For thousands of years the Psalms have been at the heart of theistic worship, originally as songs sung by the ancient Jewish people whose history the Old Testament records. Many of the 150 Psalms are ascribed to King David; others' origins are unknown, and their subject matter hints at a later date. Their words may have brought comfort and hope to a people that ended up in exile, far from home.

Christians, too, have found in the Psalms both wonder and wisdom, containing as they do the whole spectrum of human emotion. In the Psalms you will find sorrow and anguish, joy and praise, homesickness, loneliness, dejection and thanksgiving. There is a psalm for every occasion, and it is little wonder that they are said or sung, as part of public services or alone, every day by Christians of many denominations.

The aim of this book of 'psalm poems' is not to replace existing translations of the psalms into English, many of which very powerfully evoke the sentiments of the original authors so many centuries ago. Rather, by translating the Psalms into rhyming verse - whilst trying to keep as much of the meaning as possible - the poet TJW Thornes allows them to be read through a fresh perspective that regains some of the musical rhythm otherwise lost in translation.