.
¹⁸ Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love,
¹⁹ that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.
²⁰ Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.
²¹ For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.
²² Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you. (ESV)

Prayer

I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that you would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please you. For into your hands I commend myself, my body and soul and all things. Let your holy angel be with me that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.

This group consists primarily of Torah Psalms, teaching the godly how to meditate on God's word, which is a lamp unto my feet. Meditation is not about how we meditate, but on what we meditate: the life-giving Word of God. These psalms anchor the Christian life in God's Word and provide metaphors of divine guidance.

Of David.
¹ To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.
² O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me.
³ Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
⁴ Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.
⁵ Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.
⁶ Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.
⁷ Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O LORD!
⁸ Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
⁹ He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.
¹⁰ All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
¹¹ For your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great.
¹² Who is the man who fears the LORD? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
¹³ His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land.
¹⁴ The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.
¹⁵ My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.
¹⁶ Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.
¹⁷ The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses.
¹⁸ Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.
¹⁹ Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me.
²⁰ Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
²¹ May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.
²² Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. (ESV)

Prayer

Make me to understand the way of Your precepts. Strengthen me according to Your Word.

The New Testament cites the Psalms more than any other Old Testament book to show that Jesus is the Christ. These Psalms fulfill prophecies concerning His person, priesthood, and passion, such as the cry of forsakenness on the cross (Psalm 22). They are direct or external psalms dealing with the faith in the promised Messiah.

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
¹ Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him;
² the LORD protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.
³ The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health.
⁴ As for me, I said, “O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you!”
⁵ My enemies say of me in malice, “When will he die, and his name perish?”
⁶ And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words, while his heart gathers iniquity; when he goes out, he tells it abroad.
⁷ All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.
⁸ They say, “A deadly thing is poured out on him; he will not rise again from where he lies.”
⁹ Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
¹⁰ But you, O LORD, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them!
¹¹ By this I know that you delight in me: my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.
¹² But you have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever.
¹³ Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen. (ESV)

Prayer

O Lord God, heavenly Father, we give You thanks that of Your great goodness and mercy You suffered Your only-begotten Son to become incarnate and to redeem us from sin and everlasting death; and we implore You, enlighten our hearts by Your Holy Spirit that we may evermore yield You unfeigned thanks for this Your grace and may comfort ourselves with the same in all time of tribulation and temptation; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord.

Psalms expressing firm confidence and security in God, viewing Him as a Refuge and Strength. They speak of abiding under the shadow of the Almighty, and encourage reliance on God's sustaining work in times of fear. This category teaches that salvation belongs to the Lord.

Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.
¹ I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
² My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.
³ Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!
⁴ I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
⁵ Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.
⁶ This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
⁷ The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.
⁸ Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
⁹ Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!
¹⁰ The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
¹¹ Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
¹² What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?
¹³ Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
¹⁴ Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
¹⁵ The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.
¹⁶ The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
¹⁷ When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
¹⁸ The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
²⁰ He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.
²¹ Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
²² The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. (ESV)

Prayer

O God, our Refuge and Strength, who is the Author of all godliness, be ready, we implore You, to hear the devout prayers of Your Church, and grant that those things which we ask faithfully we may obtain effectually; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord.

These psalms voice complaints and groans on behalf of the Church, which is set in the midst of the wicked. They petition God to deliver the righteous, judge the nations, and administer justice against oppressors, recognizing that God is the inspector of all that is done among men. They ask that enemies may not triumph over the righteous.

To the choirmaster. A Maskil of David, when Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”
¹ Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The steadfast love of God endures all the day.
² Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.
³ You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking what is right. Selah
⁴ You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue.
⁵ But God will break you down forever; he will snatch and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
⁶ The righteous shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying,
⁷ “See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and sought refuge in his own destruction!”
⁸ But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.
⁹ I will thank you forever, because you have done it. I will wait for your name, for it is good, in the presence of the godly. (ESV)

Prayer

O God, who is the Author of peace and Lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom, defend us, Your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies, that we, surely trusting in Your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord.

Psalms specifically associated with the assembly, the Temple, and fixed liturgical usage, serving as Introits (opening psalms) or Invitatories. The liturgical focus gravitates toward Mount Zion and its worship. Worship in the church is the place where people appear in God's presence, receive His blessing, and present petitions.

¹ Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
² Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
³ For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
⁴ In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.
⁵ The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.
⁶ Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
⁷ For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice,
⁸ do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
⁹ when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
¹⁰ For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.”
¹¹ Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.” (ESV)

Prayer

Almighty, ever-living God, grant that I may gladly hear Your Word and that all my worship may be acceptable to You; through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.

Psalms addressing the anxieties of life and death, confronting the brevity of human existence, and seeking refuge from God's wrath. They provide words to commend anguish to a faithful Creator and provide consolation, especially the words of Christ, who shares His never-ending life in the very midst of our dying.

A Song of Ascents.
¹ Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
² O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
³ If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
⁴ But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
⁵ I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
⁶ my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
⁷ O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.
⁸ And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. (ESV)

Prayer

O dear Lord God, Father, this life of ours is so wretched... help us to survive such great evil and malice. And when our time comes, let it be a blessed hour and a joyful departure out of this place of sorrows, that we may neither fear death nor give way to despair, but in unwavering faith commit our souls into your hands. Amen.

This category includes the fifteen Songs of Degrees (120-134), traditionally sung on spiritual pilgrimage. They describe the ascent toward the Lord, where the feet move not by pride but by charity. These psalms lead the soul to heavenly things, teaching humility and meekness.

A Song of Ascents. Of David.
¹ Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!
² It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!
³ It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore. (ESV)

Prayer

O God, the protector of all that trust in You, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us Your mercy; that, You being our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, [as finally not to lose the things eternal].