The document provides analysis and commentary on various Psalms and sections of Psalms. It notes that Psalms 107-118 focus on redemption and coming home, with Psalm 107 depicting four portraits of redemption and deliverance from dangers. Psalms 111-113 are described as a pair of acrostic Psalms along with the first Hallal Psalm. Psalms 117-119 form a dramatic contrast around Psalm 118. The longest Psalm 119 is contrasted with the shortest Psalm 117, while Psalm 118 sits in the middle. The document also analyzes the "Songs of Ascent" from Psalms 120-134 which were songs sung by pilgrims journeying to Jerusalem and the temple.

2. Isaiah 35:10
And the ransomed of the Lord shall
return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

3. Book 5 of the Psalms
Poetically like Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy was written
the month before entering the promised
land and the final month of Moses life

4. PSALM 107:
OH GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD,
FOR HE IS GOOD,
FOR HIS STEADFAST LOVE ENDURES
FOREVER!
LET THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD SAY SO,
WHOM HE HAS REDEEMED FROM TROUBLE
AND GATHERED IN FROM THE LANDS…
COMING HOME
BOOK 5 OF THE PSALMS BEGINS WITH THANKS

5. First Psalm
What might redemption look like?
The last two Psalms of book 4 started with
“Give thanks to the Lord…” Ps 105 and 106
and so does the first Psalm of Book 5 Ps 107
“Give thanks to the Lord…”

6. 4 pictures of obstacles to coming home,
overcome by God
Psalm 107
Four portraits
Of redemption
Deliverance from four dangers

7. 4 pictures of obstacles to coming home,
overcome by God
Psalm 107
Four portraits
Of redemption
Deliverance from four dangers
Like the 40 years
of wandering in the desert
Rebelled in the dessert
fiery snakes sent
looked to the
bronze snake God told
moses to make
for healing
Sent to Babylon
for 70 years
Solomon's ships lost
Jonah lost at sea
The world seems to
be against you
until you
repent

8. Then,
Redemption songs
follow
Between two
“hot spots”
Of the New
Testament
Most quoted verse from the
Psalms in the New
Testament is form Psalm
110
Most quoted chapter from the
Psalms quoted in the New
Testament is Psalm 118
The Lord said to my Lord
Sit at my right hand until I make
your enemies a footstool…
The stone the builders
rejected has become the
cornerstone

10. A song to awaken the dawn
Psalm 108
A song of coming victory and a sandal is thrown at
Edom
Then a short pageant about rescue of a poor man
to follow.

11. Psalm 108
My heart is steadfast
2 Awake, O harp and lyre!
I will awake the dawn!
3 I will give thanks to you, O
Lord, among the peoples; I
will sing praises to you among
the nations.
4 For your steadfast love is
great above the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to
the clouds.
5 Be exalted, O God, above
the heavens! Let your glory
be over all the earth!
6 That your beloved ones
may be delivered, give
salvation by your right hand
and answer me!
7 God has promised in his
holiness: “With exultation I
will divide up Shechem and
portion out the Valley of
Succoth.
8 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is
mine; Ephraim is my
helmet, Judah my scepter.
9 Moab is my washbasin;
upon Edom I cast my shoe;
over Philistia I shout in
triumph.”
10 Who will bring me to the
fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
11 Have you not rejected
us, O God? You do not go out,
O God, with our armies.
12 Oh grant us help against
the foe,
for vain is the salvation of
man!
13 With God we shall do
valiantly;
it is he who will tread
down our foes.

12.
Help for a poor man
and decisive help from God’s right hand
Psalms 109-110
A betrayer,
The one betrayed
The betrayed finds help.
Seated at God’s right hand
And then made like the priest king
Melchizedek
A short pageant regarding deliverance of a poor man:

13. A triplet of Psalms – a coming redemption
God reaches down and helps the poor man
A Judas figure not returning love in
kind and the plight of a a poor man
The poor man lifted to the right
hand of God and victory over his
enemies

14.
Songs of victory at God’s right
hand

15. A second triplet of Psalms
God reaches down and helps the poor
Ps 111, 112 are both acrostic , the second echoing the first in many ways
HALLELUJAH
HALLELUJAH
HALLELUJAH
Each beginning
with:
HALLELUJAH
Psalm 113 is the first Hallal, Passover
Psalm
God’s name be blessed
sunrise to sunset

16. Then,
Redemption songs
Between acrostic
Psalms
P
S
A
L
M
1
1
1
P S A L M 1 1 2
P
S
A
L
M
1
1
9
Some psalms are acrostic and probably meant to be learned and
memorized. Here we have a pair of small ‘interlocking’
acrostic Psalms : 111 and 112 and the very large 119
T
H
E
B
L
E
S
S
E
D
G
o
d
THE BLESSED MAN
THY WORD IS A LAMP TO MY FEET

17. A pair of side by side acrostic psalms
• Psalm 111 and 112 have phrases that start
with the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet
• Psalm 111 is about the Blessed God
• Psalm 112 is about the Blessed Man
• 112 picks up where 111 leaves off
(Jesus is both ‘Blessed God’ and ‘Blessed man’
But the church is also in union with Christ and 112
can apply to believers as well )

18. Psalm 113:7-9
He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
He seats them with princes,
with the princes of his people.
He settles the childless woman in her home
as a happy mother of children.
Praise the Lord.
The saving of the poor man (singular) in Psalm 109, seated to
the right hand of God is echoed in the first Hallal Psalm (113)
with the raising of the poor (plural) and being seated with princes
of God’s people

19. ----- The Hallal Psalms
------
6 Hallal songs
Deliverance songs
And a movement, towards
Songs of remembrance of
deliverance ….

20. The Hallal Psalms
6 songs from the Passover

22. The Passover ‘Hallal’ Psalms
a little more detail
^ ^ ^
Ps 111 Ps 112 Ps 113 (the first Hallal Psalm)
All three start with a Hallelujah tying the three
together
----- The Hallal Psalms
------
Ps 113
Who is like the Lord our God,
Seated above the heavens
Looking down on the poor and
needy, lifting them up to be
With the princes of My people

23. ^
----- The Hallal Pslms ------
Ps 114
When Israel went out of Egypt
Judah became God’s sanctuary
And when nature saw it
the sea fled and the mountains
shook. Tremble earth at God’s
presence

24. ( John Milton’s paraphrase of Psalm
114
Which he wrote when 15 years old )
See
http://www.luminarium.org/
sevenlit/milton/psalm114.htm

25. ----- The Hallal Psalms
------`
^
Ps 115
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your
name give glory for the sake of your
steadfast love and your faithfulness!
Why should the nations say, “Where is
their God? Our God is in the heavens; he
does all that he pleases. Their idols are
silver and gold, the work of human hands.

26. The Passover ‘Hallal’ Psalms
----- The Hallal Psalms
------
^
I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for
mercy. A psalm in the first person of deliverance from death
And in 2 Cor Paul says though this applied to the one, implying
it was Jesus, because God spirit is at work in us too ‘we
believe and we speak’ as well

27. Since 116 may be taken as Jesus speaking in the 1st
person. We
have an oblique reference to Mary as the maidservant of God
in this song of deliverance from death of the singer
O Lord, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
You have loosed my bonds.
Psalm 116:16
Luke 1:38
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your
word.” And the angel departed from her.
__________________________________________
Interestingly, Mary quoted a number of psalms from this section of Psalms both before
and after 11 in her Magnificat song in Luke, where her soul ‘magnifies the Lord.’ Namely.
Ps. 111:9 He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for
ever: holy and reverend is his name.
Ps. 113:9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of
children. Praise ye the LORD.
Ps. 118:15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous:
the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly

28. Shortest of all Psalms
Large invitation list

29. Psalm 118 begins and ends with a
priestly saying
Ezra 3:10 When the builders laid the foundation of
the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments
and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph)
with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as
prescribed by David king of Israel. 11 With praise and
thanksgiving they sang to the Lord:
“He is good; His love toward Israel endures
forever.”
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the
Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord
was laid.

30. Psalms 117-119 a dramatic contrast
around Psalm 118
Ps 117
Ps 118
Ps 119

31. Psalms 117-119 a dramatic contrast
around Psalm 118
Ps 117
Ps 118
Ps 119
Shortest Psalm
Longest Psalm
117 is really really short
119 is really really long
And in between?

32. Psalms 117-119 a dramatic contrast
around Psalm 118
Ps 119
An invitation to the
nations in Psalm
117
The stone the builders
rejected has become the
cornerstone in Psalm 118
This is the day the Lord
has made, let us rejoice
and be glad in it Walking in covenant: a relentless
dependency on God in Prayer and a
relentless reception of God’s words

33. And stepping back a bit
The Passover redemptions songs are ‘book-ended’
Ps 119
The book-ends being ‘the blessed man’

34. And they sang a
hymn (Psalm
118) and went
up to the mount
of Olives
The book-ends being ‘the blessed man’

35. Psalm 118
The stone the
builders
rejected
has become the
cornerstone
The book-ends being ‘the blessed man’

36. Psalm 118
This is the day
the Lord has
made, let us
rejoice and be
glad in it.
The book-ends being ‘the blessed man’

37. Psalm 118
This is the gate of
the Lord; the
righteous shall
enter through it.
The book-ends being ‘the blessed man’
( Both 112 and 119 being acrostics about the blessed man )

38. Psalm 118
This is the gate of
the Lord; the
righteous shall
enter through it.
The book-ends being ‘the blessed man’
( Both 112 and 119 being acrostics about the blessed man )

39. Psalm 118
This is the gate of
the Lord; the
righteous shall
enter through it.
The book-ends being ‘the blessed man’
( Both 112 and 119 being acrostics about the blessed man )

40. And the ‘right hand of God’
comes back in Psalm 118
The right hand of God mentioned
at start (108-110) and now 3
times in 118

44. On Psalm 119
That longest of Psalms
• Probably written to be memorized by children and
others
• Contains every type of Psalm (lament, praise,
thanksgiving, etc..)
• Almost every line is about the word. A relentless
reception of God’s word.
• Almost every line is a prayer. A relentless
dependency on God.
• Some look at it as a progression in the Christian
life
• 7 times the writer prays ‘teach me Thy law’

45. And then the ‘Psalms of
Ascent’
^
In distress and dwelling with
the people of Meshech and Kedar
barbaric nomads
metaphorically being far from
God Psalm 120
Moving from outside Israel -! to Israel -! to journeying to the temple -! to the
temple

46. Songs of the pilgrimage: songs
of ascent to ‘the house’
^
In prayer, lifting eyes to the
hills
looking for help from the Lord
Ps 121
Moving from outside Israel -! to Israel -! to journeying to the temple -! to the
temple

47. Songs of the pilgrimage: songs
of ascent
^
The singer is in the countryside
of Israel and hears of people
going to the temple ‘the house’ ,
‘the house of God’ Psalm 122
Moving from outside Israel -! to Israel -! to journeying to the temple -! to the
temple

48. Songs of the pilgrimage: songs
of ascent
^
The singer is lifting up his
eyes not to the hills but to
God’ Psalm 123

49. Songs of the pilgrimage: songs
of ascent
^
A remembrance. If the
Lord had not been on our
side
Psalm 124

50. Songs of the pilgrimage: songs
of ascent
^
Psalm 125
Those who trust in the Lord
are like the mountains (we
lelfted our eyes up to in
Psalm 121)

51. Songs of the pilgrimage: songs
of ascent
^
A remembrance….When the
Lord restored out fortunes
we were like those who
dream Psalm 126
Moving from outside Israel -! to Israel -! to journeying to the temple -! to the
temple

52. Songs of the pilgrimage: songs
of ascent
^
Psalm of Solomon: Psalm 127 “Unless the
Lord builds the House they labor in vain”

53. Songs of the pilgrimage: songs
of ascent
Psalm of Solomon: Psalm 127 Unless the
‘greater than Solomon – Jesus’ Lord builds the
‘greater than the temple – the church’ they
labor in vain

54. Songs of the pilgrimage: songs
of ascent
^ ^
129 , 130 concern personal difficulties and
suffering ‘out of the depths I cry to you’

55. Songs of the pilgrimage: songs
of ascent
^
Psalm 127 can first apply to the house of God,
but also a home or a city. Psalm 128 directly
applies to a home and family

56. Songs of the pilgrimage: songs
of ascent
^ ^ ^ ^
131 | 133 134
|
132
remember David in all his
sufferings and remember the
promise to his descendents
Psalms 131, 133, 134 are the next
shortest Psalms after the shortest
Psalm 117 and help emphasize the
much longer Psalm 132 in contrasting
size. Psal 132 is the largest Psalm of
Ascent
"-- one long
3 short !

57. Songs of the pilgrimage: songs
of ascent
^
Metaphorically at the
temple and blessed are the
night shift who work at the
temple
Moving from outside Israel -! to Israel -! to journeying to the temple -! to the
temple

58. About those ‘Psalms of Solomon’ 72 and 127…
pause for a memory device
• There are two
Psalms of Solomon:
Ps 127 (middle Psalm
of Ascent) and Ps 72
(end of book 2)
• There are 15 Psalms
of Ascent with
Solomon’s being the
middle
Unless the Lord
builds the house

59. Traveled to the temple and the call for
praise shifts to others at the temple
Psalm 135 Praise the Lord!
Praise the name of the Lord, give
praise, O servants of the Lord, who
stand in the house of the Lord, in
the courts of the house of our God!
Blessed is the night shift in your sanctuary !

60. Psalm 135
The name of the Lord stands forever
It is he who remembered us in our
low estate, for his steadfast love
endures forever;

61. Psalm 136
The love of the Lord stands
forever
It is he who remembered us in our
low estate, for his steadfast love
endures forever;

62. And a discordant sound before resolving
into a greater beauty…

63. An interlude and harps are set down
sadly
• Psalm 137, perhaps the last song written
• By the rivers of Babylon we laid down our
harps and wept

64. David’s last run
We laid down our harps
And someone from the deep
past picks his up

65. And David picks up
his harp
and has one final
run
All kings will sing
of His glory
Psalm 138-145

66. Psalm 138
4 All the kings of earth will
praise you, LORD, when they
hear the words of your
mouth.
5 They will sing of the ways
of the LORD: “How great is
the glory of the LORD!”
6 The LORD is on high, but
cares for the lowly and knows
the proud from afar.

67. Psalm 139
139 O Lord, you have
searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down
and when I rise up; you
discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and
my lying down and are
acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on
my tongue, behold, O Lord,
you know it altogether

68. In contrast to Psalms 9-10 ‘the
death of a son’
Psalm 144 has a resurrection of
sorts regarding ‘the rescue of
David’ and the well being of the nation,
plants, animals, security, crime, peace is all
wrapped up in the rescue of David, portending the
greater David, Jesus Christ and His resurrection

69. The ABC’s of
praise:
Psalm145 is
1) an acrostic and
2) the only Psalm
called ‘a praise
Psalm’ by title the
and
3) the last of David’s
Psalms

70. singing
singing
Everything and
everyone praising
Singing a new song
With tumbrel and dance
Phrasing with every
Known instrument
of music
Ps 146
Ps 147
Ps 148
Ps 149
Ps 150

71. singing
singing
Everything and
everyone praising
Singing a new song
With tumbrel and dance
Phrasing with every
Known instrument
of music
Ps 146
Ps 147
Ps 148
Ps 149
Ps 150

72. singing
singing
Everything and
everyone praising
Singing a new song
With tumbrel and dance
Phrasing with every
Known instrument
of music
Ps 146
Ps 147
Ps 148
Ps 149
Ps 150

73. singing
singing
Everything and
everyone praising
Singing a new song
With tumbrel and dance
Phrasing with every
Known instrument
of music
Ps 146
Ps 147
Ps 148
Ps 149
Ps 150

74. singing
singing
Everything and
everyone praising
Singing a new song
With tumbrel and dance
Phrasing with every
Known instrument
of music
Ps 146
Ps 147
Ps 148
Ps 149
Ps 150

75. Each final praise cascades into the next
146 Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is
no salvation When his breath departs, he
returns to the earth; on that very day his plans
perish. The Lord sets the prisoners free;
8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
I will praise God
and you should too
He sets prisoners free
And opens the eyes of
the blind
He helps the broken

76. Each final praise cascades into the next
147 He heals the
brokenhearted and binds
up their wounds. He
determines the number of the stars;
he gives to all of them their names.
He strengthens the bars of your gates.
He gives snow like wool; he scatters
frost like ashes
He heals the
brokenhearted
He delights in those who
fear Him
He sends his word

77. Each final praise cascades into the next
148 Praise the Lord! Praise the
Lord from the heavens; praise
him in the heights! Praise him, all his
angels; praise him, all his hosts!
Praise him, sun and moon, Young
men and maidens together, old men
and children!
By his word also made the stars
and angels too- so praise Him
you up there And he rules on earth
Even over animals And so let all the people
praise him Men, women, children

78. Each final praise cascades into the next
149 let the children of Zion
rejoice in their King! Let them praise
his name with dancing, making melody to
him with tambourine and lyre!
For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;
he adorns the humble with salvation.
Let the godly exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their beds
Let the high praises of God be in their throats and
two-edged swords in their hands,
There will be Joy
of the godly
And triumph over the wicked

79. Each final praise cascades into the next
150.Praise God in his
sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty
heavens
Let everything that has breath praise the
Lord!
Praise the Lord!
Worship with every known
instrument. And dance!
Let everything that
has breath praise the
Lord!
And no mention of the wicked

80. Fin’
• This is a brief glimpse and doesn’t really
even qualify as an overview. The purpose
is to give a starting glimpse of book 5 and
a brief idea of the flow of thought.

81. The five books of Psalms
• Book 1 - The song of the blessed man
• Book 2 - Songs for the outcast
• Book 3 - The dark book of the Psalms
• Book 4 - Songs for the wanderer
• Book 5 - Songs for coming home