Questions about Psalms
445 honest questions people ask about Psalms, each answered from the verses. In Favor, they come up right where they arise as you read.
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Psalm 1Bible study →
Psalm 2Bible study →
Psalm 3Bible study →
Psalm 4Bible study →
Psalm 5Bible study →
Psalm 6Bible study →
Psalm 7Bible study →
Psalm 8Bible study →
Psalm 9Bible study →
- What does the title's "Set to “The Death of the Son”" (9:1) mean? Is it about Jesus?
- "For the needy shall not always be forgotten" (9:18). Does that mean they are forgotten for a while?
- "The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God" (9:17). Is the psalmist praying for people to die?
Psalm 10Bible study →
Psalm 11Bible study →
Psalm 12Bible study →
Psalm 13Bible study →
Psalm 14Bible study →
- "The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”" (14:1). Is the psalm talking about someone who argues that God doesn't exist?
- "There is no one who does good, no, not one" (14:3). Then who are "the generation of the righteous" (14:5)?
- "Oh that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!" (14:7). Is this about Jesus?
Psalm 15Bible study →
Psalm 16Bible study →
Psalm 17Bible study →
Psalm 18Bible study →
Psalm 19Bible study →
Psalm 20Bible study →
Psalm 21Bible study →
Psalm 22Bible study →
Psalm 23Bible study →
Psalm 24Bible study →
Psalm 25Bible study →
Psalm 26Bible study →
Psalm 27Bible study →
Psalm 28Bible study →
Psalm 29Bible study →
Psalm 30Bible study →
Psalm 31Bible study →
Psalm 32Bible study →
Psalm 33Bible study →
- "All their army by the breath of his mouth" (33:6). Is breath here the Holy Spirit?
- "A horse is a vain thing for safety" (33:17). Is the psalm saying it's wrong to have horses, or to prepare?
- "To deliver their soul from death, to keep them alive in famine" (33:19). Does this promise that those who fear the LORD will never go hungry or die?
Psalm 34Bible study →
- The title says David "pretended to be insane before Abimelech" (34:1). Doesn't 1 Samuel 21 say it was Achish?
- "Those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing" (34:10). Does the psalm promise that people who trust God won't suffer?
- "Not one of them is broken" (34:20). John writes of the cross, "A bone of him will not be broken" (John 19:36). Is John quoting this psalm?
Psalm 35Bible study →
Psalm 36Bible study →
Psalm 37Bible study →
- "I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging for bread" (37:25). Doesn't Scripture tell of righteous people in need?
- "He will give you the desires of your heart" (37:4). Does God give whatever you want?
- "Don’t fret because of evildoers" (37:1). Is it wrong to be troubled when the wicked do well?
Psalm 38Bible study →
- "Neither is there any health in my bones because of my sin" (38:3). Does this psalm say that illness comes from sin?
- "I will be sorry for my sin" (38:18), and then, "Those who hate me without reason are numerous" (38:19). Doesn't the psalm contradict itself?
- "But I, as a deaf man, don’t hear. I am as a mute man who doesn’t open his mouth" (38:13). Why doesn't the psalmist answer those who speak against him?
Psalm 39Bible study →
Psalm 40Bible study →
Psalm 41Bible study →
- "My own familiar friend, in whom I trusted" (41:9). Who was he?
- Jesus gives a line of this psalm "that the Scripture may be fulfilled" (John 13:18). But the same psalm says, "I have sinned against you" (41:4). Is the whole psalm about Jesus?
- "Raise me up, that I may repay them" (41:10). Is the psalmist asking to get even?
Psalm 42Bible study →
Psalm 43Bible study →
Psalm 44Bible study →
Psalm 45Bible study →
Psalm 46Bible study →
- "Be still, and know that I am God" (46:10). Who is told to be still, and what does be still mean here?
- "There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad" (46:4). Which city, and which river?
- "Come, see the LORD’s works, what desolations he has made on the earth" (46:8). Is the psalm celebrating destruction?
Psalm 47Bible study →
- "God has gone up with a shout" (47:5). Is this about Jesus going up into heaven?
- "He subdues nations under us, and peoples under our feet" (47:3). How does that fit with calling all the nations to clap?
- "The princes of the peoples are gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham" (47:9). Does the psalm mean the nations' princes join God's people?
Psalm 48Bible study →
Psalm 49Bible study →
Psalm 50Bible study →
Psalm 51Bible study →
Psalm 52Bible study →
Psalm 53Bible study →
Psalm 54Bible study →
Psalm 55Bible study →
Psalm 56Bible study →
Psalm 57Bible study →
Psalm 58Bible study →
- "Do you indeed speak righteousness, silent ones?" (58:1). Who are the silent ones?
- "The wicked go astray from the womb" (58:3). Does the psalm say everyone is wicked from birth?
- "Break their teeth, God, in their mouth" (58:6), and "He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked" (58:10). How can a psalm say that?
Psalm 59Bible study →
- "Not for my disobedience, nor for my sin" (59:3). Is the psalmist saying he has never sinned?
- The title is about a house being watched. Why does the psalm speak of "the nations" (59:5, 59:8)?
- "Don’t kill them" (59:11), and two verses later, "Consume them" (59:13). Which is it? And how can a prayer ask for that?
Psalm 60Bible study →
- The title says Joab "killed twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt" (60:1). 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles tell of the Valley of Salt with other names and numbers. Which is right?
- "Moab is my wash basin. I will throw my sandal on Edom" (60:8). What do these pictures mean?
- "Who will bring me into the strong city? Who has led me to Edom?" (60:9). Who is speaking?
Psalm 61Bible study →
Psalm 62Bible study →
- The title says "To Jeduthun" (62:1). Who is Jeduthun?
- "My soul rests in God alone" (62:1), and then, "My soul, wait in silence for God alone" (62:5). If his soul already rests, why tell it to wait?
- "Also to you, Lord, belongs loving kindness, for you reward every man according to his work" (62:12). How is repaying people for their work loving kindness?
Psalm 63Bible study →
Psalm 64Bible study →
Psalm 65Bible study →
Psalm 66Bible study →
- "He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the river on foot" (66:6). Which sea, and which river?
- The psalm speaks as "we", then as "I". Who is the "I" of 66:13-20?
- "If I cherished sin in my heart, the Lord wouldn’t have listened" (66:18). Does that mean God doesn't hear anyone who has sinned?
- "You brought us into prison. You laid a burden on our backs" (66:11). Does the psalm say God caused their troubles?
Psalm 67Bible study →
Psalm 68Bible study →
- "You have ascended on high" (68:18). Who is the psalm speaking to?
- The psalm says "received gifts" (68:18), and Ephesians says "gave gifts" (Ephesians 4:8). Why are they different?
- "God will strike through the head of his enemies" (68:21), and "dipping your foot in blood" (68:23). How can a psalm say that?
Psalm 69Bible study →
- The New Testament sets lines of this psalm at Jesus (John 2:17; Romans 15:3). But the psalm also says, "God, you know my foolishness. My sins aren’t hidden from you" (Psalm 69:5). Is the whole psalm about Jesus?
- "Let them be blotted out of the book of life" (69:28). How can a psalm pray that?
- "I have to restore what I didn’t take away" (69:4). What does that mean?
Psalm 70Bible study →
Psalm 71Bible study →
Psalm 72Bible study →
- Who is the king in Psalm 72: Solomon, or Jesus?
- "This ends the prayers by David, the son of Jesse" (72:20). Why does a psalm titled "By Solomon" end that way, when later psalms are titled by David?
- Kings bringing gifts, and Sheba’s gold (72:10, 72:15): is Psalm 72 about the wise men who brought gifts to Jesus?
Psalm 73Bible study →
- The title says "A Psalm by Asaph" (73:1). Who is Asaph?
- "If I had said, “I will speak thus”, behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children" (73:15). Why didn't he say it?
- "You will guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory" (73:24). Is the psalmist speaking of what comes after death?
Psalm 74Bible study →
Psalm 75Bible study →
Psalm 76Bible study →
Psalm 77Bible study →
Psalm 78Bible study →
- Matthew quotes the words of 78:2 as "spoken through the prophet" (Matthew 13:35). The title names Asaph. Who spoke it?
- "He rejected the tent of Joseph, and didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim" (78:67). What is the psalm saying about Ephraim?
- "Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep" (78:65). Does God sleep?
Psalm 79Bible study →
- "They have laid Jerusalem in heaps" (79:1). When did that happen, and who is the Asaph of the title?
- "Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you" (79:6), and "Pay back to our neighbors seven times" (79:12). How can a psalm pray that?
- "Don’t hold the iniquities of our forefathers against us" (79:8), and then "forgive our sins" (79:9). Whose sins does the psalm mean?
Psalm 80Bible study →
Psalm 81Bible study →
- The title says "By Asaph" (81:1). Who is Asaph?
- Who says "I heard a language that I didn’t know" (81:5), and where do God's words begin?
- "Blow the trumpet at the New Moon, at the full moon, on our feast day" (81:3). Which feast is it?
- "So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts" (81:12). Does God give up on his people here?
Psalm 82Bible study →
Psalm 83Bible study →
- The title says "A song. A Psalm by Asaph." (83:1). Who was Asaph, and when was this psalm written?
- The psalm names Edom, Moab, Ammon, Philistia, Tyre, Assyria and others (83:6-8). When did they all come against Israel, and who are they today?
- "Make them like tumbleweed, like chaff before the wind" (83:13), and "let them be confounded and perish" (83:17). How can a psalm pray that?
Psalm 84Bible study →
- Who wrote Psalm 84, and what is "an instrument of Gath"?
- What is "the valley of Weeping" (84:6), and where was it?
- Who is "your anointed" in "look at the face of your anointed" (84:9)?
- "He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly" (84:11). Does that mean God gives every good thing I ask for?
Psalm 85Bible study →
Psalm 86Bible study →
Psalm 87Bible study →
Psalm 88Bible study →
Psalm 89Bible study →
- The title says "A contemplation by Ethan, the Ezrahite" (89:1). Who was Ethan, and when was the psalm written?
- The LORD says, "I will not break my covenant" (89:34), and the psalm says, "You have renounced the covenant of your servant" (89:39). Did God break his promise?
- Who are "the holy ones" and "the sons of the heavenly beings" in 89:5-7?
Psalm 90Bible study →
- The title says "A Prayer by Moses, the man of God" (90:1). Is this Moses of Exodus, and when did he pray it?
- "You turn man to destruction, saying, “Return, you children of men.”" (90:3). Return to what?
- "The days of our years are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty years" (90:10). Is that a promise, or a rule for how long we live?
Psalm 91Bible study →
Psalm 92Bible study →
Psalm 93Bible study →
Psalm 94Bible study →
- "You God to whom vengeance belongs" (94:1), and "Pay back the proud what they deserve" (94:2). How can a psalm pray that?
- "Blessed is the man whom you discipline, LORD" (94:12). Does the psalm mean that every hardship is God's discipline?
- "My soul would have soon lived in silence" (94:17). What is the silence?
Psalm 95Bible study →
Psalm 96Bible study →
Psalm 97Bible study →
Psalm 98Bible study →
Psalm 99Bible study →
Psalm 100Bible study →
Psalm 101Bible study →
Psalm 102Bible study →
- In the psalm, the one who prays says 102:25-27 to God. How can Hebrews say these words of the Son?
- "Because of your indignation and your wrath" (102:10). Does the psalm say what he did wrong?
- "The set time has come" (102:13), and "A people which will be created will praise the LORD" (102:18). Which time, and which people?
Psalm 103Bible study →
Psalm 104Bible study →
Psalm 105Bible study →
Psalm 106Bible study →
- "We have sinned with our fathers" (106:6). How can people confess what their fathers did?
- "He remembered for them his covenant, and repented" (106:45). Does God change his mind?
- "That was credited to him for righteousness" (106:31). Genesis says that of Abraham's believing. Why does the psalm say it of Phinehas?
Psalm 107Bible study →
Psalm 108Bible study →
Psalm 109Bible study →
Psalm 110Bible study →
- "The LORD says to my Lord" (110:1). Who is "my Lord"?
- "Sit at my right hand" (110:1), then "The Lord is at your right hand" (110:5). Isn't that the other way round?
- "A priest forever in the order of Melchizedek" (110:4). Who was Melchizedek, and what is his order?
- "Out of the womb of the morning, you have the dew of your youth" (110:3). What does that mean?
Psalm 111Bible study →
Psalm 112Bible study →
- "Wealth and riches are in his house" (112:3). Does the psalm promise wealth to everyone who fears the LORD?
- "Light dawns in the darkness for the upright, gracious, merciful, and righteous" (112:4). Who is gracious, merciful, and righteous?
- Paul quotes 112:9 in 2 Corinthians. Is he speaking of the man who fears the LORD?
Psalm 113Bible study →
Psalm 114Bible study →
Psalm 115Bible study →
Psalm 116Bible study →
Psalm 117Bible study →
- The psalm calls all the nations, then says the LORD's loving kindness is great "toward us" (117:2). Who is us?
- Romans has "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles!" (Romans 15:11). Why Gentiles, and why are the words different from the psalm's?
- What does "his loving kindness is great toward us" (117:2) mean?
Psalm 118Bible study →
Psalm 119Bible study →
- "I haven’t gone astray from your precepts" (119:110), but the last verse says, "I have gone astray like a lost sheep" (119:176). Which is it?
- "It is good for me that I have been afflicted" (119:71). Does the psalm say suffering is good?
- Law, statutes, testimonies, precepts, commandments, ordinances: do these words mean different things?
Psalm 120Bible study →
- "Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper" (120:4). Are these what the deceitful tongue will be given, or what the tongue is like?
- "Woe is me, that I live in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!" (120:5). Who are Meshech and Kedar, and did the psalmist live among both?
- "He answered me" (120:1). If the LORD answered, why does the psalm go on praying, and end among those who are for war?
Psalm 121Bible study →
Psalm 122Bible study →
Psalm 123Bible study →
Psalm 124Bible study →
Psalm 125Bible study →
- "Those who trust in the LORD are as Mount Zion, which can’t be moved" (125:1). Does the psalm promise that trouble won't come to those who trust?
- "the scepter of wickedness" (125:3). Whose scepter is it?
- "Do good, LORD, to those who are good" (125:4). Is the psalm saying the LORD is good only to good people?
Psalm 126Bible study →
Psalm 127Bible study →
- "Unless the LORD builds the house" (127:1). Is the house a building, or a family?
- "It is vain for you to rise up early, to stay up late" (127:2). Is the psalm saying hard work is pointless?
- "For he gives sleep to his loved ones" (127:2). Is sleep the gift, or does he give to his loved ones while they sleep?
Psalm 128Bible study →
- Does Psalm 128 mean that everyone who fears the LORD will have a wife and children? What about someone who doesn't?
- "Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD" (128:1). Does fearing the LORD mean being afraid of him?
- The psalm says "you will" (128:2) and then "May the LORD bless you" (128:5). Is it promising, or praying?
Psalm 129Bible study →
Psalm 130Bible study →
Psalm 131Bible study →
Psalm 132Bible study →
- "We heard of it in Ephrathah. We found it in the field of Jaar" (132:6). Where are these, and what is it?
- "He will not turn from it" (132:11), and then, "If your children will keep my covenant" (132:12). Is the LORD's oath to David conditional?
- Where do the books of Samuel and Chronicles tell of David's oath?
Psalm 133Bible study →
Psalm 134Bible study →
Psalm 135Bible study →
Psalm 136Bible study →
Psalm 137Bible study →
Psalm 138Bible study →
Psalm 139Bible study →
Psalm 140Bible study →
- "Deliver me, LORD, from evil men" (140:1). The title names David. Who were these men?
- "Let burning coals fall on them. Let them be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, from where they never rise" (140:10). How can a psalm pray like this?
- "I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted" (140:12). The psalm never says the psalmist was rescued. How can he say "I know"?
Psalm 141Bible study →
- "Let the righteous strike me, it is kindness" (141:5). What does this verse mean?
- "Their judges are thrown down" (141:6), and "our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol" (141:7). Who are they?
- "Let the wicked fall together into their own nets while I pass by" (141:10). How can a prayer ask for that?
Psalm 142Bible study →
Psalm 143Bible study →
Psalm 144Bible study →
Psalm 145Bible study →
Psalm 146Bible study →
Psalm 147Bible study →
- "He gathers together the outcasts of Israel" (147:2). Who are the outcasts, and when did he gather them?
- "He doesn’t delight in the strength of the horse. He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man" (147:10). Is the psalm against strength?
- "He has not done this for just any nation" (147:20). Does the psalm mean God doesn't care about the other nations?
Psalm 148Bible study →
Psalm 149Bible study →
Psalm 150Bible study →
- "Praise God in his sanctuary!" (150:1). Is his sanctuary a place on earth, or heaven?
- What were these instruments like: the harp, the lyre, the flute, the cymbals?
- Four times a psalm closes by blessing the LORD, with an amen. Why does the last psalm have no amen?
- "Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!" (150:6). Who is "everything that has breath"?
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