Psalms Archives - Word of Grace Studies

A Psalm of Asaph¹.

God of gods ², Jehovah, spoke and calls the earth from the rising of the sun until its entrance. From Zion the completeness of beauty, God has caused to shine. Let our God come and let Him not be silent, a fire before His face devouring, and it will be very turbulent around Him. He calls to the heavens from above, and to the earth to judge its people. Gather to Me My pious, the ones I cut a covenant with upon a sacrifice. The heavens will be caused to declare His righteousness because God Himself is Judge. Selah

Listen my people, and I will continue to speak of Israel. And I will bear witness with you. I am God, your God. I will not reprove you upon your sacrifices, and your burnt offerings are continually in front of Me. I will not take a young bull from your house, nor from the fold or your male goats because every beast of the forest is for Me, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the fowl of the mountains and the moving things of the fields are with me. If I were hungry, I would not say it to you because towards Me is the inhabited world and its fullness. Will I eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of male goats? A sacrifice of thanksgiving to Elohim and repay to the Most High your vow. And call upon Me in the day of distress. I will draw you out and you will honor Me.

Unto the wicked Elohim says, “ What is it to you to count My statutes, or to lift up My covenant upon […]

Psalm 1

In the opening chapter of the Psalms, a contrast is drawn between the way of the man who delights in the Law from Jehovah and the way of the wicked. Can this contrast be applied to Christians today, and if so, how, without allegorizing the passage.

Allegory of the Scripture is used to imply a different meaning than the literal meaning of the text. Unlike a literal translation, allegorization is an extremely dangerous method of interpretation, as it has no way to verify the meaning apart from taking the author at his or her word. It is often said to be a higher, spiritual, interpretation; however, when the Spirit from God bore along men to write the Scriptures, He did not have them use methods that where contrary to the normal use of the language.

To understand the Psalms we need to look at the meaning of the text, the words used, who it was written to, and the context of the whole passage. Can the Psalms be used for Christians?

Let us take a look and see…

Happy is the man that does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of the sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scoffer, but his delight is in the Law from Jehovah, and in His Law he utters day and night. And he will be like a tree planted upon the canals of waters, which produces fruit in its time and its leaves do not wither. And all that he does will prosper.

Although many English translations use the word “blessed” to open the Psalms, the original language uses a word that means “happiness”. If we do not understand the meaning behind the word “blessed”, […]

Psalm 50 – A Melody of Asaph

Psalm 1