Five Piece Psalter Sampler Special

For this Friday's Bible study we will be reading from the Psalter/Psalms. Because there are 150 Psalms (unless you read from the Septuagint, Dead Sea Scrolls, or the Peshitta which includes more than the Hebrew Masoretic Text) written by different people over a HUGE chunk of time we will be reading what I'm calling the "Five Piece Psalter Sampler Special". What is included in the "Five Piece Psalter Sampler Special" you ask? Well here you go:
Psalm 51 - By David, commonly called the Miserere, one of the Penitential Psalms from when David was confronted by Nathan after his "fling" with Bathsheba.
Psalm 72 - By Solomon, one of the Royal Psalms that may have been used in Israelite coronation services.
Psalm 88 - By Heman the Ezrahite, a prayer for help that includes one of the "classic" descriptions of Sheol in the Old Testament.
Psalm 90 - by Moses, a reflection on the conditions of humanity and a petition for help.
Psalm 136 - by ???, known as the "Great Hallel" in Jewish liturgy and recited at Passover.

We're going to also talk about some of the obstacles of translating Hebrew poetry into English (either poetry or prose) and to show just how ridonculous a task it is, read this word-for-word interlinear translation and then compare with your Bible. Don't forget, Hebrew is written right to left.



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