(The book of ``PSALMS'', which is also called, ``PSALTERS'' is the hymn book and prayer book of the Bible. The present form is different from the original that was sent down to David, because the scholars and doctors of the Bible have all confessed that the present book of Psalms has been composed by different authors over a long period of time. These hymns and prayers have been collected and used by people of Israel in their worship, and eventually this collection was included in the scriptures.

      With regard to the origin and authorship, modern researches have determind only that the book was compiled in the period after the exile, from the writings of many different authors, covering a long span of history.

      These religious songs of adoration, are of many kinds: there are hymns of praise and worship of God; prayers for help, protection, and salvation; pleas for forgiveness, songs of thanks giving for God's blessing, and petitions for the punishment of enemies. These prayers are both personal and national. Some of them portray the most intimate feeling of one person, while others represent the needs and feelings of all the people of God.

      The Psalms were used by Jesus Christ, quoted by the writers of the New Testament, and became the treasured book of worship of the Christian church from its beginning, and the second only to the Pentateuch, in the estimation of Jews.

      They are all together 150 Psalms grouped into five collections.

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE)