Northern Crofter
Puritan Board Sophomore
Right, I just thought some had arranged it a certain way, specifically for the worship in church. Yes, the Psalter was arranged a certain way - into 5 books, probably during the Babylonian captivity. Psalters are in the same order as the text of Scripture, just rhymed and metered.
Edit: and I reckon my question was along the lines of: Do those who subscribe to EP sing all 150 over a course of time? My particular congregation has a "Psalm of the week" which we all are to practice during the week in family worship - in doing so we sing through the whole Psalter in order one after the other. The other 3 or 4 Psalms sung during worship are chosen by the minister for their connection to the sermon.
Edit #2: and, who picks the tune? And is there any repeat or just sung straight through? The RPCNA is constantly producing new editions with fixed tunes - in format it looks like a hymnal. The Psalms are not all the same meter so the tunes are not all interchangeable. Some of us prefer the older metrical Psalter, partly because the tunes are largely interchangeable, but also because it aids in memorization (just like some prefer to keep using the same translation). The minister will often choose the tune to fit the Psalm - a more somber tune for a more somber selection, for example. But I have had the wonderful experience of hearing a Psalm sung to different tunes because a different aspect of the text was being emphasized in different sermons. Congregations that are new to singing Psalms usually start with a few basic tunes - many tunes used for "classic" hymns were originally Psalm tunes.