The Old Testament: The Book Of Psalms

The Old Testament is made of 46 Books. The Book of Psalms is the nineteenth book of the Bible. Like all books from the Bible, the Book of Psalms is considered Sacred Scripture and given to man through inspiration by the Holy Spirit of God, the true author. The Book of Psalms is a collection of writings describing how the Israelites worshiped God. It also foreshadows Christ as the Word of God, or also known as the Word made flesh. In this case, the word also means the literal words that God gave to the people so they could better understand Him and their faith. In the Book of Psalms, the words God gave to the authors describe how God feels about His creation and how people use their free will. We know that over the centuries God spoke through more than seven people to create the Book of Psalms. When God speaks to man, such as in the case of the Sacred Scripture, it is called divine inspiration. While praying, the people who wrote the Psalms were divinely inspired. Biblical history records show the story of man searching for God.
Each chapter is considered to be one verse or poem with each poem having a different spiritual meaning. The Book of Psalms can be categorized in many different ways because the form and subject matter varies greatly (The Catholic Source Book, p. 37). There are seven classifications of the psalms: Psalms of praise, historical psalms, ethical psalms, psalms of penitence, imprecatory psalms, messianic psalms, and ceremonial psalms. Psalms include: battle hymns, thanksgiving for victory, God's past mercy on the Jewish people, references to Wisdom, and references and foreshadowing of Christ's lineage and of his life and death. The Psalms have been prayed since ancient Israelite times and continue to be prayed daily, in modern times. Today, a specific psalm is sung on a specific day of the year at every Catholic Mass. The psalm is sung between the first and second reading in every