What Psalm (of the 150) do you enjoy singing the most and why?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Grant

Puritan Board Graduate
Housekeeping:
  • This is not about EP vs. IP
  • This is Devotional
  • Please share and feel free to include the specific Psalter Version as well as any background info as why it pierces your heart so!

For me, I am still relatively new to Psalm singing, so I do not know many and I and my family only know about 8 without needing to listen to a recording for circumstantial practice. However, early on I came across Psalm 51 (David’s Song of Repentance). I love singing this Psalm because it reminds me of my sin, something I all too often grow numb towards. Further, it reminds me that the same Holy Spirit that crushes my very bones with conviction also brings me joy by lifting my head to Christ and sweetness of his righteousness. The end of the psalm always gets to my heart, in that the Lord desires a broken and contrite heart. Singing this Psalm pushes me to confess my sin, to be broken over my sin, and to look to Christ in repentance. Oh how our Lord is Faithful!:detective:

Currently we often sing this in Psalter form from the Crown & Covenant Blue Psalter "The Book of Psalms for Worship".

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

51 Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
4 Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight—
That You may be found just [a]when You speak,
And blameless when You judge.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
9 Hide Your face from my sins,
And blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.

14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
 
Last edited:
Ah, just the kind of psalmody discussion we should have more often!!

Sorry, but I can't stick to one :)

Psalm 2 - The wrath of nations against God is kept in perspective. God does not fear them, He laughs at them. He says, "Try whatever you may, I have established Jesus Christ as your King. You will bow and submit to His kingship and Mediatorship, or you will be broken with a rod of iron." Hebrews 2 interprets Christ as priest-king from this passage. What need to fear beastly governments when their own Lord will deal with them?

Psalm 3 - David was fleeing Absalom, and was under the chastisement of God. You would think that David would feel God was against him. Absolutely not. "I lay down, slept, I woke again, the Lord is keeping me. I will not fear ten thousand men entrenched surrounding me." Though David sinned mightily, he leaned on the covenant promises of God and looked forward to God destroying his enemies, and toward being delivered.

Psalm 5 - Keeps my sin in perspective. It's hard to sin when you sing lines such as, "Truly thou art not a God that in sin doth take delight. Evil shall not dwell with thee, nor the proud stand in thy sight. Evildoers thou dost hate. Liars thou wilt bring to nought. God abhors the man who loves deep of blood and lying thought."

Psalm 8 - Christ as the Second Adam, fulfilling the Creation Mandate, assuming Kingship over all the created order. He was ruler over all things already as He was Co-Creator with the Father, yet now as the crowned king His dominion is manifest. All creation and providence are ruled by King Jesus.

Psalm 15 - Reminder of what a practical life of righteousness the Christian life is.

Psalm 16 - Christ's song of hope and deliverance from His enemies, rising from the grave, claiming His inheritance, and obtaining the joy set before Him.

Psalm 18 - Sums up the life of David--a life of deliverance despite all failures and all sins that he committed.

Psalm 45 - Christ the Conqueror, the righteous King, the fulfillment of Solomon, the wedding to the church, Christ's exceeding great joy for His reward, the vows, obligations and privileges of the Bride.. my favorite is from "The Book of Psalms for Singing," 45C, to Diademata. Celebratory tune!

Psalm 46 - A reminder of what kind of calm and composure the Christian ought to have because of the mighty God who is sided with him. Either to "America the Beautiful" or "A Mighty Fortress", both are wonderful.

Psalm 109 - Impreccations should not be the bread-and-butter of our prayers concerning the enemies of the church, not by a long shot. Yet, there are such acts of wickedness taking place that where we are asking God to do what He has already sworn He would do--show justice. Here we sing with the martyrs in Revelation calling for the vengeance of their blood, though in different words.

Psalm 117 - Has the Gospel reached North America, South America, Asia? These are the far distant reaches of the earth. This Psalm has been fulfilled in our presence.

Psalm 130 - To the tune of Martyrdom. How solemn is the thought of the weight of our sins, how wonderful the promise of forgiveness, the certainty that God will answer faith, despite what we may feel. Best sung approaching the Lord's Table.

Psalm 133 - The glories of church unity. Would that we sang this one often, and experienced it all the more!
 
Sorry, but I can't stick to one
What Psalm (of the 150) do you enjoy singing the most and why?


That's an impossible question for me to answer. My favorite Psalm is whichever one speaks to the need of my heart at the time. I almost always I sing through all 150 Psalms in order. And the Psalm of the day is usually the perfect one for me on that day.
 
As has been stated, they all are favorites. :) I keep returning to the 1650 Psalter as my favorite. Our denomination uses the blue Book of Psalms for Worship, but the previous RPCNA version (the red Psalter) is my favorite of the two. I wish we all used the Genevan because of the melodies, they’re the best.
 
My favorite Psalm is whichever one speaks to the need of my heart at the time. I almost always I sing through all 150 Psalms in order.
Well give us some of your usual edification Ed. Which Psalm is doing that today and why?
 
Grant,

Is have to agree with Psalm 51. Also 23 and 138. Our church sings these right out of their Bibles (NKJV). I also arranged 51 for SATB + piano. Though we don't sing this arrangement in church, it was pretty cool teaching it to a secular university choir and having them have verbatim scripture mostly memorized by the end of the semester.
 
I wish we all used the Genevan because of the melodies, they’re the best.

Awesome to hear. The Genevan Psalter is under-rated by many people, mostly because of a lack of familiarity. At first, the tunes might seem difficult or awkward, but most are actually easy to learn. If I can sing them, anyone can. For me, a couple of favourites from the Anglo-Genevan Psalter are Psalm 29 and Psalm 124. But, like most people, I really have about 150 favourites.
 
Our church sings these right out of their Bibles (NKJV).

There are a few videos on YouTube of singing out of the NKJV. I would prefer to sing from the one that David translated into Hebrew (that is the NIV 1978, for those not in the know), but beggars cannot be choosers. :stirpot:
 
I'm particularly fond of Psalm 148 as found in the RCUS' Psalter Hymnal: "Praise the Lord in Heavenly Places," with the tune by Charles Gabriel. In it all nature, beasts, birds, inanimate objects and of course people are commanded to praise their Maker.

Also from the same book, Psalm 107: "They that Traffic on the Sea"--we being sailors, it means much to us, as well as "The Seasons are Fixed by Wisdom Divine"--I disremember what psalm number that is.

From the original Trinity Hymnal: Psalm 103, "O Come My Soul, Bless thou the Lord thy Maker," and 45 "My Heart Doth Overflow"--sung to the tune "Leominster."
 
Psalm 16 to Golden Hill.
As it speaks of our trust in Christ and the hope of the resurrection.

Psalm 24 to St George's Edinburgh.
We often sing this after communion at my church. The recording on the website I have linked to below is from my church.

Psalm 87 to Love Divine.
I really like this Psalm as it talks about how even Israel's bitter enemies will become citizens of Zion.

These are all from Sing Psalms.
Recordings of the first two (and 87 to another tune) and be found here.
 
Oh yes, and Psalm 34. That was the greatest comfort to me in intense hardship. I went to it every night for days.
 
Mine would be Psalm 130 from the 1650 Psalter. Brings tears to my eyes every time. So thankful for God’s mercy!

1 Lord, from the depths to thee I cried.
2 My voice, Lord, do thou hear:
Unto my supplication's voice
give an attentive ear.

3 Lord, who shall stand, if thou, O Lord,
should'st mark iniquity?
4 But yet with thee forgiveness is,
that feared thou mayest be.

5 I wait for God, my soul doth wait,
my hope is in his word.
6 More than they that for morning watch,
my soul waits for the Lord;

I say, more than they that do watch
the morning light to see.
7 Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with him mercies be;

And plenteous redemption
is ever found with him.
8 And from all his iniquities
he Isr'el shall redeem.

Here is a video on YouTube of the version I enjoy singing
 
Mine would be Psalm 130 from the 1650 Psalter. Brings tears to my eyes every time. So thankful for God’s mercy!

1 Lord, from the depths to thee I cried.
2 My voice, Lord, do thou hear:
Unto my supplication's voice
give an attentive ear.

3 Lord, who shall stand, if thou, O Lord,
should'st mark iniquity?
4 But yet with thee forgiveness is,
that feared thou mayest be.

5 I wait for God, my soul doth wait,
my hope is in his word.
6 More than they that for morning watch,
my soul waits for the Lord;

I say, more than they that do watch
the morning light to see.
7 Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with him mercies be;

And plenteous redemption
is ever found with him.
8 And from all his iniquities
he Isr'el shall redeem.

Here is a video on YouTube of the version I enjoy singing
Is that a Jesus statue? Hopefully I am just being to paranoid.
 
I always say "That's a good one" after I sing a psalm, so clearly my preference changes with my mood and need!

However, a perennial favorite is the Book of Psalms for Worship version of Psalm 104C The Trees of the Lord. I love it because it's sort of my "science teacher/biologist's" psalm. If I ever teach at a Christian private school, that will definitely be our class Psalm and song!
 
I always say "That's a good one" after I sing a psalm, so clearly my preference changes with my mood and need!

However, a perennial favorite is the Book of Psalms for Worship version of Psalm 104C The Trees of the Lord. I love it because it's sort of my "science teacher/biologist's" psalm. If I ever teach at a Christian private school, that will definitely be our class Psalm and song!
I was trying to remember which Psalm that was today! It’s particularly winsome for kids.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top