One of the most respected Old Testament scholars of our time introduces us to the history of scholarship on the Psalter and provides hermeneutical guidelines for interpreting the book— making accessible to us the transforming messages of the Psalms.

Christian scholars write to inspire renewed interest in actively praying, reciting, and singing the Psalms in personal and corporate times of worship, citing its biblical basis and historical emphasis.

The gap between the New Testament and the Imprecatory Psalms is less than we think. When faced with prayers against enemies in the Psalms, we are too quick to assume that these Old Testament authors were ignorant of some basic New Testament ethics. They are self-righteous, thinking they have earned God’s favor. They don’t know that the wicked can repent and be forgiven. They believe in vengeance and hating their enemies. We assume wrongly. These prayers are far more aware than many modern churchgoers of how deeply our own sin runs, so that even when persecuted, we are not automatically entitled to divine help. Even when we are truly entitled to justice against unrighteous attackers, if God rescues us, that is unmerited grace. Further, the psalms are fully aware that their enemies can repent, and they show mercy to them. The Book of Psalms teaches its readers—individuals and the whole people of God—to desire the repentance, forgiveness, and divine blessing of all nations, even the people’s most vicious enemies.

With both careful and rich exegesis of the psalms, Zenger recovers these as important liturgical and theological resources for the church. It is especially helpful to pastors and others in the planning of public worship.

Widely regarded as the modern C. S. Lewis, N. T. Wright, one of the world’s most trusted and popular Bible scholars and the bestselling author of Simply Christian and Surprised by Hope, presents a manifesto urging Christians to live and pray the Bible’s Psalms in The Case for the Psalms. Wright seeks to reclaim the power of the Psalms, which were once at the core of prayer life. He argues that, by praying and living the Psalms, we enter into a worldview, a way of communing with God and knowing him more intimately, and receive a map by which we understand the contours and direction of our lives. For this reason, all Christians need to read, pray, sing, and live the Psalms. By providing the historical, literary, and spiritual contexts for reading these hymns from ancient Israel’s songbook, The Case for the Psalms provides the tools for incorporating these divine poems into our sacred practices and into our spirituality itself.

An internationally-renowned Old Testament scholar explores the riches of the Psalms, expounding the ways they shape those who read them.

In a confused world with moral decay, we need clear direction for godly living. While the mention of holiness is not commonly heard these days, the Psalms call us to cultivate holy lives in today’s society. The psalmists not only teach us how to grow in holiness but they draw us into their own rich experiences. The author explores the Psalms to give us a perspective on the nature of holiness and the many important ways we can grow in holiness. The Psalter serves as an invaluable guide for our spiritual formation as followers of Jesus Christ.