The book of Psalms is a collection of 150 sacred poems and songs that express the full range of human emotion: praise, lament, gratitude, anguish, and hope. It is the prayer and worship book par excellence of the people of Israel, and remains the spiritual heart of millions of believers around the world. Through its immortal verses, every listener will find words that express what the soul often cannot say on its own.
The book of Psalms was compiled over several centuries, roughly between 1000 and 400 BC. Tradition attributes the authorship of most of the psalms to King David, though names such as Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon, and Moses also appear. It is divided into five internal books, which some scholars interpret as an intentional mirror of the five books of Moses. A curious fact: Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the entire Bible, with 176 verses, and each section begins with a consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The Psalms were the official hymnbook of the Temple of Jerusalem and were sung with the accompaniment of instruments such as harps, lyres, and cymbals.