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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1918. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER II THE BOOK OF PSALMS CHAPTER II THE BOOK OF PSALMS Title. The first book in the collection of Writings, in the ordinary Hebrew Bible, is the book of Psalms. The book itself furnishes no title for the collection of psalms as a whole; nor is such title found anywhere else in the Old Testament. The nearest approach to it occurs in Psalm 72. 20, "The prayers1 of David the son of Jesse are ended." The singular of the same word "prayer" appears as the title of Psalms 17, 86, 90, 102, 142, and would be appropriate in many other cases; indeed, all the psalms glow with the spirit of prayer, if prayer is interpreted in a broad sense as any turning of the heart to God in supplication, reverence, or praise. The later Jews gave to the book the title sepher tehilllm, "book of praises," which title was known also to the early church fathers. The singular noun tehillah, "praise" or "praisesong," which has furnished this appropriate title for the entire book, is found in the Hebrew text as the title of only one psalm.2 The usual Septuagint title is /3ijCUo? ipakjuov, biblos psalmon, "book of psalms,"3 rendered in the Vulgate, Liber psalmorum. In the Codex Alexandrinus the title ipaXrfjptov, psaltcrion--the name of a stringed instrument4--is substituted for the usual Septuagint title. The latter 1 Hebrew, tephilldth; singular, tephiUah. 1 Psalm 145. The ypaXiiM is primarily a song sung to the accompaniment of stringed instruments. 4 Perhaps the same as the frequently mentioned Hebrew nebhel. is used in the New Testament in Luke 20. 42 and Acts 1. 20. The English titles, Book of Psalms and Psalter, are the equivalents of the two Septuagint headings. Number and Division. Both the Hebrew Bible and the Septuagint give the total number of psalms as 150, though the two...
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