How to read Psalms as prayer and poetry

Read a psalm all the way through before choosing a line to remember. Listen for who is speaking, whom they address and how the images develop. Psalms contains prayers and songs with different moods: confidence, grief, thanksgiving and praise. A useful first exercise is Psalm 23 in the World English Bible, beginning with the image of the Lord as shepherd. In the Russian Synodal Bible, the same psalm is numbered 22.

Find the same text in both editions

Open Psalm 23 in the World English Bible and, if you read Russian, Psalm 22 in the Synodal translation. Compare their opening lines before comparing verse numbers. This avoids a common difficulty in a bilingual discussion: two people may announce different numbers while actually referring to the same prayer. Keep the edition name beside the reference in your notes.

Do not assume that a one-number adjustment works everywhere in the Psalter. Use the opening words or the cross-reference supplied in your edition to confirm the passage. Differences within the wording need a separate comparison. Our guide to Bible translations explains how footnotes and edition names help with that task. For this reading exercise, leave both complete texts open so that a single phrase does not become separated from the rest.

Hear the voice before explaining the images

In Psalm 23 the speaker begins by describing the Lord as his shepherd. Notice the personal language: this is someone expressing confidence in God's care. The psalm’s heading associates it with David. The text itself does not identify a particular day or episode in his life, so you can read what it says without inventing a scene in which he supposedly composed it. A commentary that proposes a setting should explain the evidence for its proposal.

Read the psalm aloud once, slowly enough to hear the movement of the sentences. At this stage, ask what kind of voice you hear. Is the speaker asking a question, making a request or expressing trust? You do not need to name every literary device. A short description such as “confidence while facing danger” is already more useful than assuming that every psalm has the same emotional tone or purpose.

Follow the shepherd image across the passage

The opening picture develops through pasture and water, restoration and guidance. These details belong together. Rather than assigning an unrelated hidden meaning to every object, ask how they contribute to the picture of being cared for and led. Then notice the difficult part of the route. The psalm includes the valley of the shadow of death; confidence does not depend on removing that line from the reading.

Verse 4 changes the form of address. The speaker turns from describing the Lord to speaking directly to him. Read the sentence before and after that turn. You can observe the change on the page without claiming to know everything about its emotional effect on the original singer. In your notes, distinguish the visible feature of the text from your own response to it. Both may matter in discussion, but they answer different questions.

Read neighbouring lines together

The references to the rod and staff sit beside the declaration of comfort. Reading them together helps keep the objects within the shepherd picture. Later, the poem presents a prepared table, oil and an overflowing cup. Describe what those lines actually say before supplying cultural background from another source. The enemies remain in the scene. The final movement toward goodness, loving kindness and the Lord’s house should be read with that earlier danger still in view.

Try placing a brief observation beside each movement of the poem. You might note care at the beginning, direct address in the valley and the prepared table later. This is an aid to following the text, not a required outline. If another reader divides the passage differently, compare the words that led you to your choices. Poetry allows you to notice connections that are harder to hear when every numbered verse is treated as a separate saying.

Let other psalms have their own mood

The ESV Global Study Bible introduction distinguishes laments, praise and thanksgiving, among other kinds of psalm. It identifies Psalm 23 as a song of confidence. Use that as an introduction to variety, rather than a requirement to fit each poem into a box immediately. A lament can give words to distress; its questions should be heard in their own context.

When you move to another psalm, start again with its complete text. Do not insist that it sound as calm as the shepherd psalm. Look for requests and repeated words, and notice whether the speaker changes whom they address. If a difficult line troubles you, write it down with its surrounding verses. You can take the question to someone who can discuss the whole passage rather than replacing it with a more comfortable line from elsewhere.

Use the reading in prayer without treating it as a formula

After reading, you may use a line to begin a prayer in your own words. Keep the rest of the psalm in view. Psalm 23 includes danger and enemies as well as confidence; it should not be turned into a guarantee that repeating it will prevent illness, loss or fear. No particular number of readings is prescribed by this exercise. If the words raise a question instead of an immediate feeling of comfort, that is a question you can discuss.

Our article on prayer in Baptist life addresses the broader subject. For a conversation about this psalm at Spasenie in Winter Park, near Orlando, see the first-visit guide. Bring the text with its edition and opening words, especially if you and your conversation partner use different numbering.