How to Pray the Psalms
A few favorite ways to pray the psalms, along with some favorite books, apps, and translations to check out
For some people, the Psalms are a part of scripture that have always felt like home, but for others, it takes a while to get into them. I was in the latter camp. The pathway to spiritual growth in the Psalms isn’t as clear-cut or pragmatic as places of didactic teaching, encouragement, or commands in other parts of scripture.
Donald Miller opened Blue Like Jazz with, “Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way” (pg. ix). This was my experience.
Rachel and I took a class on the Psalms in seminary a few years ago, and we were immersed in this book for months. The deeper I went, the more riches and comfort I found within the Psalms. We didn’t just study the Psalter, though; we were required to engage them in prayer ourselves. In class, we’d pray, sing, and dance to the Psalms--and we even had to create communal spiritual practices that utilized them. Rachel and I spent a season reading them to each other in the morning and evening. By the end of the class, I was hooked, and the Psalter has continued to influence my life with God, as well as my marriage and ministry. Anytime I lead others through engagement with the Psalms, they’re changed as well.
In this post, I want to suggest a few practical ways to engage with and pray the Psalms. Whether you’ve enjoyed the Psalms for a lifetime or feel like a beginner, these practices have a lot to offer.
PRAYER AND READING
READ THROUGH THE PSALMS.
The first and easiest way to engage the Psalms is to just do it. Throughout history the Psalms served as the prayerbook of the church. Farmers would recite them as they worked in the fields. Some Christians sang and prayed their way through the entire Psalter once per week.
If you read one Psalm/day, you will get through the Psalms almost two and a half times per year.
If you read three Psalms/day (one morning, midday and evening) you will cycle through the Psalter every fifty days.
If you read five Psalms/day, you will get through the Psalms once every month!
PRAY THROUGH THEM SLOWLY.
Take one Psalm at a time and read it and then rework it into a personal prayer back to God.
READ THEM OUT LOUD AND/OR TOGETHER.
The Psalms are meant to be prayed and sung. Try reading them out loud, whether by yourself or with your family, spouse, roommate or a friend. Or try having them read to you. Bible apps have many translations with audio versions to listen to in the car, at the gym, on a walk, or even first thing when you wake up!
ENGAGE THE PSALMS BASED ON WHAT YOU ARE FEELING.
One of the wonders of the Psalms is that all experiences and all emotions are found in the book and through it, God invites us to voice whatever we are going through to him. Here are a few specific recommendations:
Psalms of Anger and Irritability: 4, 44
Psalms of Grief, Sadness and Loneliness: 22, 88
Psalms of Fear, Anxiety and Terror: 61, 69, 102
Psalms of Joy and Contentment: 16, 34, 37
Psalms of Love and Trust: 23, 56
Psalms of Surprise and Wonder: 8, 19, 103, 139
Psalms of Disgust and Contempt: 123, 77
Psalms of Shame and Guilt: 32, 51
WRITE YOUR OWN PSALM.
Whether you consider yourself creative/poetic or not, writing your own Psalm can be a powerful experience. Try taking what you are you feeling and experiencing and turning that into a Psalm unto the Lord. Read a few psalms for inspiration, if that helps!
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
BOOKS
There are so many books I could recommend, but here are my top few:
Answering God by Eugene Peterson. This book is phenomenal, and Rachel’s mentioned it a few times in previous posts.)
Psalms: Interpretation Commentary by James Mays. This is just a great and easy-to-read commentary to add to your library.
Praying the Psalms by Walter Brueggemann. Another favorite!
Prayerbook of the Bible by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
APPS
Daily Prayer. This is a great liturgical prayer app with prayer for morning, midday, evening and late evening. Each prayer time also has scripture readings and a built in 30 day cycle through the Psalter. It will also read them to you.
TRANSLATIONS
Translating is a no small task for biblical scholars, but the Psalms can be especially tricky as they attempt to honor both the original Hebrew language and poetic devices. Literal translations can feel accurate, but stifled. My suggestion is always to read and enjoy many different translations, just to get a feel for the breadth of translation styles. Here are a few of my favorites for the Psalms:
The Message Translation: Eugene Peterson is a master of both the original Hebrew and the English languages. Not every Psalm will resonate, but his translation is well worth checking out.
King James Version: The King James Version actually did an incredible job trying to maintain both word-for-word translation and poetry. I don’t often use the KVJ outside of the Psalms, but sometimes I find the old translation adds to the beauty of the Psalter.
The Coverdale Psalter: Not a well known translation, but also a great attempt at balance, this translation is used in the Book of Common Prayer. You can find it here and learn more about the translation of the Psalms (starting on p. 267).
Robert Alter’s Translation: Alter is a Hebrew scholar par excellence, and his recent work is another translation worth exploring.
There you go! In this post, we didn’t even include classic time tested ways to engage the Psalms, like lectio divina (more on this and other classic disciplines after Thanksgiving!), but we hope it gives you an idea of some new ways to pray the Psalter and connect with the Father. If nothing else, we suggest you simply open the Psalms and read them, as often as you can.
“That’s it: open your bibles to the book of Psalms and pray them—sequentially, regularly, faithfully across a lifetime. This is how most Christians for most of the Christian centuries have matured in prayer. Nothing fancy. Just do it” (Eugene Peterson, Answering God, 7).
If you have a favorite way of engaging the Psalms, please share it with our community!
-Bryan